Keywords

We present the first subarcsecond images of 49 Ceti in the [C i] ³P₁–³P₀ emission and the 614 μm dust continuum emission observed with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), as well as that in the CO(J = 3–2) emission prepared by using the ALMA archival data. The spatial distribution of the 614 μm dust continuum emission is found to have a broad-ring structure with a radius of about 100 au around the central star. A substantial amount of gas is also associated with 49 Ceti. The [C i] emission map shows two peaks inside the dust ring, and its overall extent is comparable to that of the dust continuum emission and the CO emission. We find that the [C i]/CO(J = 3–2) intensity ratio significantly varies along the major axis. The ratio takes the minimum value of 1.8 around the dust peak position, and increases inward and outward. The enhanced ratio around the central star (∼3) likely originates from the stellar UV radiation, while that in the outer disk (∼10) is from the interstellar UV radiation. Such complex distributions of the [C i] and CO(J = 3–2) emission will be key to understanding the origin of the gas in 49 Ceti, and will also provide a stringent constraint on physical and chemical models of gaseous debris disks.

We present ∼04 resolution images of CO(3–2) and associated continuum emission from the gas-bearing debris disk around the nearby A star 49 Ceti, observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). We analyze the ALMA visibilities in tandem with the broadband spectral energy distribution to measure the radial surface density profiles of dust and gas emission from the system. The dust surface density decreases with radius between ∼100 and 310 au, with a marginally significant enhancement of surface density at a radius of ∼110 au. The SED requires an inner disk of small grains in addition to the outer disk of larger grains resolved by ALMA. The gas disk exhibits a surface density profile that increases with radius, contrary to most previous spatially resolved observations of circumstellar gas disks. While ∼80% of the CO flux is well described by an axisymmetric power-law disk in Keplerian rotation about the central star, residuals at ∼20% of the peak flux exhibit a departure from axisymmetry suggestive of spiral arms or a warp in the gas disk. The radial extent of the gas disk (∼220 au) is smaller than that of the dust disk (∼300 au), consistent with recent observations of other gas-bearing debris disks. While there are so far only three broad debris disks with well characterized radial dust profiles at millimeter wavelengths, 49 Ceti's disk shows a markedly different structure from two radially resolved gas-poor debris disks, implying that the physical processes generating and sculpting the gas and dust are fundamentally different.

We present the first scattered-light images of the debris disk around 49 Ceti, a ∼40 Myr A1 main-sequence star at 59 pc, famous for hosting two massive dust belts as well as large quantities of atomic and molecular gas. The outer disk is revealed in reprocessed archival Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS-F110W images, as well as new coronagraphic H-band images from the Very Large Telescope SPHERE instrument. The disk extends from 11 (65 au) to 46 (250 au) and is seen at an inclination of 73°, which refines previous measurements at lower angular resolution. We also report no companion detection larger than 3 M_Jup at projected separations beyond 20 au from the star (034). Comparison between the F110W and H-band images is consistent with a gray color of 49 Ceti's dust, indicating grains larger than ≳2 μm. Our photometric measurements indicate a scattering efficiency/infrared excess ratio of 0.2–0.4, relatively low compared to other characterized debris disks. We find that 49 Ceti presents morphological and scattering properties very similar to the gas-rich HD 131835 system. From our constraint on the disk inclination we find that the atomic gas previously detected in absorption must extend to the inner disk, and that the latter must be depleted of CO gas. Building on previous studies, we propose a schematic view of the system describing the dust and gas structure around 49 Ceti and hypothetical scenarios for the gas nature and origin.

We present the analysis of time-variable Doppler-shifted absorption features in far-UV spectra of the unusual 49 Ceti debris disk. This nearly edge-on disk is one of the brightest known and is one of the very few containing detectable amounts of circumstellar (CS) gas as well as dust. In our two visits of Hubble Space Telescope STIS spectra, variable absorption features are seen on the wings of lines arising from Cii and Civ but not for any of the other CS absorption lines. Similar variable features have long been seen in spectra of the well-studied $\beta$ Pictoris debris disk and attributed to the transits of star-grazing comets. We calculated the velocity ranges and apparent column densities of the 49 Cet variable gas, which appears to have been moving at velocities of tens to hundreds of km s⁻¹ relative to the central star. The velocities in the redshifted variable event seen in the second visit show that the maximum distances of the infalling gas at the time of transit were about 0.05–0.2 au from the central star. A preliminary attempt at a composition analysis of the redshifted event suggests that the C/O ratio in the infalling gas is super-solar, as it is in the bulk of the stable disk gas.

We present Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph far-UV spectra of the edge-on disk around 49 Ceti, one of the very few debris disks showing submillimeter CO emission. Many atomic absorption lines are present in the spectra, most of which arise from circumstellar gas lying along the line-of-sight to the central star. We determined the line-of-sight C i column density, estimated the total carbon column density, and set limits on the O i column density. Surprisingly, no line-of-sight CO absorption was seen. We discuss possible explanations for this non-detection, and present preliminary estimates of the carbon abundances in the line-of-sight gas. The C/Fe ratio is much greater than the solar value, suggesting that 49 Cet harbors a volatile-rich gas disk similar to that of β Pictoris.

The gaseous molecular disk that orbits the main-sequence A-type star 49 Ceti has been known since 1995, but the stellar age and the origin of the observed carbon monoxide molecules have been unknown. We now identify 49 Ceti as a member of the 40 Myr old Argus Association and present a colliding comet model to explain the high CO concentrations seen at 49 Ceti and the 30 Myr old A-type star HD 21997. The model suggests that massive—400 Earth mass—analogs of the Sun's Kuiper Belt are in orbit around some A-type stars, that these large masses are composed primarily of comet-like objects, and that these objects are rich in CO and perhaps also CO₂. We identify additional early-type members of the Argus Association and the Tucana/Horologium and Columba Associations; some of these stars display excess mid-infrared emission as measured with the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer.