Outer edges of debris discs: how sharp is sharp?

Abstract

Ring-like features have been observed in several debris discs. Outside the main ring, while some systems exhibit smooth surface brightness profiles (SB) that fall off roughly as r**-3.5, others display large luminosity drops at the ring's outer edge and steeper radial SB profiles. We seek to understand this diversity of outer edge profiles under the ``natural'' collisional evolution of the system, without invoking external agents such as planets or gas. We use a statistical code to follow the evolution of a collisional population, ranging from dust grains (submitted to radiation pressure) to planetesimals and initially confined within a belt (the 'birth ring'). The system typically evolves toward a "standard" steady state, with no sharp edge and SB \propto r**-3.5 outside the birth ring. Deviations from this standard profile, in the form of a sharp outer edge and a steeper fall-off, occur only when two parameters take their extreme values: 1) When the birth ring is so massive that it becomes radially optically thick for the smallest grains. However, the required disc mass is here probably too high to be realistic. 2) When the dynamical excitation of the dust-producing planetesimals is so low ( <0.01) that the smallest grains, which otherwise dominate the total optical depth, are preferentially depleted. This low-excitation case, although possibly not generic, cannot be ruled out by observations. Our "standard" profile provides a satisfactory explanation for a large group of debris discs with outer edges and SB falling as r**-3.5. Systems with sharper outer edges, barring other confining agents, could still be explained by ``natural'' collisional evolution if their dynamical excitation is very low. We show that such a dynamically-cold case provides a satisfactory fit for HR4796A