# Possible spectral lines from the gaseous 𝛽Pictoris disk

## 1 Introduction

The $`\beta `$Pictoris disk is an evolved replenished circumstellar disk around a main sequence star, and appears to be a planetary (or cometary) disk (Vidal-Madjar et al. 1998). In addition to the dust disk, gas has been probed through absorption lines on the star line of sight (Lagrange et al. 1998). The observations of this gas component historically gave the most unexpected and important results with the detection of what appears to be the first extra-solar comets ever observed (Ferlet et al. 1987, Vidal-Madjar et al. 1998). However, non-radial motions are still unknown because observations are limited to the gaseous absorption lines on the star line of sight. Here we present the results of exploratory HST observations aimed to observe the emission lines of ions in the disk with the spectrograph slit off the star.

## 2 Observations and data analysis

### 2.1 Observations

The observations were made on February 9, 1996 with the HST/GHRS using the SSA slit (0.22″$`\times `$0.22″) and echelle spectroscopy at an expected resolution of 80 000 to get the highest chance of detection of lines with a priori unknown width. After a peak-up on the star $`\beta `$Pictoris and the acquisition of reference spectra, the telescope was shifted to the south-west part of the $`\beta `$Pictoris disk at a position angle of 31.5 degrees to a distance of 0.5 and 1.5″ from the star. The log of the observations is summarized in Table 1. The candidate lines are those from ions for which strong absorptions have been seen in the stable component due to the gas disk and in the variable components due to the infalling comets. On this basis, we expected the strongest fluorescence.

### 2.2 The method

The spectra observed on the disk present the same general shape as the spectra on the star but with a lower intensity level. Indeed, any spectrum of the disk obtained off the star ($`F_{obs}(\lambda )`$) is an addition of a “noise” component and a spectrum carrying information from the disk at the pointed position. The “noise” is the spectrum of the starlight scattered by the telescope ($`aF_{}(\lambda )`$, where $`F_{}(\lambda )`$ is the star spectrum) plus a background level ($`b`$) due to the fact that the background determined by the HST pipeline can be slightly miscalculated. The part of the spectrum due to the disk ($`F_{disk}`$) is the starlight scattered by the dust and the possible emission lines due to gaseous fluorescence. We thus consider that the additional noisy component ($`F_{noise}`$) is a linear combination of the stellar spectra ($`F_{}(\lambda )`$) obtained at the same wavelength a few orbits before:

$$F_{obs}(\lambda )=F_{noise}(\lambda )+F_{disk}(\lambda )aF_{}(\lambda )+b+F_{disk}(\lambda )$$
(1)   
To put forward the potential presence of a component different from the dominant starlight scattered by the telescope, we divide the observed spectra by the stellar spectra. The presence of a disk contribution at a wavelength $`\lambda `$ will be detected if the ratio $`F_{obs}(\lambda )/(aF_{}(\lambda )+b)`$ is statistically significantly different from 1.

The main problem is thus the determination of $`a`$ and $`b`$, and their errorbars within a confidence level. Assuming that the disk spectra (dust scattered light plus gas emission lines) have a negligible contribution to the observed spectra ($`F_{noise}(\lambda )F_{disk}(\lambda )`$), we can determine $`a`$ and $`b`$ by a $`\chi ^2`$ minimization of

$$\chi ^2=\underset{\lambda _i}{}w_{\lambda _i}(aF_{}(\lambda _i)+bF_{obs}(\lambda _i))^2,$$
(2)   
where $`w_{\lambda _i}=1/\sigma _{\lambda _i}^2`$ is the weight of each measurement at $`\lambda _i`$. This procedure gives not only the best determination of $`a`$ and $`b`$ but also intervals of confidence for these constants.

### 2.3 Results in the Fe ii lines

Spectra in the Fe ii wavelength range were obtained less than 10 minutes apart with the same instrument setting. The star and the disk spectra can be easily superimposed as shown in Fig. 1. An excess of flux clearly appears in the blue and the red part of the two strongest Fe ii lines at rest wavelength 2374.461 Å and 2382.765 Å. If $`a`$ and $`b`$ are determined as described in Sect 2.2, we get $`a^1=197\pm 3`$ and $`b=(3\pm 2)10^{15}`$ erg cm<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> Å<sup>-1</sup>. With these parameters, a plot of the ratio of the disk to the star spectra reveals an excess emission at 2$`\sigma `$ level (Fig. 2). The flux from the disk can be evaluated by the difference between the two spectra ($`F_{obs}(\lambda )(aF_{}(\lambda )+b)`$), and is $`F_{disk}10^{14}`$ erg cm<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> Å<sup>-1</sup> between 50 and 150 km s<sup>-1</sup> in the red part of the lines and around $``$50 km s<sup>-1</sup> in the blue part (Fig. 3). This emission is about 1 Å wide and stronger in the red part of the lines.

