Search arXiv⌕ Search

arXiv · 2506.11726

ALMA millimetre-wavelength imaging of HD 138965: New constraints on the debris dust composition and presence of planetary companions

Abstract

HD 138965 is a young A type star and member of the nearby young Argus association. This star is surrounded by a broad, bright debris disc with two temperature components that was spatially resolved at far-infrared wavelengths by Herschel. Here we present ALMA millimetre-wavelength imaging of the cool outer belt. These reveal its radial extent to be $150^{+10}_{-7}$ au with a width ($σ$) of 49$^{+7}_{-6}$ au ($ΔR/R$ = 0.77), at a moderate inclination of 49$\fdeg$9^{+3.3}_{-3.7}$. Due to the limited angular resolution, signal-to-noise, and inclination we have no constraint on the disc's vertical scale height. We modelled the disc emission with both gravitational and radiation forces acting on the dust grains. As the inner belt has not been spatially resolved, we fixed its radius and width prior to modelling the outer belt. We find astronomical silicate is the best fit for the dust composition. However, we could not reject possible scenarios where there are at least 10 \% water-ice inclusions. Combining the spatially resolved imaging by ALMA with non-detection at optical wavelengths by HST, we obtain a limit on the scattering albedo $ω\leq 0.09$ for the debris dust in the outer belt. Analysis of the outer belt's architecture in conjunction with simple stirring models places a mass limit of $2.3~\pm~0.4 M_{\rm Jup}$ on a companion interior to the belt ($a \leq 78$ au), a factor of two improvement over constraints from high contrast imaging.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

J. P. Marshall, S. Hengst, A. Trejo-Cruz, C. del Burgo, J. Milli, M. Booth, J. C. Augereau, E. Choquet, F. Y. Morales, P. Thébault, F. Kemper, V. Faramaz-Gorka, G. Bryden. 2025-06-13. ALMA millimetre-wavelength imaging of HD 138965: New constraints on the debris dust composition and presence of planetary companions. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11726

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Radiating Bondi Flows I: Dimensionless Framework and Constant Opacity Solutions

In this paper, we extend the foundational work of Bondi (1952) to include the effects of radiative feedback in gas-pressure-dominated environments. We construct steady-state spherically symmetric accretion solutions including radiative heating and cooling. Under the simplifying assumption of a constant opacity, the solutions are controlled by four dimensionless parameters: the adiabatic index $γ$, optical depth through the Bondi radius $τ_B$, dimensionless luminosity at infinity $\tilde{L}_\infty$, and a characteristic dimensionless cooling time $β$. We present numerical solutions across the dimensionless parameter space $(τ_B, \tilde{L}_\infty, β)\in [10^{-3}, 10^3]$. Contrary to radiation-pressure-dominated environments, radiative feedback primarily operates to suppress accretion -- particularly at high $τ_B$, $\tilde{L}_\infty$, and/or $β$. We also present analytic descriptions confirming the suppressive nature of this feedback and give the scalings for the accretion rate $\dot{M}\sim \tilde{L}_\infty^{-5/4}$ at large $\tilde{L}_\infty$, $\dot{M}\sim τ_B^{-10/11}β^{-5/11}$ at large $τ_B$, and $\dot{M}\sim (\tilde{L}_\inftyτ_B)^{-5/8}$ for large $\tilde{L}_\inftyτ_B$. We discuss the potential role of convection in these steady-state solutions, and the particular relevance to problems of planet formation where radiative heating is significant, but the system remains in the gas-pressure-dominated regime.

astro-ph.EP↗

Radiating Bondi Flows II: Giant Planet Accretion Models

In the core accretion model of giant planet formation, the late stages of runaway growth are regulated by the hydrodynamic infall of gas from the protoplanetary disk. For a subset of planet-disk pairings, this scenario is analogous to the classical Bondi problem, which has motivated a Bondi-like parameterization of accretion in some population synthesis models. Existing models and the associated classical Bondi rate however, are predicated upon an adiabatic equation of state. In reality, the planet and its associated accretion shock supply a luminosity that substantially heats the accretion flow. In Paper I of this series, we demonstrate that such radiative feedback can dramatically suppress accretion by orders of magnitude. Here we quantify this effect under realistic planet-forming conditions. We find that for planets forming in an unperturbed disk, accretion is suppressed by 1-2 orders of magnitude interior to $\sim 10$ AU. For planets that open a gap, this feedback is less dramatic and the effect is $\sim$ 1 order in magnitude. We investigate the effect of various assumptions regarding dust opacities, shock efficiency, and planet radius and find this radiative suppression mechanism to be fairly insensitive to these effects. We also perform full time-dependent simulations demonstrating that the associated adverse entropy profiles are accurate and stable to convection. A simple and flexible set of open-source tools are provided to incorporate this radiative feedback into existing accretion models and population synthesis frameworks.

astro-ph.EP↗

Assessing the Impact of High-Resolution Imaging on Statistical Validation of TESS Planet Candidates

High-resolution imaging is widely used to constrain false-positive scenarios in exoplanet validation, but it is a finite follow-up resource that reaches only a subset of candidates, and its population-level impact on validation outcomes has not been quantified through controlled removal experiments. Using an automated pipeline built on TRICERATOPS, we compute the false-positive probability (FPP) of 443 TESS planet candidates. For the 264 planet candidates with high-resolution imaging observations, we compute FPP with and without the corresponding contrast curves, allowing us to quantify the impact of the additional data. We find that 72% of 68 contrast-curve bearing validated planets would fail validation without their adopted contrast curves. The fraction requiring imaging decreases with increasing planet size, from 100% below $1.7~R_\oplus$ to $33\%$ above $4~R_\oplus$: within our sample and TRICERATOPS-based analysis, the availability of high-resolution imaging directly limits the yield of small-planet validation and the supply of validated targets for atmospheric characterization. Our analysis statistically validates 64 new TESS planets with sizes spanning 0.94 to 7.83 $R_\oplus$ across hosts of spectral type M through F. Four of these are highly amenable to JWST observations based on the transmission and emission spectroscopy metrics, and each achieves validation only with its imaging constraint.

astro-ph.EP↗