Modeling the Infrared Emission from the HR 4796A Disk
Abstract
We model the spectral energy distribution (SED) from the mid-infrared to submillimeter of the ring-like disk of HR 4796A, the dustiest A-type star. We consider dust made either of coagulated but otherwise unaltered protostellar interstellar grains, or grains that are highly-processed in a protostellar/protoplanetary nebula with silicate dust annealed and carbon dust oxidized. Both types of dust are successful in reproducing the observed SED, provided that the grains are highly fluffy, with a vacuum volume fraction of \~90%. We find no evidence for the existence of a hot ``zodiacal dust'' component a few AU from the star, which was suggested by previous workers to account for the 10 micron-wavelength emission.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0311071,
title = {Modeling the Infrared Emission from the HR 4796A Disk},
author = {Aigen Li and J. I. Lunine},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0311071},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
published in The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 590, pp. 368--378; 26 pages; 9 figures