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| Paper: |
Evolutionary timescales for circumstellar disks associated with solar-type pre-main sequence stars |
| Volume: |
9, Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun: Sixth Cambridge Workshop |
| Page: |
275 |
| Authors: |
Strom, Stephen E.; Edwards, Suzan; Skrutskie, Michael F. |
| Abstract: |
The presence and timescales of circumstellar disks are investigated by examining the excess IR radiation above photospheric levels. About half of the bodies in a large sample of solar-type pre-main sequence (PMS) stars in Taurus-Auriga with ages of less than 3 Myr demonstrate emissions consistent with those associated with optically thick disks. The disks are IR-luminous until ages of 10 Myr or less since only about 10 percent of the stars of about 10 Myr sampled exhibited dust emission from these disks. Inner holes are identified in 3 disks out of the 33 solar-type PMS stars surrounded by optically thick disks. These disks are considered to be 'transition cases' that are becoming optically thin and in which larger bodies are forming in the terrestrial planet region. Observational statistics suggest that it takes about 0.3 Myr for thick disks to evolve into thin disks, and it is theorized that in these regions the agglomeration of material into planets has begun. |
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