An SMA Continuum Survey of Circumstellar Disks in the Serpens Star-Forming Region

Abstract

We present observations with the Submillimeter Array of the continuum emission at $\lambda =1.3$ mm from 62 young stars surrounded by a protoplanetary disk in the Serpens star-forming region. The typical angular resolution for the survey in terms of beam size is $3.5^{\prime \prime }\times 2.5^{\prime \prime }$ with a median rms noise level of 1.6 mJy beam${}^{-1}$. These data are used to infer the dust content in disks around low-mass stars $(0.1$-$2.5M_{\odot })$ at a median stellar age of $1$-$3$ Myr. Thirteen sources were detected in the 1.3 mm dust continuum with inferred dust masses of $\approx 10$-$260M_{\oplus }$ and an upper limit to the median dust mass of $5.1_{-4.3}^{+6.1}{M}_{\oplus }$, derived using survival analysis. Comparing the protoplanetary disk population in Serpens to those of other nearby star-forming regions, we find that the populations of dust disks in Serpens and Taurus, which have a similar age, are statistically indistinguishable. This is potentially surprising since Serpens has a stellar surface density two orders of magnitude in excess of Taurus. Hence, we find no evidence that dust disks in Serpens have been dispersed as a result of more frequent and/or stronger tidal interactions due its elevated stellar density. We also report that the fraction of Serpens disks with $M_{\mathrm{dust}}\ge 10M_{\oplus }$ is less than 20%, which supports the notion that the formation of giant planets is likely inherently rare or has substantially progressed by a few Myrs.

20 pages, 12 figures, accept for publication in AJ

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