Examining Disk-Regulated Rotation: The Rotation Period Distribution of Pre-Main Sequence Stars In and Around the Orion Nebula

Details Examining Disk-Regulated Rotation: The Rotation Period Distribution of Pre-Main Sequence Stars In and Around the Orion Nebula Examining Disk-Regulated Rotation: The Rotation Period Distribution of Pre-Main Sequence Stars In and Around the Orion Nebula

May 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999aas...194.6806s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 194th AAS Meeting, #68.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 31, p.932

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Photometrically derived rotation periods are presented for 254 pre-main sequence stars in a 40 x 80 arcmin area centered on the Orion Nebula. The distribution of rotation periods we determine, sensitive to periods 0.1 < P < 8 days, shows a sharp cutoff for periods P < 0.5 days, which we show is consistent with breakup velocity for these stars. Above 0.5 days, the distribution is consistent with a uniform distribution. The distribution of vsin i among these stars bears remarkable resemblance to the vsin i distribution of low-mass Pleiads. Stellar rotation period correlates neither with spectral signatures of active accretion nor with near-infrared signatures of circumstellar disks. Our results question the paradigm of disk-locking as the dominant mechanism for dissipating stellar angular momentum in the pre-main sequence phase. We show that most stars in our sample require problematically high accretion rates and/or weak magnetic fields to be consistent with the disk-locking scenario. Most significantly, we find many stars rotating at or near breakup velocity---stars that must still shed large quantities of angular momentum---that do not show evidence for disks. We invite discussion of these results among those studying stellar rotation in low-mass main-sequence stars. New N-band photometry will also be presented. This research is supported by a University of Wisconsin minority graduate fellowship and a grant from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium.

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