Grant Kennedy (Cambridge) - Debris disks and their relation to stars and planets

Debris disks are the dusty/icy leftovers from planet formation seen around main-sequence stars. Recently, Herschel and WISE have made new studies possible that aim to shed some light on the links between debris disks and planets, and the host stars they orbit. I will show results from a few Herschel programmes; tests of system-wide alignment, the planet-debris correlation, and what the Fomalhaut C disk may mean for the Fomalhaut stellar system. I will also outline my attempts to find planet-host systems with warm terrestrial-zone dust in the Kepler field, a more general search for warm dust around nearby stars, and the possible implications for future exo-Earth imaging missions.