White dwarfs with a spectrum that indicates high levels of metal contamination of the photosphere often have a circumstellar disk. In the case of van Maanen 2, observations at a wavelength of 24 μm do not show the infrared excess that might be generated by a dusty disk. Instead there is a noticeable deficit. The predicted flux at 24 μm is 0.23 mJy, whereas the measured value is . This deficit may be explained by collision-induced absorption in the atmosphere of the star, as seen in certain white dwarfs that have temperatures below 4,000 K, as a result of collisions between hydrogen molecules or between hydrogen molecules and helium.