Measuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mm
Accurate disk mass measurements are necessary to constrain disk evolution and the timescale of planet formation, but such measurements are difficult to make and are very dependent on assumptions. Here, we look at the assumption that the disk is optically thin at radio wavelengths and the effect of t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aca52b |
| _version_ | 1797690516694892544 |
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| author | Z. Xin C. C. Espaillat A. M. Rilinger Á. Ribas E. Macías |
| author_facet | Z. Xin C. C. Espaillat A. M. Rilinger Á. Ribas E. Macías |
| author_sort | Z. Xin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Accurate disk mass measurements are necessary to constrain disk evolution and the timescale of planet formation, but such measurements are difficult to make and are very dependent on assumptions. Here, we look at the assumption that the disk is optically thin at radio wavelengths and the effect of this assumption on measurements of disk dust mass. We model the optical to radio spectral energy distributions of 41 protoplanetary disks located in the young (∼1–3 Myr old) Lupus star-forming region, including 0.89 1.33 and 3 mm flux densities when available. We measure disk dust masses that are ∼1.5–6 times higher than when using the commonly adopted disk dust mass equation under the assumption of optically thin emission in the (sub)millimeter range. The cause of this discrepancy is that most disks are optically thick at millimeter wavelengths, even up to 3 mm, demonstrating that observations at longer wavelengths are needed to trace the fully optically thin emission of disks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:00:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d813f94a2b9042ba834b9fda8d21c4c6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:00:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-d813f94a2b9042ba834b9fda8d21c4c62023-09-07T17:06:01ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572022-01-019421410.3847/1538-4357/aca52bMeasuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mmZ. Xin0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6060-2730C. C. Espaillat1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9227-5949A. M. Rilinger2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3091-8061Á. Ribas3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3133-3580E. Macías4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1283-6262Institute for Astrophysical Research, Department of Astronomy, Boston University , 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; zihuaxin@bu.eduInstitute for Astrophysical Research, Department of Astronomy, Boston University , 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; zihuaxin@bu.eduInstitute for Astrophysical Research, Department of Astronomy, Boston University , 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; zihuaxin@bu.eduInstitute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; European Southern Observatory (ESO) , Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla, 19001, Santiago de Chile, ChileEuropean Southern Observatory (ESO) , Karl-Schwarzschild-Strae 2, 85748 Garching bei München, GermanyAccurate disk mass measurements are necessary to constrain disk evolution and the timescale of planet formation, but such measurements are difficult to make and are very dependent on assumptions. Here, we look at the assumption that the disk is optically thin at radio wavelengths and the effect of this assumption on measurements of disk dust mass. We model the optical to radio spectral energy distributions of 41 protoplanetary disks located in the young (∼1–3 Myr old) Lupus star-forming region, including 0.89 1.33 and 3 mm flux densities when available. We measure disk dust masses that are ∼1.5–6 times higher than when using the commonly adopted disk dust mass equation under the assumption of optically thin emission in the (sub)millimeter range. The cause of this discrepancy is that most disks are optically thick at millimeter wavelengths, even up to 3 mm, demonstrating that observations at longer wavelengths are needed to trace the fully optically thin emission of disks.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aca52bProtoplanetary disksT Tauri starsNeural networks |
| spellingShingle | Z. Xin C. C. Espaillat A. M. Rilinger Á. Ribas E. Macías Measuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mm The Astrophysical Journal Protoplanetary disks T Tauri stars Neural networks |
| title | Measuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mm |
| title_full | Measuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mm |
| title_fullStr | Measuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mm |
| title_full_unstemmed | Measuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mm |
| title_short | Measuring the Dust Masses of Protoplanetary Disks in Lupus with ALMA: Evidence That Disks Can Be Optically Thick at 3 mm |
| title_sort | measuring the dust masses of protoplanetary disks in lupus with alma evidence that disks can be optically thick at 3 mm |
| topic | Protoplanetary disks T Tauri stars Neural networks |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aca52b |
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