Debris disks in polarized light James Graham UC Berkeley Debris
disks are hosted by stars with ages of about ten to a few
hundred million years, and therefore they provide the principal
window on the transition from the oligarchic to late heavy
bombardment phases of solar system formation. Observing this era
provides insight into the evolution of our solar system relevant
to the migration of the gas and ice giants, the formation of the
Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, and the delivery of water to the
terrestrial planets. Debris disks are comprised of transient
grains generated in a collisional cascade that spans
planetesimal to sub-micron to dimensions. The total mass of sub-
micron grains that dominate visible images may seem
insignificant; however, these tiny grains are linked to the
largest bodies in two ways: the first is via the aforementioned
cascade; the second is through gravitational perturbations.
Grains are subject to size-dependent non-gravitational forces,
and disk morphology reflects the balance b