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Register a new userDebris disks with multiple absorption features in metallic lines: circumstellar or interstellar origin?
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Debris disks are second generation dusty disks thought to be devoid of gas. However, this idea has been challenged in the last years by gas detections in some systems. We compiled a database of 301 debris disks and collected high--resolution optical spectra for $sim77%$ of them. From the analysis of these data we identified a group of 23 debris disks presenting several absorption features superimposed to the photospheric Ca II and Na I doublets. These absorptions could be due to circumstellar material or interstellar clouds. In order to discriminate between the two scenarios, we characterized each feature in terms of its radial velocity, equivalent width and column density. Additionally, we searched in the literature for local clouds in the line of sight of the stars, and looked for the presence of similar absorption features in nearby stars. Our study concludes that while all the objects present interstellar absorptions in their spectra, three objects show features more compatible with circumstellar origin: HD 110058 presents a stable circumstellar absorption, while HR 4796 and c Aql present variable absorption features likely due to exocometary activity. The minute-scale variability we detect towards c Aql is the shortest of this kind detected so far. The detection of circumstellar features in these objects is consistent with their near edge-on inclinations. We also provide evidence challenging previous claims of circumstellar gas detections for HR 6507. Given the properties of the sample, we speculate that transient gaseous events must be a common phenomenon among debris disks.
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Motivated by recent observational and numerical studies suggesting that collapsing protostellar cores may be replenished from the local environment, we explore the evolution of protostellar cores submerged in the external counter-rotating environment. These models predict the formation of counter-rotating disks with a deep gap in the gas surface density separating the inner disk (corotating with the star) and the outer counter-rotating disk. The properties of these gaps are compared to those of planet-bearing gaps that form in disks hosting giant planets. We employ numerical hydrodynamics simulations of collapsing cores that are replenished from the local counter-rotating environment, as well as numerical hydrodynamic simulations of isolated disks hosting giant planets, to derive the properties of the gaps that form in both cases. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that counter-rotating disks can form for a wide range of mass and angular momentum available in the local environment. The gap that separates both disks has a depletion factor smaller than 1%, can be located at a distance from ten to over a hundred AU from the star, and can propagate inward with velocity ranging from 1 AU/Myr to >100 AU/Myr. Unlike our previous conclusion, the gap can therefore be a long-lived phenomenon, comparable in some cases to the lifetime of the disk itself. For a proper choice of the planetary mass, the viscous alpha-parameter and the disk mass, the planet-bearing gaps and the gaps in counter-rotating disks may show a remarkable similarity in the gas density profile and depletion factor, which may complicate their observational differentiation.
The detection of gas in debris disks raises the question of whether this gas is a remnant from the primordial protoplanetary phase, or released by the collision of secondary bodies. In this paper we analyze ALMA observations at 1-1.5 resolution of three debris disks where the $^{12}$CO(2-1) rotational line was detected: HD131835, HD138813, and HD156623. We apply the iterative Lucy-Richardson deconvolution technique to the problem of circumstellar disks to derive disk geometries and surface brightness distributions of the gas. The derived disk parameters are used as input for thermochemical models to test both primordial and cometary scenarios for the origin of the gas. We favor a secondary origin for the gas in these disks and find that the CO gas masses ($sim 3times10^{-3}$ M$_{oplus}$) require production rates ($sim 5times 10^{-7}$ M$_{oplus}$~yr$^{-1}$) similar to those estimated for the bona-fide gas rich debris disk $beta$ Pic.
[Abridged] Star and planet formation are the complex outcomes of gravitational collapse and angular momentum transport mediated by protostellar and protoplanetary disks. In this review we focus on the role of gravitational instability in this process. We begin with a brief overview of the observational evidence for massive disks that might be subject to gravitational instability, and then highlight the diverse ways in which the instability manifests itself in protostellar and protoplanetary disks: the generation of spiral arms, small scale turbulence-like density fluctuations, and fragmentation of the disk itself. We present the analytic theory that describes the linear growth phase of the instability, supplemented with a survey of numerical simulations that aim to capture the non-linear evolution. We emphasize the role of thermodynamics and large scale infall in controlling the outcome of the instability. Despite apparent controversies in the literature, we show a remarkable level of agreement between analytic predictions and numerical results. We highlight open questions related to (1) the development of a turbulent cascade in thin disks, and (2) the role of mode-mode coupling in setting the maximum angular momentum transport rate in thick disks.
We have conducted a survey of 17 wide (> 100 AU) young binary systems in Taurus with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) at two wavelengths. The observations were designed to measure the masses of circumstellar disks in these systems as an aid to understanding the role of multiplicity in star and planet formation. The ALMA observations had sufficient resolution to localize emission within the binary system. Disk emission was detected around all primaries and ten secondaries, with disk masses as low as $10^{-4} M_{odot}$. We compare the properties of our sample to the population of known disks in Taurus and find that the disks from this binary sample match the scaling between stellar mass and millimeter flux of $F_{mm} propto M_{ast}^{1.5-2.0}$ to within the scatter found in previous studies. We also compare the properties of the primaries to those of the secondaries and find that the secondary/primary stellar and disk mass ratios are not correlated; in three systems, the circumsecondary disk is more massive than the circumprimary disk, counter to some theoretical predictions.
Observations of debris disks offer a window into the physical and dynamical properties of planetesimals in extrasolar systems through the size distribution of dust grains. In particular, the millimeter spectral index of thermal dust emission encodes information on the grain size distribution. We have made new VLA observations of a sample of seven nearby debris disks at 9 mm, with 3 resolution and $sim5$ $mu$Jy/beam rms. We combine these with archival ATCA observations of eight additional debris disks observed at 7 mm, together with up-to-date observations of all disks at (sub)millimeter wavelengths from the literature to place tight constraints on the millimeter spectral indices and thus grain size distributions. The analysis gives a weighted mean for the slope of the power law grain size distribution, $n(a)propto a^{-q}$, of $langle q rangle = 3.36pm0.02$, with a possible trend of decreasing $q$ for later spectral type stars. We compare our results to a range of theoretical models of collisional cascades, from the standard self-similar, steady-state size distribution ($q=3.5$) to solutions that incorporate more realistic physics such as alternative velocity distributions and material strengths, the possibility of a cutoff at small dust sizes from radiation pressure, as well as results from detailed dynamical calculations of specific disks. Such effects can lead to size distributions consistent with the data, and plausibly the observed scatter in spectral indices. For the AU Mic system, the VLA observations show clear evidence of a highly variable stellar emission component; this stellar activity obviates the need to invoke the presence of an asteroid belt to explain the previously reported compact millimeter source in this system.
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