Debris Disks in Main-Sequence Binary Systems

By D. Trilling, J. Stansberry, K. Stapelfeldt, G. Rieke, K. Su, R. O. Gray, C. Corbally, G. Bryden, Christine Chen, A. F. Boden and 1 more. 2006

324 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We observed 69 A3-F8 main-sequence binary star systems using the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. We find emission significantly in excess of predicted photospheric flux levels for 9 % and 40 % of these systems at 24 and 70 μm, respectively. Twenty-two systems total have excess emission, including four systems that show excess emission at both wavelengths. A very large fraction (nearly 60%) of observed binary systems with small (<3 AU) separations have excess thermal emission. We interpret the observed infrared excesses as thermal emission from dust produced by collisions in planetesimal belts. The incidence of debris disks around main-sequence A3-F8 binaries is marginally higher than that for single old AFGK stars. Whatever combination of nature (birth conditions of binary systems) and nurture (interactions between the two stars) drives the evolution of debris disks in binary systems, it is clear that planetesimal formation is not inhibited to any great degree. We model these dust disks through fitting the spectral energy distributions and derive typical dust temperatures in the range 100-200 K and typical fractional luminosities around 10-5, with both parameters similar to other Spitzer-discovered debris disks. Our calculated dust temperatures suggest that about half the excesses we observe are derived from circumbinary planetesimal belts and around one-third of the excesses clearly suggest circumstellar material. Three systems with excesses have dust in dynamically unstable regions, and we discuss possible scenarios for the origin of this short-lived dust.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7b63aefa75f2db808bb94cd9b30dbb46e672b42c

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. S. Kenyon
2. A. Kraus
3. B. Bromley
4. T. Dupuy
5. Michael J. Ireland
6. A. Mann
7. D. Huber
8. A. Mustill

In Instrumentation

1. S. Kenyon
2. A. Kraus
3. B. Bromley
4. A. Mann
5. Michael J. Ireland
6. T. Dupuy
7. D. Huber
8. M. Blaylock

Citations in the corpus

• THE sdB+M ECLIPSING SYSTEM HW VIRGINIS AND ITS CIRCUMBINARY PLANETS (2008, background): “The Spitzer Space Telescope recently observed debris disks orbiting both members, rather than just one star, of various main-sequence binary systems (Trilling et al. 2007).”
• Debris disc stirring by secular perturbations from giant planets (2009, methodology): “…this, we calculated the minimumxm required for a disc to self stir in less than the system age, for discs around 23 FGK stars and 35 A stars with published 24/25 and 70/60 micron excesses (Moóret al. 2006; Beichman et al. 2006; Su et al. 2006; Trilling et al. 2007; Hillenbrand et al. 2008).”
• Debris Disks around Sun-like Stars (2007, methodology): “Furthermore, these 49 F stars will serve as a useful control sample to the Trilling et al. (2007) result that binary A and F stars have a relatively high excess rate.”
• NEW DEBRIS DISKS AROUND YOUNG, LOW-MASS STARS DISCOVERED WITH THE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE (2009, unknown): “Trilling et al. (2007) carried out an investigation of debris disks around A and F-type binaries, and concluded that binaries have a higher disk fraction on average than single stars.”
• THE IMPACT OF STELLAR MULTIPLICITY ON PLANETARY SYSTEMS. I. THE RUINOUS INFLUENCE OF CLOSE BINARY COMPANIONS (2016, background): “Studies of intermediate-age debris disk hosts also reveal that debris exists in binary systems (Trilling et al. 2007; Rodriguez et al. 2015), albeit suppressed by a factor of ∼3 for 1–50 au systems when compared to tighter or wider systems.”
• Variations on Debris Disks: Icy Planet Formation at 30-150 AU for 1-3 M☉ Main-Sequence Stars (2008, background): “…to have IR excesses (Stauffer et al. 2005; Su et al. 2006; Bryden et al. 2006; Gorlova et al. 2006, 2007; Currie et al. 2007a; Siegler et al. 2007; Trilling et al. 2007), the frequency of excess emission declines from 30%Y40% for A-type stars (Su et al. 2006) to 10%Y20% for solar-type stars…”