Morphology of the gas-rich debris disk around HD 121617 with SPHERE observations in polarized light
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Date
2023-05
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Abstract
Context. Debris disks are the signposts of collisionally eroding planetesimal circumstellar belts, whose study can put important constraints on the structure of extrasolar planetary systems. The best constraints on the morphology of such disks are often obtained from spatially resolved observations in scattered light. In this paper, we investigate the young (~16 Myr) bright gas-rich debris disk around HD 121617.
Aims. We use new scattered light observations from VLT/SPHERE to characterize the morphology and the dust properties of the debris disk. From these properties, we can then derive constraints on the physical and dynamical environment of this system, for which significant amounts of gas have been detected.
Methods. The disk morphology is constrained by linear polarimetric observations in the J band. Based on our modeling results and archival photometry, we also model the spectral energy distribution (SED) to put constraints on the total dust mass and dust size distribution. Finally, we explore different scenarios that could explain these new constraints.
Results. We present the first resolved image in scattered light of the debris disk around HD 121617. We fit the morphology of the disk, finding a semi-major axis of 78.3 ± 0.2 au, an inclination of 43.1 ± 0.2°, and a position angle of the major axis with respect to north of 239.8 ± 0.3°, which is compatible with the previous continuum and CO detection with ALMA. Our analysis shows that the disk has a very sharp inner edge, possibly sculpted by a yet-undetected planet or gas drag. While less sharp, its outer edge is steeper than expected for an unperturbed disk, which could also be due to a planet or gas drag, but future observations probing the system farther from the main belt would help explore this possibility further. The SED analysis leads to a dust mass of 0.21 ± 0.02 M⊕ and a minimum grain size of 0.87 ± 0.12 μm, smaller than the blowout size by radiation pressure, which is not unexpected for very bright collisionally active disks.
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Techniques: polarimetric, Techniques: high angular resolution, Methods: observational, Infrared: planetary systems, Protoplanetary disks, Zodiacal dust