Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· Full Refereed Journal Article (PDF/Postscript)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:0908.2367)
· On-line Data
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (5) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· SIMBAD Objects (21)
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Evidence for Disk Photoevaporation Driven by the Central Star
Authors:
Pascucci, I.; Sterzik, M.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ), AB(European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile )
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 702, Issue 1, pp. 724-732 (2009). (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
09/2009
Origin:
IOP
ApJ Keywords:
accretion, accretion disks, infrared: stars, planetary systems: protoplanetary disks, stars: individual: TW Hya CS Cha T Cha VW Cha Sz 73 Sz 102 HD 34700
DOI:
10.1088/0004-637X/702/1/724
Bibliographic Code:
2009ApJ...702..724P

Abstract

The lifetime of isolated protoplanetary disks is thought to be set by the combination of viscous accretion and photoevaporation driven by stellar high-energy photons. Observational evidence for magnetospheric accretion in young Sun-like stars is robust. Here we report the first observational evidence for disk photoevaporation driven by the central star. We acquired high-resolution (R~ 30,000) spectra of the [Ne II] 12.81 μm line from seven circumstellar disks using VISIR on Melipal/VLT. We show that the three transition disks in the sample all have [Ne II] line profiles consistent with those predicted by a photoevaporative flow driven by stellar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) photons. The ~6 km s-1 blueshift of the line from the almost face-on disk of TW Hya is clearly inconsistent with emission from a static disk atmosphere and convincingly points to the presence of a photoevaporative wind. We do not detect any [Ne II] line close to the stellar velocity from the sample of classical optically thick (nontransition) disks. We conclude that most of the spectrally unresolved [Ne II] emission in these less-evolved systems arises from jets/outflows rather than from the disk. The pattern of the [Ne II] detections and nondetections suggests that EUV-driven photoevaporation starts only at a later stage in the disk evolution.

Based on observations made with VISIR on the UT3/Melipal ESO Telescope at Paranal under programme ID 080.C-0404(A).

Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
   

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints