Debris disks as tracers of small body populations

碎片盘是在数百颗主序星周围探测到的稀薄的气体尘埃盘。它们被认为是来自于行星形成过程中幸存下来的小行星-小行星和彗星状天体。由于总横截面面积大得多，尘埃比行星更容易观察，更不用说星子了。另一方面，尘埃的分布响应于行星扰动的存在，反映了母体的分布，并承载着过去行星形成过程的重要记忆。因此，碎片盘可以作为直接看不见的行星和小天体的示踪剂，并作为行星系统演化阶段的衡量标准。拟议项目的目的是借助最先进的模型扩大我们对太阳系外行星系统中小天体的了解。我们将发现，碎片盘的可观测参数是如何受到其母体种群参数的影响，反过来，小天体种群的哪些特性可以从碎片盘的观测中得到限制。小行星和彗星来源的短期和长期演变也将包括在内。预期结果将有助于完成太阳系外行星系统的“普查”，并有助于更好地了解其形成和演变。

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.