Indicator of Exo-Solar Planet(s) in the Circumstellar Disk Around β Pictoris

Abstract

Abstract.Our efficient numerical approach has been applied to modeling the asymmetric circumstellar dust disk around (3 Pictoris as observed with the HST/STIS. We present a new model on the origin of the warping of the (3 Pic disk. We suggest that the observed warp is formed by the gravitational influence of a planet with a mass of about 10 masses of Earth, at a distance of 70 AU, and a small inclination ('" 2.5°) of the planetary orbit to the main dust disk. Results of our modeling are compared with the STIS observations.

A probable giant planet imaged in the β Pictoris disk

“…(Kalas & Jewitt 1995;Heap et al 2000) and infrared (Telesco et al 2005) wavelengths, as well as a warp at ∼50 AU (Mouillet et al 1997;Heap et al 2000). The structure is reproduced well by the deformation induced on colliding planetesimals by a giant planet on a slightly inclined orbit within 50 AU of the star (Krist et al 1996;Mouillet et al 1997;Gorkavyi et al 2004;Augereau et al 2001;Thébault & Beust 2001). Silicate dust is observed as circumstellar rings at 6, 16, and 30 AU from the star (Okamoto et al 2004), which could be explained by the presence of a 2−5-Jovian-mass (M Jup ) planet at ∼10 AU from the star (Freistetter et al 2007).…”