The Evolution of Dust in the Terrestrial Planet Region of Circumstellar Disks

Details The Evolution of Dust in the Terrestrial Planet Region of Circumstellar Disks The Evolution of Dust in the Terrestrial Planet Region of Circumstellar Disks

Dec 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...18111401d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting, #114.01D; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.1300

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present the results of a three-year observational program to accurately quantify the amount of dust in the terrestrial planet region of circumstellar disks around young stars as a function of stellar age and spectral type, using excess near-infrared continuum emission as a diagnostic. Our work focuses on the late stages of disk evolution. We have obtained precise, simultaneous, single-channel near-infrared broadband observations of cluster stars ranging in age from 1-600 million years, seeking evidence of tenuous dust emission in the inner disk. Simultaneous measurements are required as the stars may be variable, presumably owing to starspots. Stars having a wide range of spectral types were observed in Taurus-Auriga (1-10 Myr), Alpha Perseus (30-80 Myr), the Pleiades (70-100 Myr), the Ursa Major Stream (200-300 Myr), the Hyades ( ~ 600 Myr) and Praesepe ( ~ 600 Myr). Our measurements are sensitive enough to detect about 10(20) g of material in microns-sized grains, the mass of a typical asteroid! We find the expected large excesses for classical T-Tauri stars in Taurus-Auriga, diagnostic of optically thick disks. Although most of the weak-lined T-Tauri stars in Taurus-Auriga show no evidence for dust emission, a few exhibit possible evidence for tenuous dust in their inner disks. In our main sequence clusters, we find no conclusive evidence of dust emission after 30 Myr, although we lack data for the lowest mass stars in our youngest main sequence cluster. Our results to date imply that by an age of 30 Myr, any solid material in the inner disk must consist primarily of large grains or bodies, providing observational constraints for theories of planetary formation. In particular, our findings place firm limits on the three most likely sources of dust production in these optically thin inner disks: planetesimal collisions, infall from an outer, remnant disk, and the evaporation of cometesimals.

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