HIRMES science - debris disks

Debris disks are exoplanetary systems containing not only planets but also minor bodies, such as asteroids, comets, and Kuiper Belt Objects in our Solar System. In these systems, planets induce collisions among planets and minor bodies generating debris dust and gas. The outstanding sensitivity and spectral resolution of the High Resolution Mid Infrared Spectrograph (HIRMES) at 25-122 micron is expected to enable new studies of the kinematics and composition of the circumstellar dust and gas. For example, HIRMES will enable the detection and characterization of solid state water ice emission to measure the mass of water and understand its processing history in outer planetary systems. Debris disks are presumed to be water-rich because their planetesimals belts are located beyond the snow line. In addition, HIRMES will spectrally resolve gas phase emission lines, providing insight into the detailed kinematics of the gas and therefore the origin of gas. For young debris disks, whether the gas is primordial or second-generation is not well understood. I will describe how HIRMES will improve our understanding of the evolution of planetary systems and place its expected contributions into context with other facilities such as ALMA and JWST