On the steady state collisional evolution of debris disks around M dwarfs

Abstract

Debris disks have been found primarily around intermediate and solar mass stars (spectral types A-K), but rarely around low-mass M-type stars. This scarcity of detections in M star surveys can be confronted with the predictions of the steady state collisional evolution model. First, we determine the parameters of the disk population evolved with this model and fit to the distribution of the fractional dust luminosities measured in the surveys of A- and FGK-type stars observed by the infrared satellite Spitzer. Thus, in our approach, we stipulate that the initial disk mass distribution is bimodal and that only high-mass collisionally-dominated disks are detected. The best determined parameter is the diameter Dc of the largest planetesimals in the collisional cascade of the model, which ranges between 2 and 60 km, consistently for disks around both A- and FGK-type stars. Second, we assume that the same disk population surrounds the M dwarfs that have been the subjects of debris disk searches in the far-infrared with Spitzer and at submillimeter wavelengths with radiotelescopes. We find, in the framework of our study, that this disk population, which has been fit to the AFGK data, is still consistent with the observed lack of disks around M dwarfs with Spitzer. © ESO, 2014.