SETI public: Two papers on circumstellar disks and one on Pleiades brown dwarfs

From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Thu Nov 10 2005 - 10:15:37 PST

  • Next message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI public: Optical Spectroscopy of a Flare on Barnard's Star"

    Paper: astro-ph/0511250
    Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 00:30:14 GMT (346kb)

    Title: Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS): Primordial Warm
    Dust Evolution From 3-30 Myr around Sun-like Stars

    Authors: M.D. Silverstone (1), M.R. Meyer (1), E.E. Mamajek (2), D.C. Hines
    (3), L.A. Hillenbrand (4), J. Najita (5), I. Pascucci (1), J. Bouwman (6),
    J.S. Kim (1), J.M. Carpenter (4), J.R. Stauffer (7), D.E. Backman (8) A.
    Moro-Martin (9), T. Henning (6), S. Wolf (6), T.Y. Brooke (7), D.L. Padgett
    (7) ((1) Steward Obs., U. of AZ, (2) Harvard-Smithsonian CfA (3) Space
    Science Institute, (4) Dept. of Astron., CalTech, (5) NOAO, (6)
    Max-Plank-Institut fur Astronomie, (7) Spitzer Science Cntr., (8) NASA-Ames
    Research Cntr., (9) Dept. of Astrophys. Sci., Princeton U.)

    Comments: 16 pages, includes 2 figures and 2 tables
    \\
    We present data obtained with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) aboard the
    Spitzer Space Telescope (Spitzer) for a sample of 74 young (t < 30 Myr old)
    Sun-like (0.7 < M(star)/M(Sun) < 1.5) stars. These are a sub-set of the
    observations that comprise the Spitzer Legacy science program entitled the
    Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS). Using IRAC we study the
    fraction of young stars that exhibit 3.6-8.0 micron infrared emission in
    excess
    of that expected from the stellar photosphere, as a function of age from
    3-30
    Myr. The most straightforward interpretation of such excess emission is the
    presence of hot (300-1000K) dust in the inner regions (< 3 AU) of a
    circumstellar disk. Five out of the 74 young stars show a strong infrared
    excess, four of which have estimated ages of 3-10 Myr. While we detect
    excesses
    from 5 optically thick disks, and photospheric emission from the remainder
    of
    our sample, we do not detect any excess emission from optically thin disks
    at
    these wavelengths. We compare our results with accretion disk fractions
    detected in previous studies, and use the ensemble results to place
    additional
    constraints on the dissipation timescales for optically-thick, primordial
    disks.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511250 , 346kb)

    Paper: astro-ph/0511261
    Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 12:52:02 GMT (37kb)

    Title: The circumstellar disc around the Herbig AeBe star HD169142

    Authors: W. R. F. Dent (1), J. M. Torrelles (2 and 3), M. Osorio (4), N.
    Calvet
    (5), G. Anglada (4) ((1) UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory
    Edinburgh, UK, (2) Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (CSIC)-IEEC Barcelona,
    Spain, (3) On sabbatical leave at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal
    Observatory Edinburgh, UK, (4) Instituto de Astrof\'{\i}sica de
    Andaluc\'{\i}a (CSIC), Granada, Spain, (5) Dept. of Astronomy, University of
    Michigan, St., Ann Arbor, MI, USA)

    Comments: 13 pages, 2 figures. Accepted by MNRAS
    \\
    We present 7 mm and 3.5 cm wavelength continuum observations toward the
    Herbig AeBe star HD169142 performed with the Very Large Array (VLA) with an
    angular resolution of ~1". We find that this object exhibits strong (~4.4
    mJy),
    unresolved (~1") 7 mm continuum emission, being one of the brightest
    isolated
    Herbig AeBe stars ever detected with the VLA at this wavelength. No emission
    is
    detected at 3.5 cm continuum, with a 3 sigma upper limit of ~0.08 mJy. From
    these values, we obtain a spectral index of ~2.5 in the 3.5 cm to 7 mm
    wavelength range, indicating that the observed flux density at 7mm is most
    likely dominated by thermal dust emission coming from a circumstellar disc.
    We
    use available photometric data from the literature to model the spectral
    energy
    distribution (SED) of this object from radio to near-ultraviolet
    frequencies.
    The observed SED can be understood in terms of an irradiated accretion disc
    with low mass accretion rate, 10^{-8} solar masses per year, surrounding a
    star
    with an age of ~10 Myr. We infer that the mass of the disc is ~0.04 solar
    masses, and is populated by dust grains that have grown to a maximum size of
    1
    mm everywhere, consistent with the lack of silicate emission at 10 microns.
    These features, as well as indications of settling in the wall at the dust
    destruction radius, led us to speculate the disc of HD169142 is in an
    advanced
    stage of dust evolution, particularly in its inner regions.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511261 , 37kb)

    Paper: astro-ph/0511278
    Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 18:09:45 GMT (23kb)

    Title: Proper motion Pleiades candidate L-type brown dwarfs

    Authors: G. Bihain, R. Rebolo, V. J. S. Bejar, J. A. Caballero, C. A. L.
    Bailer-Jones, R. Mundt

    Comments: 2 pages, 2 figures, ULMSF Workshop, accepted for publication in
    Astron. Nachrichten
    \\
    We present results of an optical and near-infrared (IR) 1.8 deg^2 survey in
    the Pleiades open cluster to search for substellar objects. From optical
    I-band
    images from the CFHT and J-band images from the 3.5 m CAHA Telescope, we
    identify 18 faint and very red L brown dwarf candidates, with I> 20.9 and
    I-J>
    3.2. The follow-up observations of nine objects in the H- and Ks-bands
    confirm
    that eight belong to the IR sequence of the cluster and the proper motion
    measurements of seven candidates confirm that they are Pleiades members. A
    preliminary estimation of the substellar mass spectrum dN/dM in the form of
    a
    power law M^-alpha provides alpha=0.57+-0.14. We extrapolate this function
    to
    estimate the number of very low-mass brown dwarfs and planetary mass objects
    that could be present in the cluster down to 1 M_Jup. Sensitive searches
    combining far red and near infrared observations may unveal these objects in
    a
    near future.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511278 , 23kb)


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