Abstract
Abstract We present characterization of the planetary system architecture for V488 Per, the dustiest main-sequence star known with a fractional infrared luminosity of ≈16%. Far-infrared imaging photometry confirms the existence of an outer planetary system dust population with a blackbody-fit temperature of ≈130 K. Mid-infrared spectroscopy probing the previously identified ≈800 K inner planetary system dust population does not detect any obvious solid-state emission features, suggesting either large grain sizes that mute such emission and/or grain compositions dominated by species like amorphous carbon and metallic iron, which do not produce such features. In the latter case, the presence of significant quantities of iron-rich material could be indicative of the active formation of a Mercury-like planet around V488 Per. In any event, the absence of solid-state emission features is very unusual among main-sequence stars with copious amounts of warm orbiting dust particles; we know of no other such star whose mid-infrared spectrum lacks such features. Combined radial velocity monitoring and adaptive optics imaging find no evidence for stellar/substellar companions within several hundred astronomical units of V488 Per.
Highlights
Many main-sequence stars are known to host substantial quantities of dusty material in their inner planetary systems (e.g., Melis 2016; Absil et al 2021; Melis et al 2021; Moór et al 2021, and references therein)
Dusty main-sequence stars are frequently found to reside in multiple stellar systems raising the question of whether or not multiplicity and chaotic dynamics contribute to generating these systems (e.g., Zuckerman 2015; Moór et al 2021)
Optical echelle spectra for V488 Per and a radial velocity standard of similar temperature class, HR 124 (Nidever et al 2002), were collected at the Lick Observatory with the Automated Planet Finder (APF) telescope and Levy spectrograph (Vogt et al 2014), as well as the Shane telescope and Hamilton spectrograph (Vogt 1987; Pakhomov & Zhao 2013)
Summary
Many main-sequence stars are known to host substantial quantities of dusty material in their inner planetary systems (e.g., Melis 2016; Absil et al 2021; Melis et al 2021; Moór et al 2021, and references therein). Most extreme debris disk stars have mid-infrared spectral features from silicate species indicating large quantities of highly processed material (crystalline and silica grains) in addition to less processed amorphous species (e.g., Figure 1) It is worth noting three unusual systems that might be host to rather different dusty material (Melis et al 2013; Lisse et al 2017). Thorough characterization and modeling of mid-infrared spectral features for the dustiest main-sequence stars is essential in developing a complete picture for the types of compositions at a mineralogical level these systems host and the dynamical conditions that lead to their production through collisional processes (e.g., Lisse et al 2009, 2012; Meng et al 2014; Su et al 2020).
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