The Vega Disk - No evidence for planet formation?

High-sensitivity search for clumps in the Vega Kuiper-belt. New PdBI 1.3mm observations
http://arxiv.org/abs/1105.2586

Quote :

Previous studies have found that Vega is surrounded by an extended debris disc that is very smooth in the far infrared, but displays possible clumpiness at 850micron and dust emission peaks at 1.3mm. We reobserved Vega at 1.3mm with PdBI to constrain its circumstellar dust distribution. Our observations of a three-field mosaic have a factor of two higher sensitivity than previous observations. We detect Vega photosphere with the expected flux, but none of the previously reported emission peaks that should have been detected at the >6sigma level, with a sensitivity <1mK. This implies that the dust distribution around Vega is principally smooth and circularly symmetric. This also means that no planet is needed to account for dust trapped in mean-motion resonnance.

Vega's the last one of the "fabulous four" (the others being Beta Pictoris, Fomalhaut and Epsilon Eridani) not to have any detected planets. Wonder what's there, if anything.

Detecting inner planets around Vega will be challenging! Bright star + too hot for RV.

Confirming the Primarily Smooth Structure of the Vega Debris Disk at Millimeter Wavelengths

So not looking good for evidence of planets near the Vega disc.

And what about a putative Neptune-sized planet shaping the dust disk?

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0308253

But perhaps it's not so "up to date".

Edasich wrote:

And what about a putative Neptune-sized planet shaping the dust disk?

These papers are saying the clumps that the planet was supposed to be producing aren't there. If the disc is smooth as claimed by these recent papers, there's no need to invoke planets to explain structures that aren't there.

Discovery of starspots on Vega - First spectroscopic detection of surface structures on a normal A-type star
http://arxiv.org/abs/1411.7789

In section 3.3, they argue that it may be that a hot Jupiter or hot Saturn could be interacting with the star in a synchronous orbit. They (try to) cite a few interesting articles about short-period planets around A-type stars but their LaTeX is mangled.