Numerical modeling of dusty debris disks

Infrared and submillimeter observations of nearby Vega-like stars have revealed a number of clumpy, asymmetric dust debris disks. Previous studies using semianalytical and numerical methods have suggested planetary companions of various mass as the likely cause of most examples of disk asymmetry. In this paper, we modify an N-body symplectic gravitational integrator to include radiation terms and conduct medium-resolution parameter searches to identify likely planetary candidates in observed Vega-like systems. We also present high-resolution models of Vega and Eridani, comparing our results to those of previous authors, and a new model for Fomalhaut.