English

Evolution of Young Brown Dwarf Disks in the Mid-Infrared

Astrophysics 2009-11-10 v2

Abstract

We have imaged two bona-fide brown dwarfs with TReCS/GEMINI-S and find mid-infrared excess emission that can be explained by optically thick dust disk models. In the case of the young (\approx2Myr) Cha Hα\alpha1 we measure fluxes at 10.4μ\mum and 12.3μ\mum that are fully consistent with a standard flared disk model and prominent silicate emission. For the \approx 10Myr old brown dwarf 2MASS1207-3932 located in the TW Hydrae association we find excess emission at 8.7μ\mum and 10.4μ\mum with respect to its photosphere, and confirm disk accretion as likely cause of its strong activity. Disks around brown dwarfs likely last at least as long as their low-mass stellar counterparts in the T-Tauri phase. Grain growth, dust settling, and evolution of the geometry of brown dwarfs disks may appear on a timescale of 10Myr and can be witnessed by observations in the mid-infrared.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0406460,
  title  = {Evolution of Young Brown Dwarf Disks in the Mid-Infrared},
  author = {Michael F. Sterzik and Ilaria Pascucci and Daniel Apai and Nicole van der Bliek and Cornelis P. Dullemond},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0406460},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

6 pages, 4 figures