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Journal ArticleDOI

Evolution of Debris Disks

15 Aug 2008-Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Annual Reviews)-Vol. 46, Iss: 1, pp 339-383
TL;DR: In this article, a review describes the theoretical framework within which debris disk evolution takes place and shows how that framework has been constrained by observations, including infrared photometry of large numbers of debris disks, providing snapshots of the dust present at different evolutionary phases.
Abstract: Circumstellar dust exists around several hundred main sequence stars. For the youngest stars, that dust could be a remnant of the protoplanetary disk. Mostly it is inferred to be continuously replenished through collisions between planetesimals in belts analogous to the Solar System’s asteroid and Kuiper belts, or in collisions between growing protoplanets. The evolution of a star’s debris disk is indicative of the evolution of its planetesimal belts and may be influenced by planet formation processes, which can continue throughout the first gigayear as the planetary system settles to a stable configuration and planets form at large radii. Evidence for that evolution comes from infrared photometry of large numbers of debris disks, providing snapshots of the dust present at different evolutionary phases, as well as from images of debris disk structure. This review describes the theoretical framework within which debris disk evolution takes place and shows how that framework has been constrained by observations.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the outer parts, beyond 1 AU, of protoplanetary disks with a focus on recent IR and (sub)millimeter results can be found in this paper.
Abstract: Flattened, rotating disks of cool dust and gas extending for tens to hundreds of astronomical units are found around almost all low-mass stars shortly after their birth. These disks generally persist for several million years, during which time some material accretes onto the star, some is lost through outflows and photoevaporation, and some condenses into centimeter- and larger-sized bodies or planetesimals. Through observations mainly at IR through millimeter wavelengths, we can determine how common disks are at different ages; measure basic properties including mass, size, structure, and composition; and follow their varied evolutionary pathways. In this way, we see the first steps toward exoplanet formation and learn about the origins of the Solar System. This review addresses observations of the outer parts, beyond 1 AU, of protoplanetary disks with a focus on recent IR and (sub)millimeter results and an eye to the promise of new facilities in the immediate future.

1,366 citations


Cites background or result from "Evolution of Debris Disks"

  • ...There are also several related reviews that have been recently written for this series including the inner disk (Dullemond & Monnier 2010), debris disks (Wyatt 2008), and dynamical processes (Armitage 2010)....

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  • ...However, similar studies based on the disk frequencies in clusters with a range of mean ages (Haisch, Lada & Lada 2001; Hillenbrand 2005) have led to essentially the same result: the frequency of inner accretion disks steadily decreases from < 1 to ∼ 10Myr (e.g., see Figure 2 in Wyatt (2008))....

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  • ...The gravitational effect of planets on debris disks has been diagnosed in Fomalhaut (Chiang et al. 2009), postulated in β Pic (Mouillet et al. 1997), and suspected in others (Wyatt 2008, and references therein)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
02 Jul 2010-Science
TL;DR: It is shown that the ~10-million-year-oldβ Pictoris system hosts a massive giant planet, β Pictoris b, located 8 to 15 astronomical units from the star, which confirms that gas giant planets form rapidly within disks and validates the use of disk structures as fingerprints of embedded planets.
Abstract: Here, we show that the ~10-million-year-old β Pictoris system hosts a massive giant planet, β Pictoris b, located 8 to 15 astronomical units from the star. This result confirms that gas giant planets form rapidly within disks and validates the use of disk structures as fingerprints of embedded planets. Among the few planets already imaged, β Pictoris b is the closest to its parent star. Its short period could allow for recording of the full orbit within 17 years.

