An Interferometric Study of the Fomalhaut Inner Debris Disk. I. Near-Infrared Detection of Hot Dust with VLTI/VINCI

in Astrophysical Journal (2009), 704

The innermost parts of dusty debris disks around main-sequence stars are currently poorly known due to the high contrast and small angular separation with their parent stars. Using near-infrared ... [more ▼]

The innermost parts of dusty debris disks around main-sequence stars are currently poorly known due to the high contrast and small angular separation with their parent stars. Using near-infrared interferometry, we aim to detect the signature of hot dust around the nearby A4 V star Fomalhaut, which has already been suggested to harbor a warm dust population in addition to a cold dust ring located at about 140 AU. Archival data obtained with the VINCI instrument at the VLTI are used to study the fringe visibility of the Fomalhaut system at projected baseline lengths ranging from 4 m to 140 m in the K band. A significant visibility deficit is observed at short baselines with respect to the expected visibility of the sole stellar photosphere. This is interpreted as the signature of resolved circumstellar emission, producing a relative flux of 0.88% ± 0.12% with respect to the stellar photosphere. While our interferometric data cannot directly constrain the morphology of the excess emission source, complementary data from the literature allow us to discard an off-axis point-like object as the source of circumstellar emission. We argue that the thermal emission from hot dusty grains located within 6 AU from Fomalhaut is the most plausible explanation for the detected excess. Our study also provides a revised limb-darkened diameter for Fomalhaut (theta_LD = 2.223 ± 0.022 mas), taking into account the effect of the resolved circumstellar emission. Based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the Paranal Observatory (public VINCI commissioning data). [less ▲]

A near-infrared interferometric survey of debris disk stars. I. Probing the hot dust content around eps Eridani and tau Ceti with CHARA/FLUOR

in Astronomy and Astrophysics (2007), 475

Context: The quest for hot dust in the central region of debris disks requires high resolution and high dynamic range imaging. Near-infrared interferometry is a powerful means to directly detect faint ... [more ▼]

Context: The quest for hot dust in the central region of debris disks requires high resolution and high dynamic range imaging. Near-infrared interferometry is a powerful means to directly detect faint emission from hot grains. Aims: We probed the first 3 AU around tau Ceti and eps Eridani with the CHARA array (Mt Wilson, USA) in order to gauge the 2 mum excess flux emanating from possible hot dust grains in the debris disks and to also resolve the stellar photospheres. Methods: High precision visibility amplitude measurements were performed with the FLUOR single mode fiber instrument and telescope pairs on baselines ranging from 22 to 241 m of projected length. The short baseline observations allow us to disentangle the contribution of an extended structure from the photospheric emission, while the long baselines constrain the stellar diameter. Results: We have detected a resolved emission around tau Cet, corresponding to a spatially integrated, fractional excess flux of 0.98±0.21 × 10[SUP]-2[/SUP] with respect to the photospheric flux in the K'-band. Around eps Eri, our measurements can exclude a fractional excess of greater than 0.6× 10[SUP]-2[/SUP] (3sigma). We interpret the photometric excess around tau Cet as a possible signature of hot grains in the inner debris disk and demonstrate that a faint, physical or background, companion can be safely excluded. In addition, we measured both stellar angular diameters with an unprecedented accuracy: Theta_LD(tau Cet)= 2.015 ± 0.011 mas and Theta_LD(eps Eri)=2.126 ± 0.014 mas. [less ▲]

Hot Circumstellar Material around Vega

in Coudé du Foresto, Vincent; Rouan, Daniel; Rousset, Gérard (Eds.) Visions for Infrared Astronomy (2006, March)

Using the FLUOR beam-combiner at the CHARA Array, we have obtained highprecision visibility measurements of Vega, a prototypic debris-disk star. The combination of long and short baselines has allowed us ... [more ▼]

Using the FLUOR beam-combiner at the CHARA Array, we have obtained highprecision visibility measurements of Vega, a prototypic debris-disk star. The combination of long and short baselines has allowed us to separately resolve the stellar photosphere and the close environment of the star (< 8 AU). Our observations show a significant deficit in square visibility at short baselines with respect to the expected visibility of a simple uniform disk stellar model, suggesting the presence of an extended source around Vega. We propose that the excess emission is most likely due to the presence of hot circumstellar dust in the inner part of Vega's debris disk, with a flux ratio of 1.29 ± 0.19% between the integrated dust emission and the stellar photosphere. Using this information together with archival photometric measurements in the nearand mid-infrared, we derive the expected physical properties of the circumstellar dust by modelling its infrared Spectral Energy Distribution. The inferred properties suggest that the Vega system could be currently undergoing major dynamical perturbations. [less ▲]