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Register a new userEncounter-Triggered Disc Mass Loss in the ONC
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Susanne Pfalzner Dr
Publication date
2006
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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The relevance of encounters on the destruction of protoplanetary discs in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) is investigated by combining two different types of numerical simulation. First, star-cluster simulations are performed to model the stellar dynamics of the ONC, the results of which are used to investigate the frequency of encounters, the mass ratio and separation of the stars involved, and the eccentricity of the encounter orbits. The results show that interactions that could influence the star-surrounding disc are more frequent than previously assumed in the core of the ONC, the so-called Trapezium cluster. Second, a parameter study of star-disc encounters is performed to determine the upper limits of the mass loss of the discs in encounters. For simulation times of $sim$ 1-2 Myr (the likely age of the ONC) the results show that gravitational interaction might account for a significant disc mass loss in dense clusters. Disc destruction is dominated by encounters with high-mass stars, especially in the Trapezium cluster, where the fraction of discs destroyed due to stellar encounters can reach 10-15%. These estimates are in accord with observations of (Lada et al. 2000) who determined a stellar disc fraction of 80-85%. Thus, it is shown that in the ONC - a typical star-forming region - stellar encounters do have a significant effect on the mass of protoplanetary discs and thus affect the formation of planetary systems.
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The external destruction of protoplanetary discs in a clustered environment acts mainly due to two mechanisms: gravitational drag by stellar encounters and evaporation by strong stellar winds and radiation. If encounters play a role in disc destruction, one would expect that stars devoid of disc material would show unexpectedly high velocities as an outcome of close interactions. We want to quantify this effect by numerical simulations and compare it to observations. As a model cluster we chose the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). We found from the observational data that 8 to 18 stars leave the ONC with velocities several times the velocity dispersion. The majority of these high-velocity stars are young low-mass stars, among them several lacking infrared excess emission. Interestingly, the high-velocity stars are found only in two separate regions of the ONC. Our simulations give an explanation for the location of the high-velocity stars and provide evidence for a strong correlation between location and disc destruction. The high-velocity stars can be explained as the outcome of close three-body encounters; the partial lack of disc signatures is attributed to gravitational interaction. The spatial distribution of the high-velocity stars reflects the initial structure and dynamics of the ONC. Our approach can be generalized to study the evolution of other young dense star clusters, like the Arches cluster, back in time.
Low- and intermediate-mass stars eject much of their mass during the late, red giant branch (RGB) phase of evolution. The physics of their strong stellar winds is still poorly understood. In the standard model, stellar pulsations extend the atmosphere, allowing a wind to be driven through radiation pressure on condensing dust particles. Here we investigate the onset of the wind, using nearby RGB stars drawn from the Hipparcos catalogue. We find a sharp onset of dust production when the star first reaches a pulsation period of 60 days. This approximately co-incides with the point where the star transitions to the first overtone pulsation mode. Models of the spectral energy distributions show stellar mass-loss rate suddenly increases at this point, by a factor of ~10 over the existing (chromospherically driven) wind. The dust emission is strongly correlated with both pulsation period and amplitude, indicating stellar pulsation is the main trigger for the strong mass loss, and determines the mass-loss rate. Dust emission does not strongly correlate with stellar luminosity, indicating radiation pressure on dust has little effect on the mass-loss rate. RGB stars do not normally appear to produce dust, whereas dust production by asymptotic giant branch stars appears commonplace, and is probably ubiquitous above the RGB-tip luminosity. We conclude that the strong wind begins with a step change in mass-loss rate, and is triggered by stellar pulsations. A second rapid mass-loss-rate enhancement is suggested when the star transitions to the fundamental pulsation mode, at a period of ~300 days.
This paper presents observations of the Be/X-ray binary system A0535+26 revealing the first observed loss of its circumstellar disc, demonstrated by the loss of its JHK infrared excess and optical/IR line emission. However optical/IR spectroscopy reveals the formation of a new inner disc with significant density and emission strength at small radii; the disc has proven to be stable over 5 months in this intermediate state.
Investigations of stellar encounters in cluster environments have demonstrated their potential influence on the mass and angular momentum of protoplanetary discs around young stars. In this study it is investigated in how far the initial surface density in the disc surrounding a young star influences the outcome of an encounter. Based on a power-law ansatz for the surface density, $Sigma(r) propto r^{-p}$, a parameter study of star-disc encounters with different initial disc-mass distributions has been performed using N-body simulations. It is demonstrated that the shape of the disc-mass distribution has a significant impact on the quantity of the disc-mass and angular momentum losses in star-disc encounters. Most sensitive are the results where the outer parts of the disc are perturbed by high-mass stars. By contrast, disc-penetrating encounters lead more or less independently of the disc-mass distribution always to large losses. However, maximum losses are generally obtained for initially flat distributed disc material. Based on the parameter study a fit formula is derived, describing the relative mass and angular momentum loss dependent on the initial disc-mass distribution index p. Generally encounters lead to a steepening of the density profile of the disc. The resulting profiles can have a r^{-2}-dependence or even steeper independent of the initial distribution of the disc material. From observations the initial density distribution in discs remains unconstrained, so the here demonstrated strong dependence on the initial density distribution might require a revision of the effect of encounters in young stellar clusters. The steep surface density distributions induced by some encounters might be the prerequisite to form planetary systems similar to our own solar system.
We present the results of Monte Carlo mass-loss predictions for massive stars covering a wide range of stellar parameters. We critically test our predictions against a range of observed mass-loss rates -- in light of the recent discussions on wind clumping. We also present a model to compute the clumping-induced polarimetric variability of hot stars and we compare this with observations of Luminous Blue Variables, for which polarimetric variability is larger than for O and Wolf-Rayet stars. Luminous Blue Variables comprise an ideal testbed for studies of wind clumping and wind geometry, as well as for wind strength calculations, and we propose they may be direct supernova progenitors.
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