70 research outputs found
Observational constraints on dust disk lifetimes : implications for planet formation
Thus far our impressions regarding the evolutionary time scales for young circumstellar disks
have been based on small number statistics. Over the past decade, however, in addition to preci-
sion study of individual star/disk systems, substantial observational effort has been invested in
obtaining less detailed data on large numbers of objects in young star clusters. This has resulted
in a plethora of information now enabling statistical studies of disk evolutionary diagnostics.
Along an ordinate one can measure disk presence or strength through indicators such as ul-
traviolet/blue excess or spectroscopic emission lines tracing accretion, infrared excess tracing
dust, or millimeter flux measuring mass. Along an abscissa one can track stellar age. While
bulk trends in disk indicators versus age are evident, observational errors affecting both axes,
combined with systematic errors in our understanding of stellar ages, both cloud and bias any
such trends. Thus detailed understanding of the physical processes involved in disk dissipation
and of the relevant time scales remains elusive. Nevertheless, a clear effect in current data that
is unlikely to be altered by data analysis improvements is the dispersion in disk lifetimes. Inner
accretion disks are traced by near-infrared emission. Moderating a generally declining trend in
near-infared continuum excess and excess frequency with age over <1 to 8±4 Myr, is the fact
that a substantial fraction of rather young (<1 Myr old) stars apparently have already lost their
inner accretion disks while a significant number of rather old (8-16 Myr) stars apparently still
retain inner accretion disks. The age at which evidence for inner accretion disks ceases to be
apparent for the vast majority (~90%) of stars is in the range 3-8 Myr. More distant, terrestrial
zone dust is traced by mid-infrared emission where sufficient sensitivity and uniform data collec-
tion are only now being realized with data return from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Constraints
on mid-disk dissipation and disk clearing trends with radius are forthcoming
Embedded Clusters and the IMF
Despite valiant efforts over nearly five decades, attempts to determine the
IMF over a complete mass range for galactic field stars and in open clusters
have proved difficult. Infrared imaging observations of extremely young
embedded clusters coupled with Monte Carlo modeling of their luminosity
functions are improving this situation and providing important new
contributions to our fundamental knowledge of the IMF and its universality in
both space and time.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures to appear in "The IMF@50", Kluwer Academic Press,
eds. C. Corbelli, F. Palla, & Hans Zinnecke
RNO 54: A Previously Unappreciated FU Ori Star
We present evidence in support of the hypothesis that the young stellar object RNO 54 is a mature-stage FU Ori type source. The star was first cataloged as a "red nebulous object" in the 1980s but appears to have undergone its outburst prior to the 1890s. Present-day optical and near-infrared spectra are consistent with those of other FU Ori-type stars, both in the details of spectral line presence and shape, and in the overall change in spectral type from an FGK-type in the optical, to the M-type presented in the near-infrared. In addition, the spectral energy distribution of RNO 54 is well-fit by a pure-accretion disk model with parameters: M = 10-3.45±0.06 M⊙ yr−1, M* = 0.23 ± 0.06 M⊙, and Rinner = 3.68 ± 0.76 R⊙, though we believe Rinner is likely close to its upper range of 4.5R⊙ in order to produce a Tmax = 7000K that is consistent with the optical to near-infrared spectra. The resulting Lacc is ∼265 L⊙. To find these values, we adopted a source distance d = 1400 pc and extinction AV = 3.9 mag, along with disk inclination i = 50 deg based on the consideration of confidence intervals from our initial disk model, and in agreement with observational constraints. The new appreciation of a well-known source as an FU Ori-type object suggests that other such examples may be lurking in extant samples
Mass-luminosity relation for FGK main sequence stars: metallicity and age contributions
The stellar mass-luminosity relation (MLR) is one of the most famous
empirical "laws", discovered in the beginning of the 20th century. MLR is still
used to estimate stellar masses for nearby stars, particularly for those that
are not binary systems, hence the mass cannot be derived directly from the
observations. It's well known that the MLR has a statistical dispersion which
cannot be explained exclusively due to the observational errors in luminosity
(or mass). It is an intrinsic dispersion caused by the differences in age and
chemical composition from star to star. In this work we discuss the impact of
age and metallicity on the MLR. Using the recent data on mass, luminosity,
metallicity, and age for 26 FGK stars (all members of binary systems, with
observational mass-errors <= 3%), including the Sun, we derive the MLR taking
into account, separately, mass-luminosity, mass-luminosity-metallicity, and
mass-luminosity-metallicity-age. Our results show that the inclusion of age and
metallicity in the MLR, for FGK stars, improves the individual mass estimation
by 5% to 15%.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted in Astrophysics and Space
Scienc
Low-mass pre--main-sequence stars in the Magellanic Clouds
