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Register a new userRadial Surface Density Profiles of Gas and Dust in the Debris Disk around 49 Ceti
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A. M. Hughes
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We present ~0.4 resolution images of CO(3-2) and associated continuum emission from the gas-bearing debris disk around the nearby A star 49 Ceti, observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). We analyze the ALMA visibilities in tandem with the broad-band spectral energy distribution to measure the radial surface density profiles of dust and gas emission from the system. The dust surface density decreases with radius between ~100 and 310 au, with a marginally significant enhancement of surface density at a radius of ~110 au. The SED requires an inner disk of small grains in addition to the outer disk of larger grains resolved by ALMA. The gas disk exhibits a surface density profile that increases with radius, contrary to most previous spatially resolved observations of circumstellar gas disks. While ~80% of the CO flux is well described by an axisymmetric power-law disk in Keplerian rotation about the central star, residuals at ~20% of the peak flux exhibit a departure from axisymmetry suggestive of spiral arms or a warp in the gas disk. The radial extent of the gas disk (~220 au) is smaller than that of the dust disk (~300 au), consistent with recent observations of other gas-bearing debris disks. While there are so far only three broad debris disks with well characterized radial dust profiles at millimeter wavelengths, 49 Cetis disk shows a markedly different structure from two radially resolved gas-poor debris disks, implying that the physical processes generating and sculpting the gas and dust are fundamentally different.
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We present far-IR/sub-mm imaging and spectroscopy of 49 Ceti, an unusual circumstellar disk around a nearby young A1V star. The system is famous for showing the dust properties of a debris disk, but the gas properties of a low-mass protoplanetary disk. The data were acquired with the Herschel Space Observatory PACS and SPIRE instruments, largely as part of the Gas in Protoplanetary Systems (GASPS) Open Time Key Programme. Disk dust emission is detected in images at 70, 160, 250, 350, and 500 mu m; 49 Cet is significantly extended in the 70 mu m image, spatially resolving the outer dust disk for the first time. Spectra covering small wavelength ranges centered on eight atomic and molecular emission lines were obtained, including [OI] 63 mu m and [CII] 158 mu m. The CII line was detected at the 5sigma level - the first detection of atomic emission from the disk. No other emission lines were seen, despite the fact that the OI line is the brightest one observed in Herschel protoplanetary disk spectra (Meeus et al. 2012; Dent et al. 2013). We present an estimate of the amount of circumstellar atomic gas implied by the CII emission. The new far-IR/sub-mm data fills in a large gap in the previous spectral energy distribution (SED) of 49 Cet. A simple model of the new SED confirms the two-component structure of the disk: warm inner dust and cold outer dust that produces most of the observed excess. Finally, we discuss preliminary thermochemical modeling of the 49 Cet gas/dust disk and our attempts to match several observational results simultaneously. Although we are not yet successful in doing so, our investigations shed light on the evolutionary status of the 49 Cet gas, which might not be primordial gas but rather secondary gas coming from comets.
We present the first scattered-light images of the debris disk around 49 ceti, a ~40 Myr A1 main sequence star at 59 pc, famous for hosting two massive dust belts as well as large quantities of atomic and molecular gas. The outer disk is revealed in reprocessed archival Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS F110W images, as well as new coronagraphic H band images from the Very Large Telescope SPHERE instrument. The disk extends from 1.1 (65 AU) to 4.6 (250 AU), and is seen at an inclination of 73degr, which refines previous measurements at lower angular resolution. We also report no companion detection larger than 3 M_Jup at projected separations beyond 20 AU from the star (0.34). Comparison between the F110W and H-band images is consistent with a grey color of 49 cetis dust, indicating grains larger than >2microns. Our photometric measurements indicate a scattering efficiency / infrared excess ratio of 0.2-0.4, relatively low compared to other characterized debris disks. We find that 49 ceti presents morphological and scattering properties very similar to the gas-rich HD 131835 system. From our constraint on the disk inclination we find that the atomic gas previously detected in absorption must extend to the inner disk, and that the latter must be depleted of CO gas. Building on previous studies, we propose a schematic view of the system describing the dust and gas structure around 49 ceti and hypothetic scenarios for the gas nature and origin.
