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| Paper: |
Dispersal of Disks Around Young Stars: Constraints on Kuiper Belt Formation |
| Volume: |
324, Debris Disks and the Formation of Planets: A Symposium in Memory of Fred Gillett |
| Page: |
168 |
| Authors: |
Hollenbach, D.; Adams, F.C. |
| Abstract: |
Photoevaporation is expected to be the dominant dispersal mechanism for the outer regions of dusty disks around young stars. The gaseous disk surface is often heated by ultraviolet photons from either the central star or a luminous nearby massive star in the star-forming cluster; the heated gas evaporates to interstellar space and drags along small dust particles. In this paper, we focus on photoevaporation driven by nearby massive stars and study whether photoevaporation can remove the outer disk material before the dust coagulates into large particles (with size a ≥ 0.1-1 cm), large enough to resist entrainment in the evaporating gas and remain in orbit to form Kuiper Belt objects. If the dust is carried off with the evaporating gas, the formation of Kuiper Belt objects is suppressed and the production of debris dust particles is also suppressed. We find that dust coagulation occurs rapidly enough that Kuiper Belt formation is likely to take place inside about 50-100 AU, even around low mass stars in dense clusters like the Trapezium. However, photoevaporation will cause a sharp cutoff in the formation of low eccentricity Kuiper Belt objects beyond this radius for Trapezium-like conditions. Different initial cluster environments can result in quite different amounts and extents of debris dust around stars of similar age and mass. |
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