### 2.4 Discussion

The detection of apparent excess emission in the two Fe ii lines can be explained in different ways. We propose that this can be a real detection of the emission through the scattering of the starlight by the Fe ii ions in very high velocity motions. This will be discussed in detail in the next section. However other possibilities must be evaluated.

First, this feature obviously cannot be simply due to a possible miscalculation (underestimate) of $`b`$, the background correction. Indeed, by underestimating $`b`$, we could find false emission-like features at wavelength where the flux is low. But, one should increase the estimate of $`b`$ above its 4$`\sigma `$ upper limit ($`810^{15}`$ erg cm<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> Å<sup>-1</sup>) to explain the detected emission feature only by this effect. In addition, the emission is detected in both Fe ii lines, in particular in the Fe ii line at 2374.461 Å where the level is far above the zero level, and for which an error on the estimate of $`b`$ has almost no effect on the result. In fact, $`b`$ is well-determined by the very bottom of the strongest Fe ii lines where the level is clearly less than $`110^{14}`$ erg cm<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> Å<sup>-1</sup> (Fig. 1).

However, apparent emissions due to the addition of the statistical noise and a bad estimate of the background level might be possible. But, although not excluded, it is very unlikely that this coincidence can contribute to give apparent emissions in the two sides of the two strongest Fe ii lines.

The most important alternative to emission by Fe ii is a time variation of the $`\beta `$Pictoris spectrum between the observations of the template (the star) and the disk spectra. If the absorption component in the Fe ii lines had significantly decreased during the acquisition of the data, then the result is an apparent excess of emission in the second spectrum obtained with the slit off the star. Although the time between both spectra has been minimized, this possibility cannot be excluded without new observations, for example on the other side of the disk where the emission should be stronger in the blue.

## 3 The Fe ii emission lines

### 3.1 The dynamics of the Fe ii ions

If this detection is really due to emission by Fe ii ions, the lines width must be explained through the dynamics of these Fe ii ions in the disk. The Fe ii ions must be ejected from the $`\beta `$Pictoris system by the radiation pressure which is stronger than the gravitation by a factor $`\beta _{FeII}5`$ (Lagrange et al., 1998). After ejection, they rapidly reach a constant asymptotic velocity $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$. If they are ejected from a body on a circular orbit, $`v_{\mathrm{}}\sqrt{(2\beta 1)(GM/a_0)}`$, where $`a_0`$ is the radius of the orbit of the parent body. If they are ejected from a comet on a parabolic orbit, the final velocity is $`v_{\mathrm{}}\sqrt{(2\beta GM/a_0)}`$. In this simple scheme, the observed final velocity of about 100 km s<sup>-1</sup> (Fig. 3) corresponds to a production at about 1.5 AU from the star, or similarly to the absence of gas drag beyond that distance.

The emission lines are stronger in the red than in the blue. This is similar to the asymmetry already observed in the cometary absorption lines which are mainly redshifted (Beust et al. 1996). This last asymmetry is well-explained by the evaporation of comets with a small range of longitude of periastron (Beust et al. 1998). An alternative explanation for the observed asymmetry in the emission lines could be an extended shape for the dragging torus of gas needed to support the radiation pressure on the Ca ii and Fe ii ions observed at zero radial velocity in the stable gaseous disk (Lagrange et al. 1998, Beust et al. 1998). For both explanations, it is clear that the observed south-west branch of the disk must be the “red side” of the disk (Fig. 4). This provides an observational test : the north-east branch must present a larger emission in the blue lines.

### 3.2 The Fe ii density

The total brightness of Fe ii emission lines can be evaluated to be:

$$F_{emission}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }d^2sF_\nu ^{\beta \mathrm{Pic}}}{4\pi }n(r)/r^2𝑑x$$
(3)   
in $`\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the solid angle covered by the spectrograph slit. The SSA slit (0.22″x0.22″) gives $`\mathrm{\Omega }=10^{12}`$. $`d`$ is the distance to $`\beta `$Pictoris ($`d=19.3`$ pc$`610^{19}`$cm). $`s`$ is the frequency integral of the cross section. $`F_\nu ^{\beta \mathrm{Pic}}`$ is the brightness per unit of frequency of $`\beta `$Pictoris seen from the Earth at the relevant wavelength. $`n(r)`$ is the density of the observed ion at a distance $`r`$ from the central star. $`dx`$ is the differential length along the line of sight. We can define a weighted integral equivalent to the column density by