Characterization of gas component in debris disks is of fundamental importance for understanding its origin. Toward this goal, we have conducted non-LTE (local thermodynamic equilibrium) analyses of the rotational spectral lines of CO including those of rare isotopologues ($^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O) observed toward the gaseous debris disks of 49 Ceti and HD 21997 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Atacama Compact Array (ACA). The analyses have been carried out for a wide range of the H$_{2}$ density, and the observed line intensities are found to be reproduced, as far as the H$_{2}$ density is higher than 10$^{3}$ cm$^{-3}$. The CO column density and the gas temperature are evaluated to be (1.8-5.9)$times$10$^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$ and 8-11 K for 49 Ceti and (2.6-15)$times$10$^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$ and 8-12 K for HD 21997, respectively, where the H$_{2}$ collision is assumed for the rotational excitation of CO. The results do not change significantly even if electron collision is considered. Thus, CO molecules can be excited under environments of no H$_{2}$ or a small number of H$_{2}$ molecules, even where the collision with CO, C, O, and C$^{+}$ would make an important contribution for the CO excitation in addition to H$_{2}$. Meanwhile, our result does not rule out the case of abundant H$_{2}$ molecules. The low gas temperature observed in the debris disks is discussed in terms of inefficient heating by interstellar and stellar UV radiation.
Surprisingly strong CO emission has been observed from more than a dozen debris disks around nearby main-sequence stars. The origin of this CO is unclear, in particular whether it is left over from the protoplanetary disk phase or is second-generation material released from collisions between icy bodies like debris dust. The primary unexplored avenue for distinguishing the origin of the material is understanding its molecular composition. Here we present a deep search for five molecules (CN, HCN, HCO+, SiO, and CH3OH) in the debris disk around 49 Ceti. We take advantage of the high sensitivity of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at Band 7 to integrate for 3.2 hours at modest spatial (1) and spectral (0.8 km/s) resolution. Our search yields stringent upper limits on the flux of all surveyed molecular lines, which imply abundances relative to CO that are orders of magnitude lower than those observed in protoplanetary disks and Solar System comets, and also those predicted in outgassing models of second-generation material. However, if CI shielding is responsible for extending the lifetime of any CO produced in second-generation collisions, as proposed by Kral et al. (2018), then the line ratios do not reflect true ice phase chemical abundances, but rather imply that CO is shielded by its own photodissociation product, CI, but other molecules are rapidly photodissociated by the stellar and interstellar radiation field.
The gas and dust are spatially segregated in protoplanetary disks due to the vertical settling and radial drift of large grains. A fuller accounting of the mass content and distribution in disks therefore requires spectral line observations. We extend the modeling approach presented in Williams & Best (2014) to show that gas surface density profiles can be measured from high fidelity 13CO integrated intensity images. We demonstrate the methodology by fitting ALMA observations of the HD 163296 disk to determine a gas mass, Mgas = 0.048 solar masse, and accretion disk characteristic size Rc = 213au and gradient gamma = 0.39. The same parameters match the C18O 2--1 image and indicates an abundance ratio [13CO]/[C18O] of 700 independent of radius. To test how well this methodology can be applied to future line surveys of smaller, lower mass T Tauri disks, we create a large 13CO 2--1 image library and fit simulated data. For disks with gas masses 3-10 Jupiter masses at 150pc, ALMA observations with a resolution of 0.2-0.3 arcseconds and integration times of about 20 minutes allow reliable estimates of Rc to within about 10au and gamma to within about 0.2. Economic gas imaging surveys are therefore feasible and offer the opportunity to open up a new dimension for studying disk structure and its evolution toward planet formation.
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