973 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) was used to survey 89 protoplanetary disks around stars with M∗ > 0.1 M in the young (1-3 Myr), nearby (150-200 pc) Lupus complex.
Abstract: We present the first high-resolution sub-millimeter survey of both dust and gas for a large population of protoplanetary disks. Characterizing fundamental properties of protoplanetary disks on a statistical level is critical to understanding how disks evolve into the diverse exoplanet population. We use the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) to survey 89 protoplanetary disks around stars with M∗ > 0.1 M⊙ in the young (1–3 Myr), nearby (150–200 pc) Lupus complex. Our observations cover the 890 μm continuum and the ^(13)CO and C^(18)O 3–2 lines. We use the sub-millimeter continuum to constrain M_(dust) to a few Martian masses (0.2–0.4 M⊕) and the CO isotopologue lines to constrain M_(gas) to roughly a Jupiter mass (assuming an interstellar medium (ISM)-like [CO]/[H_2] abundance). Of 89 sources, we detect 62 in continuum, 36 in ^(13)CO, and 11 in C^(18)O at >3σ significance. Stacking individually undetected sources limits their average dust mass to ≾6 Lunar masses (0.03 M⊕), indicating rapid evolution once disk clearing begins. We find a positive correlation between M_(dust) and M∗, and present the first evidence for a positive correlation between M_(gas) and M∗, which may explain the dependence of giant planet frequency on host star mass. The mean dust mass in Lupus is 3× higher than in Upper Sco, while the dust mass distributions in Lupus and Taurus are statistically indistinguishable. Most detected disks have M_(gas) ≾ 1 M(Jup) and gas-to-dust ratios <100, assuming an ISM-like [CO]/[H_2] abundance; unless CO is very depleted, the inferred gas depletion indicates that planet formation is well underway by a few Myr and may explain the unexpected prevalence of super-Earths in the exoplanet population.

626 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: SCUBA-2 as mentioned in this paper is an innovative 10000 pixel bolometer camera operating at submillimetre wavelengths on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), which has the capability to carry out wide-field surveys to unprecedented depths, addressing key questions relating to the origins of galaxies, stars and planets.
Abstract: SCUBA-2 is an innovative 10000 pixel bolometer camera operating at submillimetre wavelengths on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The camera has the capability to carry out wide-field surveys to unprecedented depths, addressing key questions relating to the origins of galaxies, stars and planets. With two imaging arrays working simultaneously in the atmospheric windows at 450 and 850µm, the vast increase in pixel count means that SCUBA-2 maps the sky 100–150 times faster than the previous SCUBA instrument. In this paper we present an overview of the instrument, discuss the physical characteristics of the superconducting detector arrays, outline the observing modes and data acquisition, and present the early performance figures on the telescope. We also showcase the capabilities of the instrument via some early examples of the science SCUBA-2 has already undertaken. In February 2012, SCUBA-2 began a series of unique legacy surveys for the JCMT community. These surveys will take 2.5years and the results are already providing complementary data to the shorter wavelength, shallower, larger-area surveys from Herschel. The SCUBA-2 surveys will also provide a wealth of information for further study with new facilities such as ALMA, and future telescopes such as CCAT and SPICA.

572 citations


Cites background from "Evolution of Debris Disks"

  • ...…1998), pin-pointing cold dense regions in molecular clouds where new stars are forming (e.g. Motte et al. 1998; André et al. 2010), and imaging of vast clouds of cold dust around nearby stars believed to be analogues of the Kuiper Belt in our Solar System (e.g. Holland et al. 1998; Wyatt 2008)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A summary of the available techniques for age-dating stars and ensembles of stars, their realms of applicability, and their strengths and weaknesses can be found in this article, where the authors focus on low-mass stars.
Abstract: The age of an individual star cannot be measured, only estimated through mostly model-dependent or empirical methods, and no single method works well for a broad range of stellar types or for a full range in age. This review presents a summary of the available techniques for age-dating stars and ensembles of stars, their realms of applicability, and their strengths and weaknesses. My emphasis is on low-mass stars because they are present from all epochs of star formation in the Galaxy and because they present both special opportunities and problems. The ages of open clusters are important for understanding the limitations of stellar models and for calibrating empirical age indicators. For individual stars, a hierarchy of quality for the available age-dating methods is described. Although our present ability to determine the ages of even the nearest stars is mediocre, the next few years hold great promise as asteroseismology probes beyond stellar surfaces and starts to provide precise interior properties o...

