Accretion Disks Around Young Objects. III. Grain Growth

We present detailed models of irradiated T Tauri disks including dust grain growth with power-law size distributions. The models assume complete mixing between dust and gas and solve for the vertical disk structure self-consistentlyincluding the heating effects of stellar irradiation as well as local viscous heating. For a given total dust mass, grain growth is found to decrease the vertical height of the surface where the optical depth to the stellar radiation becomes unit and thus the local irradiation heating, while increasing the disk emission at mm and sub-mm wavelengths. The resulting disk models are less geometrically thick than our previous models assuming interstellar medium dust, and agree better with observed spectral energy distributions and images of edge-on disks, like HK Tau/c and HH 30. The implications of models with grain growth for determining disk masses from long-wavelength emission are considered.Comment: 29 pages, including 11 figures and 1 table, APJ accepte

Quantitative features of multifractal subtleties in time series

Based on the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) and on the Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima (WTMM) methods we investigate the origin of multifractality in the time series. Series fluctuating according to a qGaussian distribution, both uncorrelated and correlated in time, are used. For the uncorrelated series at the border (q=5/3) between the Gaussian and the Levy basins of attraction asymptotically we find a phase-like transition between monofractal and bifractal characteristics. This indicates that these may solely be the specific nonlinear temporal correlations that organize the series into a genuine multifractal hierarchy. For analyzing various features of multifractality due to such correlations, we use the model series generated from the binomial cascade as well as empirical series. Then, within the temporal ranges of well developed power-law correlations we find a fast convergence in all multifractal measures. Besides of its practical significance this fact may reflect another manifestation of a conjectured q-generalized Central Limit Theorem

Growth and nutritional response of Nemared peach rootstock infected with Pratylenchus vulnus and the mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae

Les effets de l'interaction entre #Pratylenchus vulnus et le champignon mycorrhizien #Glomus mosseae sur les porte-greffe de pêcher "Nemared" ont été étudiés en microparcelles pendant deux saisons de croissance. Le poids frais des pieds, le diamètre de la tige, la longueur des pieds et le poids frais des racines sont significativement plus faibles chez les pieds infestés par le nématode - qu'ils soient ou non colonisés par #G. mosseae$- que chez les pieds non infestés. Un taux élevé de phosphore augmente la croissance des pêchers dans le cas de témoins non mycorrhizés. Les traitements des pieds infestés par "P. vulnus$ à l'aide de mycorrhizes provoquent une diminution de la population finale du nématode et du nombre de nématodes par gramme de racine par rapport aux pieds infestés par #P. vulnus et non traités à l'aide du champignon. La colonisation par les mycorrhizes n'est pas affectée par la présence du nématode. Chez les pieds infestés par le nématode, le Cu est le seul élément déficitaire détecté par analyse foliaire, quoique des taux faibles de fer y aient été observés. Les taux les plus élevés de Ma, Mg, Mn et Zn ont été détectés chez les pieds infestés par #P. vulnus. Les pieds mycorrhizés recèlent les taux les plus élevés de Cu et d'Al. #G. mosseae est bénéfique pour la croissance des pêchers "Nemared" mais ne leur confère aucune protection contre #P. vulnus. (Résumé d'auteur

Discovery of a Planetary-Mass Brown Dwarf with a Circumstellar Disk

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the 4 m Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have performed deep imaging from 0.8 to 8 um of the southern subcluster in the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. In these data, we have discovered an object, Cha 110913-773444, whose colors and magnitudes are indicative of a very low-mass brown dwarf with a circumstellar disk. In a near-infrared spectrum of this source obtained with the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph, the presence of strong steam absorption confirms its late-type nature (>=M9.5) while the shapes of the H- and K-band continua and the strengths of the Na I and K I lines demonstrate that it is a young, pre-main-sequence object rather than a field dwarf. A comparison of the bolometric luminosity of Cha 110913-773444 to the luminosities predicted by the evolutionary models of Chabrier and Baraffe and Burrows and coworkers indicates a mass of 8+7/-3 M_Jup, placing it fully within the mass range observed for extrasolar planetary companions (M<=15 M_Jup). The spectral energy distribution of this object exhibits mid-infrared excess emission at >5 um, which we have successfully modeled in terms of an irradiated viscous accretion disk with M'<=10e-12 M_sun/year. Cha 110913-773444 is now the least massive brown dwarf observed to have a circumstellar disk, and indeed is one of the least massive free-floating objects found to date. These results demonstrate that the raw materials for planet formation exist around free-floating planetary-mass bodies.Comment: 5 pages, accepted to Astrophysical Journal Letter

