Ilaria Pascucci
- Professor, Planetary Sciences
- Professor, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
- Member of the Graduate Faculty
Contact
- (520) 626-5373
- KUIPER SPACE SC, Rm. 325
- TUCSON, AZ 85721-0092
- pascucci@lpl.arizona.edu
Awards
- Blitzer Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Physics and Related Sciences
- Professor Leon and Pauline Blitzer Teaching Award Fund, Spring 2024
- Fellow of the American Astronomical Society
- AAS, Fall 2022
Interests
No activities entered.
Courses
2024-25 Courses
-
Origin of Solar System & Other
ASTR 450 (Spring 2025) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
ASTR 550 (Spring 2025) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 450 (Spring 2025) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 550 (Spring 2025) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Fall 2024) -
Independent Study
PTYS 599 (Fall 2024) -
Research
PTYS 900 (Fall 2024)
2023-24 Courses
-
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Spring 2024) -
Independent Study
PTYS 599 (Spring 2024) -
Research
ASTR 900 (Spring 2024) -
Research
PTYS 900 (Spring 2024) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Fall 2023) -
Independent Study
PTYS 599 (Fall 2023) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
ASTR 450 (Fall 2023) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
ASTR 550 (Fall 2023) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 450 (Fall 2023) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 550 (Fall 2023) -
Research
ASTR 900 (Fall 2023)
2022-23 Courses
-
Chemistry of the Solar System
PTYS 510B (Spring 2023) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Spring 2023) -
Honors Independent Study
PHYS 499H (Spring 2023) -
Research
PTYS 900 (Spring 2023) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Fall 2022) -
Honors Thesis
ASTR 498H (Fall 2022) -
Independent Study
PTYS 599 (Fall 2022) -
Research
PTYS 900 (Fall 2022)
2021-22 Courses
-
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Spring 2022) -
Honors Thesis
ASTR 498H (Spring 2022) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Fall 2021) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
ASTR 450 (Fall 2021) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 450 (Fall 2021) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 550 (Fall 2021)
2020-21 Courses
-
Chemistry of the Solar System
PTYS 510B (Spring 2021) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Spring 2021) -
Honors Independent Study
ASTR 499H (Spring 2021) -
Independent Study
ASTR 499 (Spring 2021) -
Directed Research
ASTR 492 (Fall 2020) -
Directed Research
PHYS 492 (Fall 2020) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Fall 2020)
2019-20 Courses
-
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Spring 2020) -
Honors Thesis
ASTR 498H (Spring 2020) -
Research
PTYS 900 (Spring 2020) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Fall 2019) -
Honors Thesis
ASTR 498H (Fall 2019) -
Independent Study
PTYS 599 (Fall 2019) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
ASTR 450 (Fall 2019) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
ASTR 550 (Fall 2019) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 450 (Fall 2019) -
Origin of Solar System & Other
PTYS 550 (Fall 2019)
2018-19 Courses
-
Chemistry of the Solar System
PTYS 510B (Spring 2019) -
Dissertation
PTYS 920 (Spring 2019) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
ASTR 214 (Fall 2018) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
GEOS 214 (Fall 2018) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
PTYS 214 (Fall 2018)
2016-17 Courses
-
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
ASTR 214 (Spring 2017) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
GEOS 214 (Spring 2017) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
PTYS 214 (Spring 2017) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
ASTR 214 (Fall 2016) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
GEOS 214 (Fall 2016) -
Astrobio:Planetary Perspective
PTYS 214 (Fall 2016) -
Research
PTYS 900 (Fall 2016)
Scholarly Contributions
Journals/Publications
- Banzatti, A., Pontoppidan, K. M., P{\'ere, C. J., Salyk, C., Diehl, L., Bruderer, S., Herczeg, G. J., Carmona, A., Pascucci, I., Brittain, S., Jensen, S., Grant, S., Dishoeck, E. F., Kamp, I., Bosman, A. D., {\"Oberg}, K. I., Blake, G. A., Meyer, M. R., Gaidos, E., , Boogert, A., et al. (2023). The Kinematics and Excitation of Infrared Water Vapor Emission from Planet-forming Disks: Results from Spectrally Resolved Surveys and Guidelines for JWST Spectra. \aj, 165(2), 72.
- Banzatti, A., Pontoppidan, K., Chavez, J., Salyk, C., Diehl, L., Bruderer, S., Herczeg, G., Carmona, A., Pascucci, I., Brittain, S., Jensen, S., Grant, S., Dishoeck, E., Kamp, I., Bosman, A., Oberg, K., Blake, G., Meyer, M., Gaidos, E., , Boogert, A., et al. (2023). VizieR Online Data Catalog: IR water vapor emission from planet-forming disks (Banzatti+, 2023). VizieR Online Data Catalog, J/AJ/165/72.
