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In recent years, gas has been observed in an increasing number of debris discs, though its nature remains to be determined. Here, we analyse CO molecular excitation in optically thin debris discs, and search ALMA Cycle-0 data for CO J=3-2 emission in the Fomalhaut ring. No significant line emission is observed; we set a 3-$sigma$ upper limit on the integrated line flux of 0.16 Jy km s$^{-1}$. We show a significant dependency of the CO excitation on the density of collisional partners $n$, on the gas kinetic temperature $T_k$ and on the ambient radiation field $J$, suggesting that assumptions widely used for protoplanetary discs (e.g. LTE) do not necessarily apply to their low density debris counterparts. When applied to the Fomalhaut ring, we consider a primordial origin scenario where H$_2$ dominates collisional excitation of CO, and a secondary origin scenario dominated by e$^-$ and H$_2$O. In either scenario, we obtain a strict upper limit on the CO mass of 4.9 $times$ 10$^{-4}$ M$_{oplus}$. This arises in the non-LTE regime, where the excitation of the molecule is determined solely by the well-known radiation field. In the secondary scenario, assuming any CO present to be in steady state allows us to set an upper limit of $sim$55% on the CO/H$_2$O ice ratio in the parent planetesimals. This could drop to $sim$3% if LTE applies, covering the range observed in Solar System comets (0.4-30%). Finally, in light of our analysis, we present prospects for CO detection and characterisation in debris discs with ALMA.
We present ALMA mosaic observations at 1.3 mm (223 GHz) of the Fomalhaut system with a sensitivity of 14 $mu$Jy/beam. These observations provide the first millimeter map of the continuum dust emission from the complete outer debris disk with uniform
We present ALMA Band 6 observations (1.3 mm/233 GHz) of Fomalhaut and its debris disc. The observations achieve a sensitivity of 17 $mu$Jy and a resolution of 0.28 arcsec (2.1 au at a distance of 7.66 pc), which are the highest resolution observation
One of the defining properties of debris discs compared to protoplanetary discs used to be their lack of gas, yet small amounts of gas have been found around an increasing number of debris discs in recent years. These debris discs found to have gas t
Fomalhaut C (LP 876-10) is a low mass M4V star in the intriguing Fomalhaut triple system and, like Fomalhaut A, possesses a debris disc. It is one of very few nearby M-dwarfs known to host a debris disc and of these has by far the lowest stellar mass
We present the first ALMA observations of the closest known extrasolar debris disc. This disc orbits the star $epsilon$ Eridani, a K-type star just 3.2pc away. Due to the proximity of the star, the entire disc cannot fit within the ALMA field of view