A PLANET ON AN INCLINED ORBIT AS AN EXPLANATION OF THE WARP IN THE BETA-PICTORIS DISC

We consider the deformation that has recently been observed in the inn er part of the circumstellar disc around beta Pictoris with the HST. O ur recent ground-based, adaptive optics coronographic observations con firm that the inner disc is warped. We investigate the hypothesis that a yet undetected planet is responsible for the observed warp, through simulations of the effect of the gravitational perturbation resulting from a massive companion on the disc. The physical processes assumed in the simulations are discussed: since the observed particles do not survive collisions, the apparent disc shape is driven by the underlyin g collisionless parent population. The resulting possible parameters f or the planet that are consistent with the observed disc deformation a re reviewed.