New sub-millimeter limits on dust in the 55 Cancri planetary system

We present new, high-sensitivity sub-millimeter observations towards 55 Cancri, a nearby G8 star with one, or possibly two, known planetary companion(s). Our 850 μm map, obtained with the SCUBA instrument on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, shows three peaks of emission at the 2.5 mJy level in the vicinity of the star’s position. However, the observed peaks are 25′′–40′′ away from the star and a deep R-band optical image reveals faint point sources that coincide with two of the sub-millimeter peaks. Thus, we do not find evidence for dust emission spatially associated with 55 Cancri. The excess 60 μm emission detected with ISO may originate from one or more of the 850 μm peaks that we attribute to background sources. Our new results, together with the HST/NICMOS coronographic images in the near-infrared, place stringent limits on the amount of dust in this planetary system, and argue against the existence of a detectable circumstellar dust disk around 55 Cnc. Subject headings: planetary systems – stars : individual (55 Cnc) – circumstellar matter