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Register a new userThe Inner Disk Structure, Disk-Planet Interactions, and Temporal Evolution in the Beta Pictoris System: A Two-Epoch HST/STIS Coronagraphic Study
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We present deep HST/STIS coronagraphic images of the Beta Pic debris disk obtained at two epochs separated by 15 years. The new images and the re-reduction of the 1997 data provide the most sensitive and detailed views of the disk at optical wavelengths as well as the yet smallest inner working angle optical coronagraphic image of the disk. Our observations characterize the large-scale and inner-disk asymmetries and we identify multiple breaks in the disk radial surface brightness profile. We study in detail the radial and vertical disk structure and show that the disk is warped. We explore the disk at the location of the Beta Pic b super-jupiter and find that the disk surface brightness slope is continuous between 0.5 and 2.0 arcsec, arguing for no change at the separations where Beta Pic b orbits. The two epoch images constrain the disk surface brightness evolution on orbital and radiation pressure blow-out timescales. We place an upper limit of 3% on the disk surface brightness change between 3-5 arcsec, including the locations of the disk warp, and the CO and dust clumps. We discuss the new observations in the context of high-resolution multi-wavelength images and divide the disk asymmetries in two groups: axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric. The axisymmetric structures (warp, large-scale butterfly, etc.) are consistent with disk structure models that include interactions of a planetesimal belt and a non-coplanar giant planet. The non-axisymmetric features, however, require a different explanation.
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(Abridged.) We present F435W (B), F606W (Broad V), and F814W (Broad I) coronagraphic images of the debris disk around Beta Pictoris obtained with HSTs Advanced Camera for Surveys. We confirm that the previously reported warp in the inner disk is a distinct secondary disk inclined by ~5 deg from the main disk. The main disks northeast extension is linear from 80 to 250 AU, but the southwest extension is distinctly bowed with an amplitude of ~1 AU over the same region. Both extensions of the secondary disk appear linear, but not collinear, from 80 to 150 AU. Within ~120 AU of the star, the main disk is ~50% thinner than previously reported. The surface-brightness profiles along the spine of the main disk are fitted with four distinct radial power laws between 40 and 250 AU, while those of the secondary disk between 80 and 150 AU are fitted with single power laws. These discrepancies suggest that the two disks have different grain compositions or size distributions. The F606W/F435W and F814W/F435W flux ratios of the composite disk are nonuniform and asymmetric about both projected axes of the disk. Within ~120 AU, the m_F435W-m_F606W and m_F435W-m_F814W colors along the spine of the main disk are ~10% and ~20% redder, respectively, than those of Beta Pic. These colors increasingly redden beyond ~120 AU, becoming 25% and 40% redder, respectively, than the star at 250 AU. We compare the observed red colors within ~120 AU with the simulated colors of non-icy grains having a radial number density ~r^-3 and different compositions, porosities, and minimum grain sizes. The observed colors are consistent with those of compact or moderately porous grains of astronomical silicate and/or graphite with sizes >0.15-0.20 um, but the colors are inconsistent with the blue colors expected from grains with porosities >90%.
