A Spitzer View of Protoplanetary Disks in the γ Velorum Cluster

By Jesús Hernández, L. Hartmann, N. Calvet, R. Jeffries, R. Gutermuth, J. Muzerolle, J. I. O. Astronomy, U. Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi and 15 more. 2008

187 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present new Spitzer Space Telescope observations of stars in the young (~5 Myr) γ Velorum stellar cluster. Combining optical and 2MASS photometry, we have selected 579 stars as candidate members of the cluster. With the addition of the Spitzer mid-infrared data, we have identified five debris disks around A-type stars and five to six debris disks around solar-type stars, indicating that the strong radiation field in the cluster does not completely suppress the production of planetesimals in the disks of cluster members. However, we find some evidence that the frequency of circumstellar primordial disks is lower, and the infrared flux excesses are smaller than for disks around stellar populations with similar ages. This could be evidence for a relatively fast dissipation of circumstellar dust by the strong radiation field from the highest mass star(s) in the cluster. Another possibility is that γ Velorum stellar cluster is slightly older than reported ages and the low frequency of primordial disks reflects the fast disk dissipation observed at ~5 Myr.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e488d33a157ec1d057a8489d341068e28f16ea25

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Citations in the corpus

THE DISK POPULATION OF THE TAURUS STAR-FORMING REGION (2009, methodology): “We have used the spectral types measured by Briceño et al. (2005, 2007) and Downes et al. (2008) when possible, and otherwise estimated them from V − J using V data from Hernández et al. (2007b, 2008) and J photometry from 2MASS.”
NEW DEBRIS DISKS AROUND YOUNG, LOW-MASS STARS DISCOVERED WITH THE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE (2009, unknown): “…2005; Chen et al. 2005a) and in clusters and associations (e.g., Currie et al. 2009; Dahm & Carpenter 2009; Cieza et al. 2008; Currie et al. 2008b; Hernandez et al. 2008; Cieza & Baliber 2007; – 3 – Currie et al. 2007; Dahm & Hillenbrand 2007; Gorlova et al. 2007; Hernandez et al. 2007a,b;…”
Protoplanetary Disks and Their Evolution (2011, background): “Hernández et al. (2008) find that the γ Velorum cluster has a low fraction of sources with infrared excesses for its age and consider disk photoevaporation as a possibility but also note the large uncertainty in the cluster age.”
Correlated accretion ages and ε54Cr of meteorite parent bodies and the evolution of the solar nebula (2014, background): “According to astrophysical observations of star formation regions, timing of planetesimal formation and/or nebula dissipation is typically approximately 3 Ma (Hernandez et al. 2008).”
The minimum-mass extrasolar nebula: in situ formation of close-in super-Earths (2012, background): “(14) Since Fgrav > 1, close-in super-Earths can readily form within the lifetimes of inner gas disks, estimated to be tgas ∼ 106–107 yr from observations of near-infrared excesses of young stellar objects (e.g., Hernández et al. 2008).”
A CORRELATION BETWEEN SURFACE DENSITIES OF YOUNG STELLAR OBJECTS AND GAS IN EIGHT NEARBY MOLECULAR CLOUDS (2011, background): “13, we plot the realizations of Equation 7 for several values of t in the range of 200 years to 6.3 Myr and a range of Σgas(t = 0) from 20 to 2000 M⊙ pc −2, assuming α = 2, c = 0.5, and k = 9.5 × 10−4 Myr−1 pc2 M−1⊙ .”
Forming Planetesimals in Solar and Extrasolar Nebulae (2009, background): “The fraction of stars with near-infrared excess emission attributable to optically thick, gaseous disks decreases from near unity at stellar ages ∼< 1 Myr, to ∼< 5% at ∼> 10 Myr (Hernández et al. 2008, Hillenbrand 2005).”
The stellar association around Gamma Velorum and its relationship with Vela OB2 (2008, background): “Hernández et al. (2008) analysed Spitzer infrared observations of the γ Vel association members.”
Improved angular momentum evolution model for solar-like stars (2013, background): “…accretion measurements indicate that nearly all stars are born with a disk, that the disk fraction decreases to about 50% by an age of 3 Myr, and only a small proportion of stars are still surrounded by a disk at an age of 10 Myr (e.g., Hernández et al. 2008; Wyatt 2008; Williams & Cieza 2011).”
Improved angular momentum evolution model for solar-like stars II. Exploring the mass dependence (2015, unknown): “Recent measurements of infrared excesses and disk accretion rates indicate that most stars are born with a disk, while only half of them still have an accreting disk at about 3 Myr, and very few indeed by an age of 10 Myr (e.g. Hernández et al. 2008; Wyatt 2008; Williams & Cieza 2011).”
ALMA OBSERVATIONS OF CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS IN THE UPPER SCORPIUS OB ASSOCIATION (2016, background): “…Carpenter et al. 2006; Lada et al. 2006; Sicilia-Aguilar et al. 2006; Balog et al. 2007; Barrado y Navascués et al. 2007; Cieza & Baliber 2007; Dahm & Hillenbrand 2007; Hernández et al. 2007a,b; Flaherty & Muzerolle 2008; Gutermuth et al. 2008; Hernández et al. 2008; Luhman & Mamajek 2012).”
Protoplanetary disk lifetimes vs stellar mass and possible implications for giant planet populations (2015, result): “These results are in agreement with previous studies (e.g. Lada et al. 2000; Hernández et al. 2007b, 2008; Murphy et al. 2013) and supersede our results in R14.”
The big problems in star formation: The star formation rate, stellar clustering, and the initial mass function (2014, background): “Such signatures are present for only several Myr after a star forms (e.g., Haisch et al. 2001; Hernández et al. 2008).”