Python program to calculate the gap carved by a planet embedded in a massive debris disc, by Tim D. Pearce. The model is described in Friebe, Pearce & Lohne 2022, and produces a figure akin to their Fig. 5. The main difference to conventional gap width estimates (which use e.g. the Wisdom overlap criterion) is that, if the debris disc has mass, then an embedded planet would migrate as it scattered debris. This means that a low-mass, strongly migrating planet could carve as wide a gap as a high-mass, barely migrating planet. Given the parameters of the star, the disc edges, the central location of a gap, and the (pre-interaction) debris disc mass, the program plots gap width as a function of the mass of an embedded planet. Additionally, if a target gap width is provided by the user (optional), then the program returns the parameters of the possible planets that could carve that gap.
To use the program, first download and unpack the ZIP file (press the green 'Code' button on GitHub, then 'Download ZIP', then unzip the file on your computer). Then simply run planetMassToCarveDebrisGap.py in a terminal.
The default settings are for HD 107146. To change the parameters, change the values in the 'User Inputs' section of planetMassToCarveDebrisGap.py (you should not have to change anything outside of that section).
IMPORTANT: The model assumes that the interaction has finished, i.e. the planet has stopped migrating. If instead migration is still ongoing, then the disc gap would widen in time and these results could be invalid (see Sect. 3.3 in Friebe, Pearce & Lohne 2022 for ways to check and account for this).
Feel free to use this code, and if the results go into a publication, then please cite Friebe, Pearce & Lohne 2022. Finally, let me know if you find any bugs or have any requests!