Program: GN-2020B-Q-412

Title:Mapping the emitting line region of post-main-sequence planetary disks
PI:Erik Dennihy
Co-I(s):

Abstract

ife for exoplanets continues well after the death of their host stars, as exoplanetary debris has been observed in compact accretion disks around many white dwarf stars. These accretion disks exhibit many of the same observational characteristics of their pre-main-sequence counterparts: infrared excesses from dust, gaseous emission lines, and variability on a range of timescales. The systems with gaseous emission lines are rare and exhibit most of the known variability, yet we still do not have a theory for why some systems host gaseous emission lines while others do not. We seek observations to help map out the parameters space in which the emission occurs in order to better constrain the physics of these disks.