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Glancing through the debris disk: Photometric analysis of DE Boo with CHEOPS

Boldog, G. M. Szabó, L. Kriskovics, A. Brandeker, F. Kiefer, A. Bekkelien, P. Guterman, G. Olofsson, A. E. Simon, D. Gandolfi, L. M. Serrano, T. G. Wilson, S. G. Sousa, A. Lecavelier Des Etangs, Y. Alibert, R. Alonso, G. Anglada, T. Bandy, T. Bárczy, D. Barrado, S. C. C. Barros, W. Baumjohann, M. Beck, T. Beck, W. Benz, N. Billot, X. Bonfils, C. Broeg, M. Buder, J. Cabrera, S. Charnoz, A. Collier Cameron, C. Corral Van Damme, S. Csizmadia, M. B. Davies, A. Deline, M. Deleuil, L. Delrez, O. D. S. Demangeon, B.-O. Demory, D. Ehrenreich, A. Erikson, J. Farinato, A. Fortier, L. Fossati, M. Fridlund, M. Gillon, M. Güdel, K. Heng, S. Hoyer, K. G. Isaak, L. L. Kiss, J. Laskar, M. Lendl, C. Lovis, D. Magrin, P. F. L. Maxted, M. Mecina, V. Nascimbeni, R. Ottensamer, I. Pagano, E. Pallé, G. Peter, G. Piotto, D. Pollacco, D. Queloz, R. Ragazzoni, N. Rando, H. Rauer, I. Ribas, N. C. Santos, G. Scandariato, D. Ségransan, A. M. S. Smith, M. Steller, N. L. Thomas, S. Udry, V. Van Grootel, N. A. Walton

Abstract

Aims. DE Boo is a unique system, with an edge-on view through the debris disk around the star. The disk, which is analogous to the Kuiper belt in the Solar System, was reported to extend from 74 to 84 AU from the central star. The high photometric precision of the Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS) provided an exceptional opportunity to observe small variations in the light curve due to transiting material in the disk. This is a unique chance to investigate processes in the debris disk.
Methods. Photometric observations of DE Boo of a total of four days were carried out with CHEOPS. Photometric variations due to spots on the stellar surface were subtracted from the light curves by applying a two-spot model and a fourth-order polynomial. The photometric observations were accompanied by spectroscopic measurements with the 1m RCC telescope at Piszkésteto and with the SOPHIE spectrograph in order to refine the astrophysical parameters of DE Boo.
Results. We present a detailed analysis of the photometric observation of DE Boo. We report the presence of nonperiodic transient features in the residual light curves with a transit duration of 0.3–0.8 days. We calculated the maximum distance of the material responsible for these variations to be 2.47 AU from the central star, much closer than most of the mass of the debris disk. Furthermore, we report the first observation of flaring events in this system.
Conclusions. We interpreted the transient features as the result of scattering in an inner debris disk around DE Boo. The processes responsible for these variations were investigated in the context of interactions between planetesimals in the system.

Keywords
techniques: photometric / methods: data analysis / stars: flare / starspots / circumstellar matter

Notes
This article uses data from CHEOPS programme CH_PR100010.

Astronomy & Astrophysics
Volume 671, Article Number A127, Number of pages 10
2023 March

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Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia COMPETE 2020 PORTUGAL 2020 União Europeia