Fomalhaut’s debris disc is not dominated by primordial Plutos

ABSTRACT A key challenge in debris-disc science is that we do not know the masses of debris discs, nor the sizes of the largest debris bodies. This is because modern observations can only detect objects up to centimetre sizes, whilst larger planetesimals, which dominate disc mass, remain hidden. We must therefore use other arguments, such as dynamics, to indirectly infer disc masses and body sizes. This paper presents a new method, applicable to narrow debris discs like Fomalhaut. We argue that such discs cannot be too massive, nor the largest bodies too large, otherwise they would self-scatter and the disc would be much broader than observed. Using N-body dynamics and collisional theory, we demonstrate that the mass of Fomalhaut’s disc cannot be dominated by primordial Plutos. Instead, if the mass is dominated by primordial bodies, then they should have radii below ${300^{+80}_{-70}\,\, {\rm km}}$ (${0.3\pm 0.1\,\, {\rm \mathit{ R}_{Pluto}}}$) and above ${5^{+20}_{-4}\,\, {\rm km}}$. Such bodies would each have less than $1\, {\rm per\,cent}$ the mass of Pluto. Our conclusions are robust to additional physics, including shepherding planets and collisional damping. Our results provide independent, dynamical support for the idea that the masses of bright debris discs are dominated by objects smaller than Pluto.