Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Observations of debris disks provide a valuable window to investigate the formation and evolution of planetary systems. We present high-contrast JWST/NIRCam observations of CPD-72 2713, a 24 Myr-old star that belongs to the $β$ Pic moving group. We obtained the first scattered-light images of the disk in both F210M and F444W filters, revealing a nearly face-on orientation. Forward modeling yields disk radii of $\rm 55.4^{+3.0}_{-3.2}\,AU$ (F210M) and $\rm 39.1^{+4.6}_ {-2.6}\,AU$ (F444W), both significantly smaller than the thermal emission radii measured with ALMA and Herschel/PACS. This discrepancy suggests that scattered light traces the inner region of the disk while thermal emission probes the outer regions. Combining the stellar rotation period ($4.47\pm0.67$ days) from TESS light curves and spectroscopic $v\sin i_*$, we constrained the stellar inclination to $47^{\circ}.2^{+11.1}_{-7.7}$ ($1σ$). The minimum star-disk mutual inclinations are $27^{\circ}.6 _{-8.2} ^{+11.5}\ (1σ)$ from F210M data and $27^{\circ}.3 _{-10.9}^{ +12.5}\ (1σ)$ in F444W data. We find that the minimum star--disk mutual inclination exceeds $10^\circ$ at the $95\%$ credible level in both F210M and F444W, suggesting a misalignment between the scattered-light disk and the stellar equatorial plane. We note that variation among published disk inclination measurements and potential systematic uncertainties may affect this probability. With JWST high-contrast imaging, we rule out planets down to $0.3\ \rm M_{J}$ at $0.5^{\prime\prime}$ and beyond, disfavoring a planet as the driver of the star-disk misalignment.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Zhang, Jingwen, Millar-Blanchaer, Maxwell A., Lawson, Kellen, Leisenring, Jarron, Bowler, Brendan P., Carter, Aarynn L., Biller, Beth, Pearce, Tim D., Marino, Sebastian, Bogat, Ellis, De Rosa, Robert J., Choquet, Élodie, Girard, Julien H., Godoy, Nicolas, Hinkley, S., Macintosh, Bruce, Matthews, Elisabeth C., Ray, Shrishmoy, Vancil, Connor, Altinier, Lisa
Institutions: University of Arizona, Space Telescope Science Institute, Royal Observatory, University of Edinburgh, Trinity College Dublin, University of Warwick, European Southern Observatory, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, University of Exeter, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Macquarie University, University of California, Santa Barbara
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222484538