Radiative transfer modeling of Haumea's dust ring

TL;DR

This study uses radiative transfer modeling to analyze Haumea's dust ring, predicting its spectral energy distribution and potential detectability across wavelengths, aiding understanding of its composition and grain size.

Contribution

It introduces radiative transfer modeling for small body rings, enabling detailed analysis of Haumea's ring composition and grain size, which was not possible with previous simple models.

Findings

Spectral energy distributions for various materials and grain sizes are provided.

Mid-infrared excess can indicate small grains even if the ring is unresolved.

Model predictions assist future multiwavelength observations.

Abstract

Among the growing number of small body rings in the solar system, the ring of Haumea has a special status as it is likely suitable for direct imaging in the visible and submillimeter wavelengths. In this paper, we highlight its sole detectability among Centaur/TNO rings using both the ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope to provide direct constraints on the ring composition for the first time. To overcome the limitations of the currently used simple ring models, we introduce radiative transfer modeling for small body ring systems. Here we perform a thorough analysis of the Haumea ring considering different materials and grain sizes, assuming that the ring consists of small particles with sizes below 1 mm. We present spectral energy distributions of each model for future comparison with multiwavelength measurements, providing a diagnostic tool to determine the dominant grain size and characteristic material of the ring, which are essential inputs for ring formation and evolution theories. Our results also show that for some sub-micron carbon-like or silicate grains, their mid-infrared excess can be detected even if the ring is not resolved, providing a tracer for small grains around the object.