Related papers: X-raying the AU Microscopii debris disk

Circumstellar disks are characteristic for star formation and vanish during the first few Myr of stellar evolution. During this time planets are believed to form in the dense midplane by growth, sedimentation and aggregation of dust.…

[Abridged] Debris discs around main-sequence stars indicate the presence of larger rocky bodies. The components of the nearby binary aCentauri have higher than solar metallicities, which is thought to promote giant planet formation. We aim…

Debris disks are dusty, gas-poor disks around main sequence stars (Backman & Paresce 1993; Lagrange, Backman & Artymowicz 2000; Zuckerman 2001). Micron-sized dust grains are inferred to exist in these systems from measurements of their…

We still do not understand how planets form, or why extra-solar planetary systems are so different from our own solar system. But the last few years have dramatically changed our view of the discs of gas and dust around young stars.…

With only six known examples, M-dwarf debris disks are rare, even though M dwarfs constitute the majority of stars in the Galaxy. After finding a new M dwarf debris disk in a shallow mid-infrared observation of NGC 2547, we present a…

[abridged] Protoplanetary disks with AU-scale inner clearings, often referred to as transitional disks, provide a unique sample for understanding disk dissipation mechanisms and possible connections to planet formation. Observations of…

The dust disks observed around mature stars are evidence that plantesimals are present in these systems on spatial scales that are similar to that of the asteroids and the KBOs in the Solar System. These dust disks (a.k.a. ``debris disks'')…

The recently recognized class of "transitional disk" systems consists of young starswith optically-thick outer disks but inner disks which are mostly devoid of small dust. Here we introduce a further class of "pre-transitional disks" with…

Extrasolar debris disks are the dust disks found around nearby main sequence stars arising from the break-up of asteroids and comets orbiting the stars. Far-IR surveys (e.g., with Herschel) showed that ~20% of stars host detectable dust…

A significant fraction of the mature FGK stars have cool dusty disks at least an orders of magnitudes brighter than the solar system's outer zodiacal light. Since such dusts must be continually replenished, they are generally assumed to be…

Although photometric and spectroscopic surveys with the Spitzer Space Telescope increased remarkably the number of well studied debris disks around A-type and Sun-like stars, detailed analyzes of debris disks around F-type stars remained…

We present Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) observations of AU Microscopii, a young M dwarf with an edge-on, dusty debris disk. Integral field spectroscopy and broadband imaging polarimetry were obtained during the commissioning of GPI. In our…

The incidence of dusty debris disks around low- and intermediate-mass stars has been investigated numerous times in order to understand the early stages of planet formation. Most notably, the IRAS mission observed the entire sky at mid- and…

(Abridged) A numerical model of a circumstellar debris disk is developed and applied to observations of the circumstellar dust orbiting beta Pictoris. The model accounts for the rates at which dust is produced by collisions among unseen…

The young star AB Aurigae is surrounded by a complex combination of gas-rich and dust dominated structures. The inner disk which has not been studied previously at sufficient resolution and imaging dynamic range seems to contain very little…

The processes leading to the birth of low-mass stars such as our Sun have been well studied, but the formation of high-mass (> 8 x Sun's mass) stars has heretofore remained poorly understood. Recent observational studies suggest that…

We present the detectability of strong mid-infrared (MIR) light echoes from faint debris disks illuminated by bright superflares of M-dwarf stars. Circumstellar dust grains around an M-dwarf star are simultaneously heated by superflare…

We investigate the nature of the innermost regions of seven circumstellar disks around pre-main-sequence stars. Our object sample contains disks apparently at various stages of their evolution. Both single stars and spatially resolved…

Debris disks are considered to be gas-poor, but recent observations revealed molecular or atomic gas in several 10-40 Myr old systems. We used the APEX and IRAM 30m radiotelescopes to search for CO gas in 20 bright debris disks. In one…

We present a search for debris discs amongst M-dwarf members of nearby, young (5-150 Myr) moving groups (MGs) using infrared (IR) photometry, primarily from the Wide Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). A catalogue of 100 MG M-dwarfs that have…