New millimeter CO observations of the gas-rich debris disks 49 Cet and HD 32297

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations to detect high levels of CO gas in two debris disks, revealing efficient shielding mechanisms and potential gas-dust coupling, thus identifying a new class of shielded debris disks.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurements of CO in 49 Cet and HD 32297, demonstrating high CO content and proposing models for shielding and gas-dust interactions.

Findings

High CO masses (>0.01 M_⊕) detected in both disks.

Shielding by carbon atoms and self-shielding explain CO levels.

Potential gas-dust coupling in HD 32297, uncertain in 49 Cet.

Abstract

Previous observations revealed the existence of CO gas at nearly protoplanetary level in several dust-rich debris disks around young A-type stars. Here we used the ALMA 7m-array to measure $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O emission toward two debris disks, 49 Cet and HD 32297, and detected similarly high CO content ($>$0.01M$_\oplus$). These high CO masses imply a highly efficient shielding of CO molecules against stellar and interstellar ultraviolet photons. Adapting a recent secondary gas disk model that considers both shielding by carbon atoms and self-shielding of CO, we can explain the observed CO level in both systems. Based on the derived gas densities we suggest that, in the HD 32297 disk, dust and gas are coupled and the dynamics of small grains is affected by the gaseous component. For 49 Cet, the question of coupling remains undecided. We found that the main stellar and disk propertiesof 49 Cet and HD 32297 are very similar to those of previously identified debris disks with high CO content. These objects constitute together the first known representatives of shielded debris disks.