Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jun 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005sptz.prop20759s&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #20759
Computer Science
Scientific paper
The evolution of stellar angular momentum is a fundamental component of the star-formation process. Theory suggests that stellar magnetospheres couple to circumstellar disks, thereby regulating stellar angular velocities for the lifetimes of the disks. A key, testable prediction of the disk-locking hypothesis is that the stellar magnetosphere will clear out an inner hole in the circumstellar disk, with the inner edge of the disk being truncated at the distance from the star at which circumstellar material orbits the star at the stellar rotation period (the co-rotation radius). We propose here to test this prediction using Spitzer and HST archival data for a sample of more than 700 pre--main-sequence stars in Orion. Are the structures of circumstellar disks around young stars in fact correlated with the stars' rotation periods in the manner required by current theory for angular momentum regulation of the star by the disk? We propose to use archival IRAC and MIPS flux measurements together with optical and near-IR flux measurements from HST to test this hypothesis. These data, combined with measurements of stellar rotation period and spectral type from the literature, provide a dataset of unprecedented quality, size, and uniformity. The HST and IRAC data will detect the stellar photospheres of our sample stars (or excess emission if it is present) at wavelengths from 0.3 to 8 microns, while the MIPS data will provide sensitive constraints on the presence of cooler dust. These observations will be compared with sophisticated models of spectral energy distributions to test the hypothesis that these stars are coupled to disks whose inner regions are cleared by the magnetospheres in the manner predicted by theory. This proposal constitutes an integral part of a Ph.D. thesis project aimed at systematically investigating the relationship between the structure of circumstellar disks in the context of magnetospheric accretion, and current theories of pre-main-sequence stellar angular momentum evolution.
Jensen Eric
Leblanc Thompson
Rebull Luisa
Stassun Keivan
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