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arXiv · 2609.12034

An unresolved extreme warm infrared excess toward a nearby low-mass star

Sahin Torlakcik
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Abstract

Gaia DR3 2981818948336660224 is a nearby low-mass star with a substantial warm mid-infrared excess. Identified in a Gaia-2MASS-WISE search, it lies at approximately 127 pc and has an AllWISE W3 signal-to-noise ratio of 33.1. We recover the emission in all 16 available cryogenic exposures over 1.26 d; removing any one exposure leaves the signal intact. The W3 emission is centred close to the propagated stellar position, and the known neighbour 6.1 arcsec away fails to reproduce its morphology. Nominal scene fits place 97-98 per cent of the W3 flux at the target position. This provides strong spatial support for association, although template uncertainty and a nearly coincident hidden source prevent a definitive decomposition. The excess can be described by a roughly 300-350 K component with L_IR/L_star ~ 0.022, assuming stellar association and retaining the weaker W4 detection. If produced by circumstellar dust, it falls in the extreme warm-debris regime around a dwarf with no established evidence of youth. Its origin remains unresolved. The repeatable excess and close spatial association make this a useful target for subarcsecond MIR imaging and spectroscopy to test the warm-dust interpretation.

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Sahin Torlakcik. 2026-09-10. An unresolved extreme warm infrared excess toward a nearby low-mass star. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.12034

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