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A Complete ALMA Map of the Fomalhaut Debris Disk

We present ALMA mosaic observations at 1.3. mm (223 GHz) of the Fomalhaut system with a sensitivity of 14 mu Jy/beam. These observations provide the first millimeter map of the continuum dust emission from the complete outer debris disk with uniform sensitivity, enabling the first conclusive detection of apocenter glow. We adopt an MCMC modeling approach that accounts for the eccentric orbital parameters of a collection of particles within the disk. The outer belt is radially confined with an inner edge of 136.3 +/- 0.9. au and width of 13.5 +/- 1.8. au. We determine a best-fit eccentricity of 0.12 +/- 0.01. Assuming a size distribution power-law index of q. =. 3.46 +/- 0.09, we constrain the dust absorptivity power-law index a to be 0.9 <beta <. 1.5. The geometry of the disk is robustly constrained with inclination 65 degrees. 6 +/- 0 degrees. 3, position angle 337 degrees 9 +/- 0 degrees.3, and argument of periastron 22 degrees.5 +/- 4 degrees. 3. Our observations do not confirm any of the azimuthal features found in previous imaging studies of the disk with Hubble Space Telescope, SCUBA, and ALMA. However, we cannot rule out structures. 10 au in size or that only affect smaller grains. The central star is clearly detected with a flux density of 0.75 +/- 0.02. mJy, significantly lower than predicted by current photospheric models. We discuss the implications of these observations for the directly imaged Fomalhaut b and the inner dust belt detected at infrared wavelengths.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/624433
Date07 June 2017
CreatorsMacGregor, Meredith A., Matra, Luca, Kalas, Paul, Wilner, David J., Pan, Margaret, Kennedy, Grant M., Wyatt, Mark C., Duchene, Gaspard, Hughes, A. Meredith, Rieke, George H., Clampin, Mark, Fitzgerald, Michael P., Graham, James R., Holland, Wayne S., Panic, Olja, Shannon, Andrew, Su, Kate
ContributorsUniv Arizona, Steward Observ
PublisherIOP PUBLISHING LTD
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle
Rights© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Relationhttp://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/842/i=1/a=8?key=crossref.31ce09ed6c0ffdcbd64761e52703f12c

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