We present $H$-band observations of $beta$ Pic with the Gemini Planet Imagers (GPIs) polarimetry mode that reveal the debris disk between ~0.3 (~6 AU) and ~1.7 (~33 AU), while simultaneously detecting $beta$ Pic $b$. The polarized disk image was fit with a dust density model combined with a Henyey-Greenstein scattering phase function. The best fit model indicates a disk inclined to the line of sight ($phi=85.27{deg}^{+0.26}_{-0.19}$) with a position angle $theta_{PA}=30.35{deg}^{+0.29}_{-0.28}$ (slightly offset from the main outer disk, $theta_{PA}approx29{deg}$), that extends from an inner disk radius of $23.6^{+0.9}_{-0.6}$ AU to well outside GPIs field of view. In addition, we present an updated orbit for $beta$ Pic $b$ based on new astrometric measurements taken in GPIs spectroscopic mode spanning 14 months. The planet has a semi-major axis of $a=9.2^{+1.5}_{-0.4}$AU, with an eccentricity $eleq 0.26$. The position angle of the ascending node is $Omega=31.75{deg}pm0.15$, offset from both the outer main disk and the inner disk seen in the GPI image. The orbital fit constrains the stellar mass of $beta$ Pic to $1.60pm0.05 M_{odot}$. Dynamical sculpting by $beta$ Pic $b$ cannot easily account for the following three aspects of the inferred disk properties: 1) the modeled inner radius of the disk is farther out than expected if caused by $beta$ Pic b; 2) the mutual inclination of the inner disk and $beta$ Pic $b$ is $4{deg}$, when it is expected to be closer to zero; and 3) the aspect ratio of the disk ($h_0 = 0.137^{+0.005}_{-0.006}$) is larger than expected from interactions with $beta$ Pic $b$ or self-stirring by the disks parent bodies.
High resolution FUV echelle spectra showing absorption features arising from CI and CO gas in the Beta Pictoris circumstellar (CS) disk were obtained on 1997 December 6 and 19 using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). An unsaturated spin-forbidden line of CI at 1613.376 A not previously seen in spectra of Beta Pictoris was detected, allowing for an improved determination of the column density of CI at zero velocity relative to the star (the stable component), N = (2-4) x 10^{16} cm^{-2}. Variable components with multiple velocities, which are the signatures of infalling bodies in the Beta Pictoris CS disk, are observed in the CI 1561 A and 1657 A multiplets. Also seen for the first time were two lines arising from the metastable singlet D level of carbon, at 1931 A and 1463 A The results of analysis of the CO A-X (0-0), (1-0), and (2-0) bands are presented, including the bands arising from {13}^CO, with much better precision than has previously been possible, due to the very high resolution provided by the STIS echelle gratings. Only stable CO gas is observed, with a column density N(CO) = (6.3 +/- 0.3) x 10^{14} cm{-2}. An unusual ratio of the column densities of {12}^CO to {13}^CO is found (R = 15 +/- 2). The large difference between the column densities of CI and CO indicates that photodissociation of CO is not the primary source of CI gas in the disk, contrary to previous suggestion.
We have used VLT/UVES to spatially resolve the gas disk of beta Pictoris. 88 extended emission lines are observed, with the brightest coming from Fe I, Na I and Ca II. The extent of the gas disk is much larger than previously anticipated; we trace Na I radially from 13 AU out to 323 AU and Ca II to heights of 77 AU above the disk plane, both to the limits of our observations. The degree of flaring is significantly larger for the gas disk than the dust disk. A strong NE/SW brightness asymmetry is observed, with the SW emission being abruptly truncated at 150-200 AU. The inner gas disk is tilted about 5 degrees with respect to the outer disk, similar to the appearance of the disk in light scattered from dust. We show that most, perhaps all, of the Na I column density seen in the stable component of absorption, comes from the extended disk. Finally, we discuss the effects of radiation pressure in the extended gas disk and show that the assumption of hydrogen, in whatever form, as a braking agent is inconsistent with observations.
We present and analyze a new M detection of the young exoplanet beta Pictoris b from 2008 VLT/NaCo data at a separation of ~ 4 AU and a high signal-to-noise rereduction of L data taken in December 2009. Based on our orbital analysis, the planets orbit is viewed almost perfectly edge-on (i ~ 89 degrees) and has a Saturn-like semimajor axis of 9.50 (+3.93, -1.7) AU. Intriguingly, the planets orbit is aligned with the major axis of the outer disk (Omega ~ 31 degrees) but probably misaligned with the warp/inclined disk at 80 AU often cited as a signpost for the planets existence. Our results motivate new studies to clarify how $beta$ Pic b sculpts debris disk structures and whether a second planet is required to explain the warp/inclined disk.
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