VLT/SPHERE Multiwavelength High-contrast Imaging of the HD 115600 Debris Disk: New Constraints on the Dust Geometry and the Presence of Young Giant Planets

Young and dynamically active planetary systems can form disks of debris that are easier to image than the planets themselves. The morphology and evolution of these disks can help to infer the properties of the putative planets responsible for generating and shaping the debris structures. We present integral field spectroscopy and dual-band imaging from VLT/SPHERE (1.0-1.7 μm) of the debris disk around the young F2V/F3V star HD 115600. We aim to (1) characterize the geometry and composition of the debris ring, (2) search for thermal emission of young giant planets, and (3) in the absence of detected planets, to refine the inferred properties of plausible planets around HD 115600 to prepare future attempts to detect them. Using a different dust scattering model (ZODIPIC) than in the discovery paper to model the disk geometry, we find a ₀ = 46 ± 2 au for the disk's central radius and offsets Δα, Δδ = -1.0 ± 0.5, 0.5 ± 0.5 au. This offset is smaller than previously found, suggesting that unseen planets of lower masses could be sculpting the disk. Spectroscopy of the disk in Y-J bands with SPHERE shows reddish color, which becomes neutral or slightly blue in H-band seen with GPI, broadly consistent with a mixed bulk disk composition of processed organics and water ice. While our observed field contains numerous background objects at wide separations, no exoplanet has been directly observed to a mass sensitivity limit of 2 - 3(5 - 7) M _J between a projected separation of 40 and 200 au for hot (cold)-start models.