Near-IR imaging Polarimetry of Dust-debris Disk Candidates

Abstract

We have carried out JHK polarimetric observations of ten stars around which dust-debris disks may be present, by using the polarimeter module IRPOL2 with the near-IR camera UIST on UKIRT. Our sample targeted systems for which UKIRT-resolvable disks were predicted by model ¯ts to their spectral energy distribution. Since only the light from the disks should be polarized, the bright central stars are suppressed in polarized light images. Our observations have detected the presence of extended polarized emission around at least four of our ten targets, con¯rming the potential of imaging polarimetry for substantially raising the overall number of systems with directly imaged debris disks.