Related papers: Giant Impacts and Debris Disk Morphology
Debris disc architecture presents [exo-]planetary scientists with precious clues for processes of planet formation and evolution, including constraints on planetary mass perturbers. This is particularly true of the disc in HD 106906, which…
Spatially resolved scattered-light images of circumstellar (CS) debris in exoplanetary systems constrain the physical properties and orbits of the dust particles in these systems. They also inform on co-orbiting (but unseen) planets,…
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 disks are often…
Multi-wavelength spectroscopy can be used to constrain the dust and gas properties in debris disks. Circumstellar dust absorbs and scatters incident stellar light. The scattered light is sometimes resolved spatially at visual and…
The eccentric orbits of the known extrasolar giant planets provide evidence that most planet-forming environments undergo violent dynamical instabilities. Here, we numerically simulate the impact of giant planet instabilities on planetary…
Scintillation spectra of some pulsars have suggested the existence of $\lesssim$ AU scale density structures in the ionized interstellar medium, whose astrophysical correspondence is still a mystery. The detailed study of Brisken et al.…
We report a new and complete model of the beta Pictoris disk, which succeeds in accounting for both the surface brightness distribution, warp characteristics, the outer ``butterfly'' asymmetry as observed by HST/STIS in scattered light, as…
We present deep HST/STIS coronagraphic images of the Beta Pic debris disk obtained at two epochs separated by 15 years. The new images and the re-reduction of the 1997 data provide the most sensitive and detailed views of the disk at…
Observations of debris disks offer a window into the physical and dynamical properties of planetesimals in extrasolar systems through the size distribution of dust grains. In particular, the millimeter spectral index of thermal dust…
The vertical distribution of dust in debris disks is sensitive to the number and size of large planetesimals dynamically stirring the disk, and is therefore well-suited for constraining the prevalence of otherwise unobservable Uranus and…
We examine the observational appearance of partial gaps being opened by planets in protoplanetary disks, considering the effects of the inclination relative to the line of sight. The gap's trough is darkened by both shadowing and cooling,…
(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 fragmentation of a two-dimensional circular disc by lateral impact is investigated using a cell model of brittle solid. The disc is composed of numerous unbreakable randomly shaped convex polygons connected together by simple elastic…
Recent advances in astronomical instrumentation mean that we are now able to image the thermal emission from the disks of dust around main sequence stars that may be the fossil remnants of planetary formation. These observations imply that…
Observations of increasingly higher spatial resolution reveal the existence of asymmetries in the circumstellar envelopes of a small fraction of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Although there is no general consensus for their origin, a…
Planet-disk interactions, where an embedded massive body interacts gravitationally with the protoplanetary disk it was formed in, can play an important role in reshaping both the disk and the orbit of the planet. Spiral density waves are…
It is commonly accepted that a merger of two spiral galaxies results in a remnant with an elliptical-like surface-brightness profile. Surprisingly, our recent study (Chitre & Jog 2002) of the 2MASS data for twenty-seven advanced mergers of…
Light echoes of debris disks around active stars can reveal disk structure and composition even when disks are not spatially resolved. Unfortunately, distinguishing reflected light from quiescent starlight and unexpected post-peak flare…
We present a new multi-annulus code for the study of collisionally evolving extended debris discs. We first aim to confirm results obtained for a single-annulus system, namely that the size distribution in "real" debris discs always departs…
Shadows in scattered light images of protoplanetary disks are a common feature and support the presence of warps or misalignments between disk regions. These warps are possibly due to an inclined (sub-)stellar companion embedded in the…