Pursuing the planet-debris disk connection: Analysis of upper limits from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search

TL;DR

This study investigates the relationship between debris disks and planetary companions around stars by combining infrared observations with long-term radial velocity data, finding no clear correlation but setting limits on Jupiter-like planets.

Contribution

It integrates multi-wavelength data and long-term radial velocity limits to analyze the connection between debris disks and planets, providing new constraints on planetary system architectures.

Findings

No convincing correlation between debris disks and planetary companions.

Robust limits on the presence of Jupiter analogs around observed stars.

Insights into small-body dynamics in nearby planetary systems.

Abstract

Solid material in protoplanetary discs will suffer one of two fates after the epoch of planet formation; either being bound up into planetary bodies, or remaining in smaller planetesimals to be ground into dust. These end states are identified through detection of sub-stellar companions by periodic radial velocity (or transit) variations of the star, and excess emission at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, respectively. Since the material that goes into producing the observable outcomes of planet formation is the same, we might expect these components to be related both to each other and their host star. Heretofore, our knowledge of planetary systems around other stars has been strongly limited by instrumental sensitivity. In this work, we combine observations at far-infrared wavelengths by IRAS, Spitzer, and Herschel with limits on planetary companions derived from non-detections in the 16-year Anglo-Australian Planet Search to clarify the architectures of these (potential) planetary systems and search for evidence of correlations between their constituent parts. We find no convincing evidence of such correlations, possibly owing to the dynamical history of the disk systems, or the greater distance of the planet-search targets. Our results place robust limits on the presence of Jupiter analogs which, in concert with the debris disk observations, provides insights on the small-body dynamics of these nearby systems.