Effects of photophoresis on the evolution of transitional circumstellar disks

Abstract

Although known for almost a century, the photophoretic force has only recently been considered in astrophysical context for the first time. In our work, we have examined the effect of photophoresis, acting together with stellar gravity, radiation pressure, and gas drag, on the evolution of solids in transitional circumstellar disks. We have applied our calculations to four different systems: the disks of HR 4796A and HD 141569A, which are several Myr old AB-type stars, and two hypothetical systems that correspond to the solar nebula after disk dispersal has progressed sufficiently for the disk to become optically thin. Our results suggest that solid objects migrate inward or outward, until they reach a certain size-dependent stability distance from the star. The larger the bodies, the closer to the star they tend to accumulate. Photophoresis increases the stability radii, moving objects to larger distances. What is more, photophoresis may cause formation of a belt of objects, but only in a certain range of sizes and only around low-luminosity stars. The effects of photophoresis are noticeable in the size range from several micrometers to several centimeters (for older transitional disks) or even several meters (for younger, more gaseous, ones). We argue that due to gas damping, rotation does not substantially inhibit photophoresis.

arXiv comment13 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication on 1 October 2007

References in corpus (26)

• Models of Giant Planet formation with migration and disc evolution
• How Observations of Circumstellar Disk Asymmetries Can Reveal Hidden Planets: Pericenter Glow and its Application to the HR 4796 Disk
• Radiative Torques on Interstellar Grains: I. Superthermal Spinup
• Evolution of protoplanetary disks: Constraints from DM Tauri and GM Aurigae
• The Circumstellar Disk of HD 141569 Imaged with NICMOS
• Critical Protoplanetary Core Masses in Protoplanetary Disks and the Formation of Short-Period Giant Planets
• Dust Migration and Morphology in Optically Thin Circumstellar Gas Disks
• Mid-infrared Imaging of a Circumstellar Disk Around HR 4796: Mapping the Debris of Planetary Formation
• Survival of the mm-cm size grain population observed in protoplanetary disks
• A Candidate Substellar Companion to HR 7329
• A dust disk surrounding the young A star HR4796A
• Accretion Disks around Young Stars: Lifetimes, Disk Locking and Variability
• SPITZER/IRAC-MIPS Survey of NGC2244: Protostellar Disk Survival in the Vicinity of Hot Stars
• Deep 10 and 18 micron Imaging of the HR 4796A Circumstellar Disk: Transient Dust Particles & Tentative Evidence for a Brightness Asymmetry
• Spiral Structure when Setting up Pericentre Glow: Possible Giant Planets at Hundreds of AU in the HD141569 Disk
• Stellar Companions and the Age of HD 141569 and its Circumstellar Disk
• The Differential Lifetimes of Protostellar Gas and Dust Disks
• Spatially Resolving the Inner Disk of TW Hya
• Structuring the HD 141569 A circumstellar dust disk. Impact of eccentric bound stellar companions
• Spitzer/IRAC and JHKs Observations of h & chi Persei: Constraints on Protoplanetary Disk and Massive Cluster Evolution at ~ 10^{7} yr
• Formation of Narrow Dust Rings in Circumstellar Debris Disks
• Radial Distribution of Dust Grains Around HR 4796A
• Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: Upper Limits the Gas Mass in HD105
• A Dynamical Simulation of the Debris Disk Around HD 141569A
• Are Giant Planets Forming Around HR 4796A?
• Constraints on Inner Disk Evolution Timescales: A Disk Census of the eta Chamaeleontis Young Cluster

Cited by in corpus (14)

• The Solar-System-Scale Disk Around AB Aurigae
• Radial Surface Density Profiles of Gas and Dust in the Debris Disk around 49 Ceti
• Photophoretic separation of metals and silicates: the formation of Mercury like planets and metal depletion in chondrites
• Solar System Physics for Exoplanet Research
• From Planetesimals to Dust: Low Gravity Experiments on Recycling Solids at the Inner Edge of Protoplanetary Disks
• Experiments on the Photophoretic Motion of Chondrules and Dust Aggregates - Indications for the Transport of Matter in Protoplanetary Disks
• Rocky Planet Formation: Quick and Neat
• Can gas in young debris disks be constrained by their radial brightness profiles?
• Radiative forces on macroscopic porous bodies in protoplanetary disks: laboratory experiments
• Thermal and Photophoretic Properties of Dust Mantled Chondrules and Sorting in the Solar Nebula
• Photophoretic Strength on Chondrules. 2. Experiment
• Selective Aggregation Experiments on Planetesimal Formation and Mercury-Like Planets
• The motion of chondrules and other particles in a protoplanetary disc with temperature fluctuations
• Self-Sustained Recycling in the Inner Dust Ring of Pre-Transitional Disks