Modeling the HD 32297 debris disk with far-infrared Herschel data

Abstract

HD 32297 is a young A-star (∼30 Myr) 112 pc away with a bright edge-on debris disk that has been resolved in scattered light. We observed the HD 32297 debris disk in the far-infrared and sub-millimeter with the Herschel Space Observatory PACS and SPIRE instruments, populating the spectral energy distribution (SED) from 63 to 500 μm. We aimed to determine the composition of dust grains in the HD 32297 disk through SED modeling, using geometrical constraints from the resolved imaging to break the degeneracies inherent in SED modeling. We found the best fitting SED model has two components: an outer ring centered around 110 AU, seen in the scattered light images, and an inner disk near the habitable zone of the star. The outer disk appears to be composed of grains >2 μm consisting of silicates, carbonaceous material, and water ice with an abundance ratio of 1:2:3 respectively and 90% porosity. These grains appear consistent with cometary grains, implying the underlying planetesimal population is dominated by comet-like bodies. We also discuss the 3.7σ detection of [C II] emission at 158 μm with the Herschel PACS instrument, making HD 32297 one of only a handful of debris disks with circumstellar gas detected. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.