A Correlation Between Pre-Main Sequence Stellar Rotation Rates and IRAC Excesses in Orion

Abstract

Early observations of T Tauri stars suggested that stars with evidence of circumstellar accretion disks rotated slower than stars without such evidence, but more recent results are not as clear. Near-IR circumstellar disk indicators, though the most widely available, are subject to uncertainties that can result from inner disk holes and/or the system inclination. Mid-infrared observations are less sensitive to such effects, but until now, these observations have been difficult to obtain. The Spitzer Space Telescope now easily enables mid-infrared measurements of large samples of PMS stars covering a broad mass range in nearby star-forming regions. Megeath and collaborators surveyed the Orion Molecular Clouds (~1 Myr) with the IRAC instrument (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8 microns) as part of a joint IRAC and MIPS GTO program. We examine the relationship between rotation and Spitzer mid-IR fluxes for ~900 stars in Orion for stars between 3 and 0.1 Msun. We find in these Spitzer data the clearest indication to date that stars with longer periods are more likely than those with short periods to have IR excesses suggestive of disks.

19 pages, 7 figures, accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (1)

• Chandra X-Ray Observations of Young Clusters. III. NGC 2264 and the Orion Flanking Fields

Cited by in corpus (12)

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• Rotation and activity of pre-main-sequence stars
• The Monitor project: JW 380 -- a 0.26, 0.15 Msol pre main sequence eclipsing binary in the Orion Nebula Cluster
• A Spitzer Study of Debris Disks In The Young Nearby Cluster NGC 2232: Icy Planets Are Common Around ~ 1.5--3 Solar-Mass Stars
• VLT/Flames observations of the star forming region NGC 6530
• The rotational evolution of young low mass stars
• Testing the Disk-Locking Paradigm: An Association Between U-V Excess and Rotation in NGC 2264