Sub-millimeter non-contaminated detection of the disk around TWA\,7 by ALMA

TL;DR

This paper reports the first sub-millimeter detection of the debris disk around TWA 7 using ALMA, disentangling it from a contaminant source and providing new insights into the disk's structure and mass.

Contribution

First sub-millimeter detection of TWA 7's debris disk with ALMA, clarifying its structure and ruling out multiple dust belts.

Findings

Detected the disk at 870 μm with 2.1±0.4 mJy flux density.

Identified a contaminant source likely a sub-mm galaxy near TWA 7.

Reproduced the SED with a single dust belt.

Abstract

Debris disks can be seen as the left-overs of giant planet formation and the possible nurseries of rocky planets. While M-type stars out-number more massive stars we know very little about the time evolution of their circumstellar disks at ages older than $\sim 10$\,Myr. Sub-millimeter observations are best to provide first order estimates of the available mass reservoir and thus better constrain the evolution of such disks. Here, we present ALMA Cycle\,3 Band\,7 observations of the debris disk around the M2 star TWA\,7, which had been postulated to harbor two spatially separated dust belts, based on unresolved far-infrared and sub-millimeter data. We show that most of the emission at wavelengths longer than $\sim 300$\,$\mu$m is in fact arising from a contaminant source, most likely a sub-mm galaxy, located at about 6.6" East of TWA\,7 (in 2016). Fortunately, the high resolution of our ALMA data allows us to disentangle the contaminant emission from that of the disc and report a significant detection of the disk in the sub-millimeter for the first time with a flux density of 2.1$\pm$0.4 mJy at 870 $\mu$m. With this detection, we show that the SED can be reproduced with a single dust belt.