The clumpy structure of ϵ Eridani’s debris disc revisited by ALMA

Author:

Booth Mark1ORCID,Pearce Tim D1ORCID,Krivov Alexander V1,Wyatt Mark C2ORCID,Dent William R F3,Hales Antonio S34,Lestrade Jean-François5ORCID,Cruz-Sáenz de Miera Fernando6,Faramaz Virginie C7,Löhne Torsten1ORCID,Chavez-Dagostino Miguel8ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Astrophysikalisches Institut und Universitätssternwarte, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena , Schillergäßchen 2-3, D-07745 Jena, Germany

2. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK

3. Joint ALMA Observatory , Alonso de Córdova 3107, VA 763-0355, Santiago, Chile

4. National Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475, USA

5. Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités , UPMC, 61 Av. de l’Observatoire, F-75014 Paris, France

6. Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH) , Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary

7. Steward Observatory, Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

8. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Optica y Electrónica Luis Enrique Erro #1 , CP 72840 Tonantzintla, Puebla, México

Abstract

ABSTRACT ϵ Eridani is the closest star to our Sun known to host a debris disc. Prior observations in the (sub-)millimetre regime have potentially detected clumpy structure in the disc and attributed this to interactions with an (as yet) undetected planet. However, the prior observations were unable to distinguish between structure in the disc and background confusion. Here, we present the first ALMA image of the entire disc, which has a resolution of 1.6 × 1.2 arcsec2. We clearly detect the star, the main belt, and two-point sources. The resolution and sensitivity of this data allow us to clearly distinguish background galaxies (that show up as point sources) from the disc emission. We show that the two-point sources are consistent with background galaxies. After taking account of these, we find that resolved residuals are still present in the main belt, including two clumps with a >3σ significance – one to the east of the star and the other to the north-west. We perform N-body simulations to demonstrate that a migrating planet can form structures similar to those observed by trapping planetesimals in resonances. We find that the observed features can be reproduced by a migrating planet trapping planetesimals in the 2:1 mean motion resonance and the symmetry of the most prominent clumps means that the planet should have a position angle of either ∼10° or ∼190°. Observations over multiple epochs are necessary to test whether the observed features rotate around the star.

Funder

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

European Research Council

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología

National Science Foundation

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Space and Planetary Science,Astronomy and Astrophysics

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