# Probing Unseen Planet Populations with Resolved Debris Disk Structures

## TL;DR

This paper discusses how high-resolution imaging of debris disks can uncover unseen low-mass planets and provide insights into planetary system formation and evolution, especially for wide-orbit planets similar to those in our Solar System.

## Contribution

It evaluates the potential of current and future infrared and millimeter telescopes to resolve debris disks, enabling indirect detection of hidden planets and understanding planetary demographics.

## Key findings

- JWST and Origins Space Telescope can resolve nearly half of known debris disks.
- Resolved debris structures can reveal properties of unseen planet populations.
- High-fidelity imaging across wavelengths can inform planet formation theories.

## Abstract

Thousands of exoplanets have been found with many widely different from the ones in our own system. Despite the success, systems with planets in wide orbits analogous to those of Jupiter and Saturn, in the critical first several hundred million years of evolution, are virtually unexplored. Where are the low-mass planets that are hidden from our exoplanet detection techniques? Is our Solar System's planetary architecture unique? High-fidelity debris disk images offer an effective method to answer these questions. We can use them to study the formation and evolution of low-mass planets from youth to the age of the Solar System, providing snapshots of the complex processes and valuable insights into the formation and migration history of giant planets at wide orbits. This white paper focuses on resolving debris structures in thermal emission that is applicable to a large unbiased sample. We summarize the properties of the known debris disks and assess the feasibility of resolving them within our current and future infrared and millimeter facilities by adopting uniform criteria. JWST and the 9-m Origins Space Telescope are the most promising missions in the coming decades to resolve almost half of the known disks at high fidelity. Resolved debris structures at multiple wavelengths and at all stages of evolution would reveal the properties of unseen planet populations, enabling a unique demographic study of overall planet formation and evolution.