English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Debris discs are dusty belts of planetesimals around main-sequence stars,similar to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our solar system. The planetesimalscannot be observed directly, yet they produce detectable dust in mutualcollisions. Observing the dust, we can try to infer properties of invisibleplanetesimals. Here we address the question of what is the best way to measurethe location of outer planetesimal belts that encompass extrasolar planetarysystems. A standard method is using resolved images at mm-wavelengths, whichreveal dust grains with sizes comparable to the observational wavelength.Smaller grains seen in the infrared (IR) are subject to severalnon-gravitational forces that drag them away from their birth rings, and so maynot closely trace the parent bodies. In this study, we examine whether imagingof debris discs at shorter wavelengths might enable determining the spatiallocation of the exo-Kuiper belts with sufficient accuracy. We find that aroundM-type stars the dust best visible in the mid-IR is efficiently displacedinward from their birth location by stellar winds, causing the discs to lookmore compact in mid-IR images than they actually are. However, aroundearlier-type stars where the majority of debris discs is found, discs are stillthe brightest at the birth ring location in the mid-IR regime. Thus, sensitiveIR facilities with good angular resolution, such as MIRI on JWST, will enabletracing exo-Kuiper belts in nearby debris disc systems.

Dust Spreading in Debris Discs: Do Small Grains Cling on to Their Birth Environment?