[Abridged] The stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF) suggests that sub-solar
stars form in very large numbers. Most attractive places for catching low-mass
star formation in the act are young stellar clusters and associations, still
(half-)embedded in star-forming regions. The low-mass stars in such regions are
still in their pre--main-sequence (PMS) evolutionary phase. The peculiar nature
of these objects and the contamination of their samples by the evolved
populations of the Galactic disk impose demanding observational techniques for
the detection of complete numbers of PMS stars in the Milky Way. The Magellanic
Clouds, the companion galaxies to our own, demonstrate an exceptional star
formation activity. The low extinction and stellar field contamination in
star-forming regions of these galaxies imply a more efficient detection of
low-mass PMS stars than in the Milky Way, but their distance from us make the
application of special detection techniques unfeasible. Nonetheless, imaging
with the Hubble Space Telescope yield the discovery of solar and sub-solar PMS
stars in the Magellanic Clouds from photometry alone. Unprecedented numbers of
such objects are identified as the low-mass stellar content of their
star-forming regions, changing completely our picture of young stellar systems
outside the Milky Way, and extending the extragalactic stellar IMF below the
persisting threshold of a few solar masses. This review presents the recent
developments in the investigation of PMS stars in the Magellanic Clouds, with
special focus on the limitations by single-epoch photometry that can only be
circumvented by the detailed study of the observable behavior of these stars in
the color-magnitude diagram. The achieved characterization of the low-mass PMS
stars in the Magellanic Clouds allowed thus a more comprehensive understanding
of the star formation process in our neighboring galaxies.Comment: Review paper, 26 pages (in LaTeX style for Springer journals), 4
figures. Accepted for publication in Space Science Review
Star Formation in the Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603
We have used new, deep, visible and near infrared observations of the compact
starburst cluster in the giant HII region NGC 3603 and its surroundings with
the WFC3 on HST and HAWK-I on the VLT to study in detail the physical
properties of its intermediate mass (~ 1 - 3 M_sun) stellar population. We show
that after correction for differential extinction and actively accreting stars,
and the study of field star contamination, strong evidence remains for a
continuous spread in the ages of pre-main sequence stars in the range ~ 2 to ~
30 Myr within the temporal resolution available. Existing differences among
presently available theoretical models account for the largest possible
variation in shape of the measured age histograms within these limits. We also
find that this isochronal age spread in the near infrared and visible
Colour-Magnitude Diagrams cannot be reproduced by any other presently known
source of astrophysical or instrumental scatter that could mimic the luminosity
spread seen in our observations except, possibly, episodic accretion. The
measured age spread and the stellar spatial distribution in the cluster are
consistent with the hypothesis that star formation started at least 20-30 Myrs
ago progressing slowly but continuously up to at least a few million years ago.
All the stars in the considered mass range are distributed in a flattened
oblate spheroidal pattern with the major axis oriented in an approximate
South-East - North-West direction, and with the length of the equatorial axis
decreasing with increasing age. This asymmetry is most likely due to the fact
that star formation occurred along a filament of gas and dust in the natal
molecular cloud oriented locally in this direction.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics &
Space Scienc
The Kuiper Belt and Other Debris Disks
We discuss the current knowledge of the Solar system, focusing on bodies in
the outer regions, on the information they provide concerning Solar system
formation, and on the possible relationships that may exist between our system
and the debris disks of other stars. Beyond the domains of the Terrestrial and
giant planets, the comets in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud preserve some
of our most pristine materials. The Kuiper belt, in particular, is a
collisional dust source and a scientific bridge to the dusty "debris disks"
observed around many nearby main-sequence stars. Study of the Solar system
provides a level of detail that we cannot discern in the distant disks while
observations of the disks may help to set the Solar system in proper context.Comment: 50 pages, 25 Figures. To appear in conference proceedings book
"Astrophysics in the Next Decade
Subleading-twist effects in single-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering on a longitudinally polarized hydrogen target
Single-spin asymmetries in the semi-inclusive production of charged pions in
deep-inelastic scattering from transversely and longitudinally polarized proton
targets are combined to evaluate the subleading-twist contribution to the
longitudinal case. This contribution is significantly positive for (\pi^+)
mesons and dominates the asymmetries on a longitudinally polarized target
previously measured by \hermes. The subleading-twist contribution for (\pi^-)
mesons is found to be small
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