JWST/NIRCam Detection of the Fomalhaut C Debris Disk in Scattered Light
arxiv(2024)
摘要
Observations of debris disks offer important insights into the formation and
evolution of planetary systems. Though M dwarfs make up approximately 80
nearby stars, very few M-dwarf debris disks have been studied in detail –
making it unclear how or if the information gleaned from studying debris disks
around more massive stars extends to the more abundant M dwarf systems. We
report the first scattered-light detection of the debris disk around the M4
star Fomalhaut C using JWST's Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam; 3.6μm and
4.4μm). This result adds to the prior sample of only four M-dwarf debris
disks with detections in scattered light, and marks the latest spectral type
and oldest star among them. The size and orientation of the disk in these data
are generally consistent with the prior ALMA sub-mm detection. Though no
companions are identified, these data provide strong constraints on their
presence – with sensitivity sufficient to recover sub-Saturn mass objects in
the vicinity of the disk. This result illustrates the unique capability of JWST
for uncovering elusive M-dwarf debris disks in scattered light, and lays the
groundwork for deeper studies of such objects in the 2–5μm regime.
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