Dust distribution in disks supplied by small bodies: Is the Beta Pictoris disk a gigantic multi-cometary tail?

Abstract

We have evaluated the spatial distribution of dust in disks supplied by colliding or evaporating bodies spread in a small belt. The gradient of the distribution of dust expelled by radiation pressure is generally steeper than the one observed around \bp. It follows that, to generate the \bp\ disk distribution in such a way, one should extract relatively more small particles in the production process: thanks to radiation forces, these smaller particles have large eccentricities and thus could be seen at very large distances from their injection place. The evaporation process of comet-like bodies moving slowly inwards may yield the necessary particle size distribution. It is interesting to note that this dynamical description is able to account for the main observational properties of the \bp\ disk, such as the power law distribution with possibly a change in slope, the asymmetry at large distances, and the total mass, all of which have remained unexplained up to now. If confirmed, this scenario may indicate that the \bp\ disk could be looked on as a gigantic multi-cometary tail with its natural constituents: gas and dust.