Collisional and Thermal Emission Models of Debris Disks: Towards Planetesimal Population Properties

TL;DR

This study develops collisional and thermal emission models for debris disks to infer properties of planetesimal populations, using simulations and observed spectral energy distributions to estimate disk characteristics around sun-like stars.

Contribution

It introduces a new modeling approach linking collisional evolution with observed disk emissions to estimate planetesimal properties.

Findings

Outer debris disks are consistent with large Kuiper belts of 0.2-50 Earth masses.

Models successfully reproduce observed SEDs with a combination of inner and outer disk components.

Estimated planetesimal sizes and locations align with known debris disk observations.

Abstract

Debris disks around main-sequence stars are believed to derive from planetesimal populations that have accreted at early epochs and survived possible planet formation processes. While debris disks must contain solids in a broad range of sizes - from big planetesimals down to tiny dust grains - debris disk observations are only sensitive to the dust end of the size distribution. Collisional models of debris disks are needed to "climb up" the ladder of the collisional cascade, from dust towards parent bodies, representing the main mass reservoir of the disks. We have used our collisional code to generate five disks around a sun-like star, assuming planetesimal belts at 3, 10, 30, 100, and 200 AU with 10 times the Edgeworth-Kuiper-belt mass density, and to evolve them for 10 Gyr. Along with an appropriate scaling rule, this effectively yields a three-parametric set of reference disks (initial mass, location of planetesimal belt, age). For all the disks, we have generated spectral energy distributions (SEDs), assuming homogeneous spherical astrosilicate dust grains. A comparison between generated and actually observed SEDs yields estimates of planetesimal properties (location, total mass etc.). As a test and a first application of this approach, we have selected five disks around sun-like stars with well-known SEDs. In four cases, we have reproduced the data with a linear combination of two disks from the grid (an "asteroid belt" at 3 AU and an outer "Kuiper belt"); in one case a single, outer component was sufficient. The outer components are compatible with "large Kuiper belts" of 0.2-50 earth masses (in the bodies up to 100 km in size) with radii of 100-200 AU.