Testing the Interaction Between a Substellar Companion and a Debris Disk in the HR 2562 System

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA and GPI observations to analyze the HR 2562 system, revealing a nearly coplanar debris disk and a substellar companion with an upper mass limit of 18.5 Jupiter masses, providing insights into disk-companion interactions.

Contribution

First combined ALMA and GPI data analysis of HR 2562, constraining the companion's orbit, mass, and disk properties, and supporting a near-coplanar system configuration.

Findings

Disk is well resolved and nearly edge-on.

System likely has a coplanar disk and orbit.

Inner disk radius aligns with dynamical models.

Abstract

The HR 2562 system is a rare case where a brown dwarf companion resides in a cleared inner hole of a debris disk, offering invaluable opportunities to study the dynamical interaction between a substellar companion and a dusty disk. We present the first ALMA observation of the system as well as the continued GPI monitoring of the companion's orbit with 6 new epochs from 2016 to 2018. We update the orbital fit and, in combination with absolute astrometry from GAIA, place a 3$\sigma$ upper limit of 18.5 $M_J$ on the companion's mass. To interpret the ALMA observations, we used radiative transfer modeling to determine the disk properties. We find that the disk is well resolved and nearly edge on. While the misalignment angle between the disk and the orbit is weakly constrained due to the short orbital arc available, the data strongly support a (near) coplanar geometry for the system. Furthermore, we find that the models that describe the ALMA data best have an inner radius that is close to the companion's semi-major axis. Including a posteriori knowledge of the system's SED further narrows the constraints on the disk's inner radius and place it at a location that is in reasonable agreement with, possibly interior to, predictions from existing dynamical models of disk truncation by an interior substellar companion. HR\,2562 has the potential over the next few years to become a new testbed for dynamical interaction between a debris disk and a substellar companion.