567 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA's great Observatory for infrared astronomy, was launched 2003 August 25 and is returning excellent scientific data from its Earth-trailing solar orbit as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA's Great Observatory for infrared astronomy, was launched 2003 August 25 and is returning excellent scientific data from its Earth-trailing solar orbit. Spitzer combines the intrinsic sensitivity achievable with a cryogenic telescope in space with the great imaging and spectroscopic power of modern detector arrays to provide the user community with huge gains in capability for exploration of the cosmos in the infrared. The observatory systems are largely performing as expected, and the projected cryogenic lifetime is in excess of 5 years. This paper summarizes the on-orbit scientific, technical, and operational performance of Spitzer. Subsequent papers in this special issue describe the Spitzer instruments in detail and highlight many of the exciting scientific results obtained during the first 6 months of the Spitzer mission.

3,177 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report the results of the first sensitive L-band survey of the intermediate-age (2.5-30 Myr) clusters NGC 2264, NGC 2362, and NGC 1960.
Abstract: We report the results of the first sensitive L-band survey of the intermediate-age (2.5-30 Myr) clusters NGC 2264, NGC 2362, and NGC 1960. We use JHKL colors to obtain a census of the circumstellar disk fractions in each cluster. We find disk fractions of 52% ± 10%, 12% ± 4%, and 3% ± 3% for the three clusters, respectively. Together with our previously published JHKL investigations of the younger NGC 2024, Trapezium, and IC 348 clusters, we have completed the first systematic and homogeneous survey for circumstellar disks in a sample of young clusters that both span a significant range in age (0.3-30 Myr) and contain statistically significant numbers of stars whose masses span nearly the entire stellar mass spectrum. Analysis of the combined survey indicates that the cluster disk fraction is initially very high (≥80%) and rapidly decreases with increasing cluster age, such that one-half the stars within the clusters lose their disks in 3 Myr. Moreover, these observations yield an overall disk lifetime of ~6 Myr in the surveyed cluster sample. This is the timescale for essentially all the stars in a cluster to lose their disks. This should set a meaningful constraint for the planet-building timescale in stellar clusters. The implications of these results for current theories of planet formation are briefly discussed.

1,886 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Chondrite classification, primordial matter composition and early solar system chemical processes, discussing cosmic gas condensation and refractory element fractionation are discussed in this paper, with a focus on early solar systems chemical processes.
Abstract: Chondrite classification, primordial matter composition and early solar system chemical processes, discussing cosmic gas condensation and refractory element fractionation

1,690 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
26 May 2005-Nature
TL;DR: This model not only naturally explains the Late Heavy Bombardment, but also reproduces the observational constraints of the outer Solar System.
Abstract: The petrology record on the Moon suggests that a cataclysmic spike in the cratering rate occurred approximately 700 million years after the planets formed; this event is known as the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB). Planetary formation theories cannot naturally account for an intense period of planetesimal bombardment so late in Solar System history. Several models have been proposed to explain a late impact spike, but none of them has been set within a self-consistent framework of Solar System evolution. Here we propose that the LHB was triggered by the rapid migration of the giant planets, which occurred after a long quiescent period. During this burst of migration, the planetesimal disk outside the orbits of the planets was destabilized, causing a sudden massive delivery of planetesimals to the inner Solar System. The asteroid belt was also strongly perturbed, with these objects supplying a significant fraction of the LHB impactors in accordance with recent geochemical evidence. Our model not only naturally explains the LHB, but also reproduces the observational constraints of the outer Solar System.

1,686 citations

Book
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: Protostars and Planets V as mentioned in this paper provides a detailed and up-to-date picture of star and planet formation, including the formation and early evolution of our own solar system.
Abstract: The ever-increasing number of discoveries of new planets beyond our solar system is invigorating the quest for new knowledge and understanding of the birth of stars and planets. "Protostars and Planets V" builds on the latest results from recent advances in ground and space-based astronomy and in numerical computing techniques to offer the most detailed and up-to-date picture of star and planet formation - including the formation and early evolution of our own solar system. This is an indispensable resource for anyone with an interest in astronomy, planetary science, the study of meteorites, and the history of the universe.

1,672 citations