High-Resolution Submillimeter Constraints on Circumstellar Disk Structure

By S. Andrews, Jonathan P. Williams. 2006

330 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a high spatial resolution submillimeter continuum survey of 24 circumstellar disks in the Taurus-Auriga and Ophiuchus-Scorpius star formation regions using the SMA. In the context of a simple model, we use broadband spectral energy distributions and submillimeter visibilities to derive constraints on some basic parameters that describe the structure of these disks. For the typical disk in the sample we infer a radial surface density distribution Σr ∝ r-p with a median p ≈ 0.5, although consideration of the systematic effects of some of our assumptions suggest that steeper distributions with p ≈ 1 are more reasonable. The distribution of the outer radii of these disks shows a distinct peak at Rd ≈ 200 AU, with only a few cases where the disk emission is completely unresolved. Based on these disk structure measurements, the mass accretion rates, and the typical spectral and spatial distributions of submillimeter emission, we show that the observations are in good agreement with similarity solutions for steady accretion disks that have a viscosity parameter α ≈ 0.01. We provide new estimates of the spectral dependence of the disk opacity κν ∝ νβ with a mean β ≈ 1.0, corrected for optically thick emission. This typical value of β is consistent with model predictions for the collisional growth of solids to millimeter-size scales in the outer disk. Although direct constraints on planet formation in these disks are not currently available, the extrapolated density distributions inferred here are substantially shallower than those calculated based on the solar system or extrasolar planets and typically used in planet formation models. It is possible that we are substantially underestimating disk densities due to an incomplete submillimeter opacity prescription.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a4cd084a2f0b31b15cff5055a045a6278376418d

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

Citations in the corpus

A millimeter Continuum Size–Luminosity Relationship for Protoplanetary Disks (2017, methodology): “With reasonable assumptions for the grain properties, mm luminosity surveys have been used to construct disk mass distributions (Andrews & Williams 2005, 2007), and study how they vary with time (Mathews et al. 2012; Williams et al. 2013; Carpenter et al. 2014; Ansdell et al. 2015; Cieza et al.…”
Accretion disks in luminous young stellar objects (2015, background): “However, low-mass star disks have been detected with radii as large as 700–800 au (e.g., Piétu et al., 2007; Andrews & Williams, 2007).”
EMPIRICAL CONSTRAINTS ON TURBULENCE IN PROTOPLANETARY ACCRETION DISKS (2010, methodology): “…young stars were first made by Adams & Shu (1986), and power-law parameterizations of temperature and surface density have been used by many studies since then (e.g. Beckwith et al. 1990; Beckwith & Sargent 1991; Mundy et al. 1993; Dutrey et al. 1994; Lay et al. 1994; Andrews & Williams 2007).”
X-Ray-Irradiated Protoplanetary Disk Atmospheres. I. Predicted Emission-Line Spectrum and Photoevaporation (2008, background): “This is not true for stars born in smaller clusters like ρ Ophiuchi and TaurusAuriga, where indeed large disks (∼500-1000 AU) are found (Andrews & Williams, 2007).”
Gas and Dust Emission at the Outer Edge of Protoplanetary Disks (2008, result): “In particular, the value of 1.2 measured for GM Aur matches well the value of 1.2 reported by Andrews & Williams (2007), and the value of 0.7 measured for TW Hydrae matches well the value of 0.7 reported by Calvet et al. (2002) and Natta et al. (2004).”
Debris disks as signposts of terrestrial planet formation (2011, methodology): “…linear trend between the dust mass and the stellar mass such that the typical protoplanetary disk contains a few percent of the stellar mass (Andrews & Williams 2007a), which has important implications for the planet frequency as a function of stellar mass (Ida & Lin 2005; Raymond et al.…”
Variations on Debris Disks: Icy Planet Formation at 30-150 AU for 1-3 M☉ Main-Sequence Stars (2008, background): “…of dusty disks in the nearby Ophiuchus and Taurus-Auriga starforming regions indicate a 2Y3 ( 1) order of magnitude range in the masses (radii) of disks surrounding young stars with typical ages of 1Myr (e.g., Osterloh & Beckwith1995; Motte &André 2001; Andrews & Williams 2005, 2007a, 2007b).”
Theory of Star Formation (2007, background): “…be combined with modeling to correct for optically-thick contributions varying with ν and R , with the resulting median β <∼ 1 (e.g. Natta et al. 2007; Andrews & Williams 2007; Lommen et al. 2007), suggesting that the largest “grains” are in fact cm-size pebbles (e.g. Wilner et al. 2005; Rodmann…”
The chemical history of molecules in circumstellar disks - I. Ices (2009, methodology): “The viscosity parameterα is kept constant at 10−2 (Dullemond et al. 2007; Andrews & Williams 2007b).”
PROTOPLANETARY DISK STRUCTURES IN OPHIUCHUS. II. EXTENSION TO FAINTER SOURCES (2010, methodology): “Candidates were selected based on the single-dish photometry compiled by Andrews & Williams (2007b).”
A dual-frequency sub-arcsecond study of proto-planetary disks at mm wavelengths: first evidence for radial variations of the dust properties (2011, methodology): “Most previous studies (Kitamura et al. 2002; Andrews & Williams 2007; Isella et al. 2009) used the thin disk approximation to compute visibilities.”
GIANT PLANET MIGRATION, DISK EVOLUTION, AND THE ORIGIN OF TRANSITIONAL DISKS (2009, methodology): “This choice ofp gives a viscosityν ∝ R, consistent with high-resolution observations of disk structure (e.g., Andrews & Williams 2007; Andrews et al. 2009).”
ALMA OBSERVATIONS OF CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS IN THE UPPER SCORPIUS OB ASSOCIATION (2016, methodology): “Combined with assumptions about the disk temperature and dust opacity, this can be used to derive the total mass of solids in the disk (e.g. Beckwith et al. 1990; Andre & Montmerle 1994; Motte et al. 1998; Andrews & Williams 2005, 2007).”
THE EFFECTS OF SNOWLINES ON C/O IN PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES (2011, methodology): “In a large sample of protoplanetary disks, the average T0 is 200 K, and q = 0.62 (Andrews & Williams 2007).”
Close-in planetesimal formation by pile-up of drifting pebbles (2016, methodology): “The shallow gas disc profile we employ is consistent with observations of circumstellar discs (Andrews & Williams 2007).”
PHOTOEVAPORATION OF CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS BY FAR-ULTRAVIOLET, EXTREME-ULTRAVIOLET AND X-RAY RADIATION FROM THE CENTRAL STAR (2008, background): “Conversion of dust observations to disk masses makes assumptions about the dust opacity law which is rather poorly known (e.g., Andrews & Williams 2007) and also assume a gas/dust mass ratio.”
Dust grain growth in ρ-Ophiuchi protoplanetary disks (2010, methodology): “3.1, class II YSOs from the Andrews & Williams (2007a) catalogue.”
Dynamical effects of stellar mass-loss on a Kuiper-like belt (2011, methodology): “Each test particle was assigned a nominal mass after the simulation was completed based on a disc surface density profile equation (1) and α = 1.0, taken from sub-mm observations of proto-planetary discs (e.g. Andrews & Williams 2007).”