Short Gas Dissipation Timescales: Diskless Stars in Taurus and Chamaeleon I

We present an Advanced Camera for Surveys/ Solar Blind Channel far-ultraviolet (FUV) study of \h2 gas in 12 weak T Tauri stars in nearby star-forming regions. The sample consists of sources which have no evidence of inner disk dust. Our new FUV spectra show that in addition to the dust, the gas is depleted from the inner disk. This sample is combined with a larger FUV sample of accretors and non-accretors with ages between 1 and 100 Myr, showing that as early as 1--3 Myr, systems both with and without gas are found. Possible mechanisms for depleting gas quickly include viscous evolution, planet formation and photoevaporation by stellar radiation fields. Since these mechanisms alone cannot account for the lack of gas at 1--3 Myr, it is likely that the initial conditions (e.g. initial disk mass or core angular momentum) contribute to the variety of disks observed at any age. We estimate the angular momentum of a cloud needed for most of the mass to fall very close to the central object and compare this to models of the expected distribution of angular momenta. Up to 20% of cloud cores have low enough angular momenta to form disks with the mass close to the star, which would then accrete quickly; this percentage is similar to the fraction of diskless stars in the youngest star forming regions. With our sample, we characterize the chromospheric contribution to the FUV luminosity and find that $L_{FUV}/L_{bol}$ saturates at $\sim10^{-4.1}$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Accepted to ApJ

A simplified protocol for detecting two systemic bait markers (Rhodamine B and iophenoxic acid) in small mammals

We developed a method of quantifying levels of fluorescence in the whiskers of wild stoats (Mustela erminea) using fluorescence microscopy and Axiovision 3.0.6.1 software. The method allows for discrimination between natural fluorescence present in or on a whisker, and the fluorescence resulting from the ingestion of the systemic marker Rhodamine B (RB), although some visual judgement is still required. We also developed a new high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) protocol for detecting the systemic marker iophenoxic acid (IPA) in the blood of laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) and wild stoats. With this method, the blood of an animal that has consumed IPA can be tested for the presence of the foreign IPA compound itself. This is a more reliable test than the previous method, which measured the raised level of natural blood protein-bound iodine correlated with IPA absorption. The quantity of blood required from animal subjects is very small (10 μl), so the testing is less intrusive and the method can be extended to smaller species. The extraction technique uses methanol, rather than acids and heavy metal salts, thereby simplifying the procedure. Recovery of IPA is quantitative, giving a highly reliable reading. In experiments on captive rats the IPA method proved successful. Of 12 positively marked carcasses, two that had not been frozen for the 24 h before blood samples were taken showed relatively lower IPA levels. The same IPA detection method, as well as the whisker analysis for RB, was applied successfully to a population of wild stoats to which both Rhodamine B and IPA were made available at bait stations. The presence of both bait markers was detectable in rats for at least 21 days and in stoats for at least 27 days

The spectral energy distribution of self-gravitating protostellar disks

The long wavelength emission of protostellar objects is commonly attributed to a disk of gas and dust around the central protostar. In the first stages of disk accretion or in the case of high mass protostars, the disk mass is likely to be sufficiently large, so that the disk self-gravity may have an impact on the dynamics and the emission properties of the disk. In this paper we describe the spectral energy distribution (SED) produced by a simple, non-flaring, self-gravitating accretion disk model. Self-gravity is included in the calculation of the rotation curve of the disk and in the energy balance equation, as a term of effective heating related to Jeans instability. In order to quantify in detail the requirements on the mass of the disk and on the accretion rate posed on the models by realistic situations, we compare the SEDs produced by these models with the observed SEDs of a small sample of well-studied protostellar objects. We find that relatively modest disks - even lighter than the central star - can lead to an interesting fit to the infrared SED of the FU Orionis objects considered, while in the case of T Tauri stars the required parameters fall outside the range suggested as acceptable by the general theoretical and observational scenario. On the basis of the present results, we may conclude that the contribution of a self-gravitating disk is plausible in several cases (in particular, for FU Orionis objects) and that, in the standard irradiation dominated disk scenario, it would help softening the requirements encountered by Keplerian accretion models.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, accepted by A&