$$\stackrel{~}{N}_{r_0}\frac{n(r)}{r^2}r_0^2𝑑x=\frac{4\pi r_0^2F_{emission}}{\mathrm{\Omega }d^2sF_\nu ^{\beta \mathrm{Pic}}},$$
(4)   
where $`r_0`$ is the impact parameter of the line of sight ($`r_0(0.5\mathrm{})=10`$ AU). For the Fe ii 2382 Å line, $`s=810^3`$ cm<sup>2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> and the observed emission is $`F_{emission}=F_\lambda ^{disk}\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 10^{14}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1.`$ Finally, we have

$$\stackrel{~}{N}_{10\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}}5.210^{26}\left(\frac{F_{emission}}{\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1}\right)\mathrm{cm}^2$$
(5)   
$$\stackrel{~}{N}_{10\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}}510^{12}\mathrm{cm}^2$$
(6)   
This value is consistent with the Fe ii column density ($`N_{\text{Fe }\text{ii}}=n(r)𝑑r=310^{14}`$ cm<sup>-2</sup>) and the hypothesis that Fe ii should be gathered in the dragging torus around 1 AU and that they have an $`r^2`$ distribution beyond this torus (Lagrange et al. 1998). To evaluate the Fe ii volume density, $`n_0`$, at $`r_0`$, we can define the dimensionless quantity $`K`$ by $`Kn(r)r_0/(n_0r^2)𝑑x.`$ Then,

$$n_0=\frac{4\pi r_0F_{emission}}{\mathrm{\Omega }d^2sF_\nu ^{\beta \mathrm{Pic}}K}=\frac{\stackrel{~}{N}}{r_0K}.$$
(7)   
If we make the assumption that $`n(r)=n_0(r_0/r)^\alpha `$, we have $`K_{\alpha =0}=\pi `$, $`K_{\alpha =1}=2`$, $`K_{\alpha =2}=\pi /2`$, …, $`K_{\alpha =8}=35\pi /128`$, et cetera. $`\alpha =2`$ would correspond to gas expelled by radiation pressure. For reasonable value of $`\alpha `$, within a factor of 2, $`K2`$. As a final result, we get

$$n_0210^2\mathrm{cm}^3,\mathrm{at}10\mathrm{AU}.$$
(8)   
The calculation has been done with the hypothesis of an optically thin line. We also assume that the filling factor in the vertical direction is 1, thus the obtained density $`n_0`$ is in fact a lower limit. The other Fe ii line at 2374 Å has an oscillator strength 10 times smaller but the stellar flux is larger at this wavelength ($`410^{11}`$ erg cm<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> Å<sup>-1</sup>). It gives about the same value of density within a factor of 2.

The corresponding Fe ii production rate can be roughly estimated by the flux of material ($`v=100`$ km s<sup>-1</sup>) through the area observed at 10 AU with high $`H(0.22\mathrm{})=4.4`$ AU: $`Q(\text{Fe }\text{ii})=2\pi r_0Hvn_010^9`$ kg s<sup>-1</sup>. With solar abundances, this corresponds to the total disruption of about 10 asteroids per year with a radius of 30 km.

## 4 Need for confirmation

To confirm the tentative detection presented in this paper, new observations are really needed. The first obvious method will be to observe the other (north-east) side of the disk which should present the same feature except blueshifted instead of redshifted. We can also observe other lines which should present the same characteristics. The Fe ii lines at 2600 Å and Mg ii lines at 2800 Å are well-suited candidates. The Cr ii line at 2050 Å with an intermediate $`\beta _{\text{Cr }\text{ii}}3`$ is also an interesting target (Lagrange et al. 1998). STIS, with long-slit capability is technically better suited to this observation.

## 5 Conclusion

HST observations planned to detect the emission lines of ions in the $`\beta `$Pictoris disk with the spectrograph slit placed off the star gave a marginal detection of possible emission lines from Fe ii ions at 0.5″ from $`\beta `$Pictoris. This would suggest an Fe ii density of $`210^2`$cm<sup>-3</sup> at 10 AU.

If real, this indicates a large production rate of gas and dust equivalent to the total disruption of 10 bodies of 30 kilometers in radius per year. This corresponds to a production rate of about $`210^7`$M<sub>Earth</sub> per year. New observations are obviously needed to confirm this detection.