Mathematics – Probability
Scientific paper
May 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006sptz.prop30197l&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #30197
Mathematics
Probability
Scientific paper
The 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6 and 11.3 micron emission features of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules have been detected in protoplanetary disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars and T Tauri stars and in debris disks around main-sequence stars. PAHs play an important role in the thermal budget and chemistry of the gas in the disk, by providing photoelectrons for heating the gas and large surface areas for chemical reactions. Stochastically heated by a single UV/visible photon, the PAH emission is spatially more extended than large grains and therefore, the disks can be more easily resolved at the PAH emission bands. We propose to model the PAH emission spectra of protoplanetary and debris disks obtained by Spitzer and ISO. We will first calculate the temperature probability distribution functions dP/dT for both neutral and ionized PAHs of a wide range of sizes, at a wide range of radial distances (from the central star) in disks illuminated by stars of a wide range of spectral types. By modeling the PAH emission of dust disks, we will be able (1) to derive the abundance, size and spatial distributions of PAHs; (2) to derive the PAH photoelectric heating rates which dominate the gas heating in the disk surface layers; and (3) to see how the abundance and properties of the PAHs vary among disks at different evolutionary stages and illuminated by stars of different parameters (e.g. luminosity, spectral type). This program will create a web-based ``library'' of the temperature distribution functions dP/dT of PAHs (and their emission spectra and photoelectric heating rates) as a function of size, charge state, and radial distance in disks illuminated by stars of different spectral types. This library, a useful tool for interpreting the PAH emission features of dust disks obtained by Spitzer and for understanding the disk chemistry, will be made publicly available by April 2007 via the WWW at http://www.missouri.edu/~lia/.
Li Aigen
Lunine Jonathan I.
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