Debris disks as tracers of small body populations

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Debris disks are tenuous gas-poor dust disks detected around hundreds of main-sequence stars. They are thought to derive from planetesimals – asteroid- and comet-like bodies – that survived the planet formation process. Due to much larger total cross section area, dust is easier to observe than planets, not speaking of planetesimals. On the other hand, distributions of dust respond to the presence of planetary perturbers, reflect distributions of the parent bodies and bear important memory of the planetary formation process in the past. Hence debris disks can serve as tracers of directly invisible planets and small bodies and as a measure of the evolutionary stage of planetary systems. The aim of the proposed project is to extend our knowledge of small bodies in extrasolar planetary systems with the help of state-of-the-art models. We will find out, how the observable parameters of a debris disk are affected by the parameters of its parent body population and conversely, which properties of small body populations can be constrained from observations of debris disks. Short-term and long-term evolution with asteroidal and cometary sources will also be covered. The expected results could contribute to completing the “census” of extrasolar planetary systems and to better understanding of their formation and evolution.