Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2004-03-11
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.351:607,2004
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07807.x
We present synthetic spectra for circumstellar disks that are heated by radiation from a central brown dwarf. Under the assumption of vertical hydrostatic equilibrium, our models yield scaleheights for brown dwarf disks in excess of three times those derived for classical T Tauri (CTTS) disks. If the near-IR excess emission observed from brown dwarfs is indeed due to circumstellar disks, then the large scaleheights we find could have a significant impact on the optical and near-IR detectability of such systems. Our radiation transfer calculations show that such highly flared disks around brown dwarfs will result in a large fraction of obscured sources due to extinction of direct starlight by the disk over a wide range of sightlines. The obscured fraction for a 'typical' CTTS is less than 20%. We show that the obscured fraction for brown dwarfs may be double that for CTTS, but this depends on stellar and disk mass. We also comment on possible confusion in identifying brown dwarfs via color-magnitude diagrams: edge-on CTTS display similar colors and magnitudes as a face-on brown dwarf plus disk systems.
Bjorkman Jon E.
Lada Charles J.
Robitaille Thomas
Walker Christina
Whitney Barbara
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