The dependence of protoplanetary disk properties on age and host star mass

In recent years, thousands of exoplanets have been discovered around a variety of stellar hosts. The disks of gas and dust surrounding young stars are the location and source of material for planet formation. The properties of these protoplanetary disks therefore directly affect the planetary systems that may form. However, the details of the planet formation process are still unclear. In this dissertation, I constrain planet formation mechanisms by measuring the properties of protoplanetary disks, focusing on mass, dust grain growth, and dust settling. I use physically-motivated models and an Artificial Neural Network along with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) fitting procedure to obtain these and other disk properties. This dissertation compiles the largest sample to date of consistently-modeled protoplanetary disks, probing how disk properties vary with host mass and age. The occurrence of planetary companions increases as stellar mass decreases. Thus, brown dwarfs (BDs), with smaller masses than pre-main-sequence stars, may commonly host planets. Studying properties of BD disks and comparing them to pre- main-sequence star disks is therefore important for constraining their planet-forming potential. I present spectral energy distribution (SED) models for BD and pre-main- sequence star disks in four star-forming regions. The SEDs consist of archival photometry data spanning optical to millimeter wavelengths. I model the BD disk SEDs using physically-motivated radiative transfer code; pre-main-sequence star SEDs are modeled using a newly-developed MCMC fitting procedure that allows for a more complete analysis of the disk properties. I compare disk masses and dust settling in these two disk categories to gauge how host mass affects these properties. Typical disk lifetimes are a few tens of millions of years; planet formation likely occurs within the first few million years or less. Comparing how disk properties vary between star-forming regions of different ages can help pinpoint the timeline for planet formation. I present SED models for BDs in four star-forming regions and pre-main-sequence stars in eleven star-forming regions. I obtain the disk masses, dust grain sizes, and amount of dust settling in the disks and discuss the differences and similarities of these properties across regions of varying age

Magnetic inflation and stellar mass. III. revised parameters for the component stars of NSVS 07394765

We perform a new analysis of the M-dwarf–M-dwarf eclipsing binary system NSVS 07394765 in order to investigate the reported hyper-inflated radius of one of the component stars. Our analysis is based on archival photometry from the Wide Angle Search for Planets, new photometry from the 32 cm Command Module Observatory telescope in Arizona and the 70 cm telescope at Thacher Observatory in California, and new high-resolution infrared spectra obtained with the Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrograph on the Discovery Channel Telescope. The masses and radii we measure for each component star disagree with previously reported measurements. We show that both stars are early M-type main-sequence stars without evidence for youth or hyper-inflation ( = - ☉ M M + 1 0.661 0.036 0.008 , = - ☉ M M + 2 0.608 0.028 0.003 , = - ☉ + R1 0.599 0.019 R 0.032 , = - ☉ + R2 0.625 0.027 R 0.012 ), and we update the orbital period and eclipse ephemerides for the system. We suggest that the likely cause of the initial hyper-inflated result is the use of moderate-resolution spectroscopy for precise radial velocity measurements.Published versio

Determining Dust Properties in Protoplanetary Disks: SED-derived Masses and Settling with ALMA

Abstract We present spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling of 338 disks around T Tauri stars from 11 star-forming regions, ranging from ∼0.5 to 10 Myr old. The disk masses we infer from our SED models are typically greater than those reported from (sub)millimeter surveys by a factor of 1.5–5, with the discrepancy being generally higher for the more massive disks. Masses derived from (sub)millimeter fluxes rely on the assumption that the disks are optically thin at all millimeter wavelengths, which may cause the disk masses to be underestimated since the observed flux is not sensitive to the whole mass in the disk; SED models do not make this assumption and thus yield higher masses. Disks with more absorbing material should be optically thicker at a given wavelength, which could lead to a larger discrepancy for disks around massive stars when the disk temperature is scaled by the stellar luminosity. We also compare the disk masses and degree of dust settling across the different star-forming regions and find that disks in younger regions are more massive than disks in older regions, but with a similar degree of dust settling. Together, these results offer potential partial solutions to the “missing” mass problem: disks around T Tauri stars may indeed have enough material to form planetary systems, though previous studies have underestimated the mass by assuming the disks to be optically thin; these planetary systems may also form earlier than previously theorized since significant dust evolution (i.e., settling) is already apparent in young disks.</jats:p