Institute of Astronomy

Numerical predictions for planets in the debris discs of HD202628 and HD207129

SpeakerTalk DateTalk Series
Elodie Thilliez28 July 2014Across HR 2014 Posters

Abstract

Resolved debris disc images can exhibit a range of radial and azimuthal structures, including gaps, rings and warps, which can result from planetary companions shaping the disc by their gravitational influence. Currently there are no tools available to determine the complete architecture of the companion systems from disc observations. Recent work by Rodigas et al. (2014) present a framework by which one can estimate the maximum mass and minimum semi major axis of a planet from the debris discÂ’s width in scattered light. In this work, we use the predictions of Rodigas et al. applied to HD 202628 and HD 207129 and numerically search for a better estimate of the companionsÂ’ parameters. We perform simulations using a modified N-body code which include radiation forces for a broad range of input parameters and compare synthetics images from our simulations to the scattered light observations of Krist et al. (2010, 2012).

Presentation