- Banzatti}, A., Pontoppidan, K. M., Carr, J. S., Jellison, E., Pascucci, I., Najita, J. R., Mu{\~noz-Romero}, C. E., {\"Oberg}, K. I., Kalyaan, A., Pinilla, P., Krijt, S., Long, F., Lambrechts, M., Rosotti, G., Herczeg, G. J., Salyk, C., Zhang, K. e., Bergin, E. A., Ballering, N. P., , Meyer, M. R., et al. (2023). JWST Reveals Excess Cool Water near the Snow Line in Compact Disks, Consistent with Pebble Drift. \apjl, 957(2), L22.
- Bergsten, G. J., Pascucci, I., Hardegree-Ullman, K. K., Fernandes, R. B., Christiansen, J. L., & Mulders, G. D. (2023). No Evidence for More Earth-sized Planets in the Habitable Zone of Kepler's M versus FGK Stars. \aj, 166(6), 234.
- Deng, D., Ruaud, M., Gorti, U., & Pascucci, I. (2023). DiskMINT: A Tool to Estimate Disk Masses with CO Isotopologues. \apj, 954(2), 165.
- Deng, D., Ruaud, M., Gorti, U., & Pascucci, I. (2023). DiskMINT: Disk Model For INdividual Targets.
- ExoPAG, S., Exoplanet, D., Christiansen, J. L., Bennett, D. P., Boss, A. P., Bryson, S., Burt, J. A., Fernandes, R. B., Henry, T. J., Jao, W., Johnson, S. A., Meyer, M. R., Mulders, G. D., Mullally, S. E., Nielsen, E. L., Pascucci, I., Pepper, J., Plavchan, P., Ragozzine, D., , Rosenthal, L. J., et al. (2023). Enabling Exoplanet Demographics Studies with Standardized Exoplanet Survey Meta-Data. arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2304.12442.
- Fang, M., Pascucci, I., Edwards, S., Gorti, U., Hillenbrand, L. A., & Carpenter, J. M. (2023). A High-resolution Optical Survey of Upper Sco: Evidence for Coevolution of Accretion and Disk Winds. \apj, 945(2), 112.
- Fang, M., Wang, L., Herczeg, G. J., Hashimoto, J., Xu, Z., Nemer, A., Pascucci, I., Haffert, S. Y., & Aoyama, Y. (2023). High-resolution [O I] line spectral mapping of TW Hya supportive of a magnetothermal wind. Nature Astronomy, 7, 905-912.
- Fernandes, R. B., Hardegree-Ullman, K. K., Pascucci, I., Bergsten, G. J., Mulders, G. D., Cunha, K., Mamajek, E. E., Pearson, K. A., Feiden, G. A., & Curtis, J. L. (2023). Using Photometrically Derived Properties of Young Stars to Refine TESS's Transiting Young Planet Survey Completeness. \aj, 166(4), 175.
- Hardegree-Ullman, K. K., Apai, D., Bergsten, G. J., Pascucci, I., & L{\'opez-Morales}, M. (2023). Bioverse: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Capabilities of Extremely Large Telescopes to Probe Earth-like O$_2$ Levels in Nearby Transiting Habitable-zone Exoplanets. \aj, 165(6), 267.
- Hardegree-Ullman, K., Apai, D., Bergsten, G., Pascucci, I., & Lopez-Morales, M. .. (2023). VizieR Online Data Catalog: O2 levels in Nearby Transiting Exoplanets (Hardegree-Ullman+, 2023). VizieR Online Data Catalog, J/AJ/165/267.
- Iglesias, D. P., Pani{\'c}, O., Ancker, M., Petr-Gotzens, M. G., Siess, L., Vioque, M., Pascucci, I., Oudmaijer, R., & Miley, J. (2023). X-shooter survey of young intermediate-mass stars - I. Stellar characterization and disc evolution. \mnras, 519(3), 3958-3975.
- Iglesias, D., Panic, O., Ancker, M., Petr-Gotzens, M., Siess, L., Vioque, M., Pascucci, I., Oudmaijer, R., & Miley, J. (2023). VizieR Online Data Catalog: Young intermediate-mass stars stellar param. (Iglesias+, 2023). VizieR Online Data Catalog, J/MNRAS/519/3958.
- Mah, J., Bitsch, B., Pascucci, I., & Henning, T. (2023). Close-in ice lines and the super-stellar C/O ratio in discs around very low-mass stars. \aap, 677, L7.
- Pascucci, I., Skinner, B. N., Deng, D., Ruaud, M., Gorti, U., Schwarz, K. R., Chapillon, E., Vioque, M., & Miley, J. (2023). Large Myr-old Disks Are Not Severely Depleted of Gas-phase CO or Carbon. \apj, 953(2), 183.
- Pontoppidan, K. M., Salyk, C., Banzatti, A., Zhang, K. e., Pascucci, I., Oberg, K. I., Long, F., Munoz-Romero, C., Carr, J., Najita, J., Blake, G. A., Arulanantham, N., Andrews, S., Ballering, N. P., Bergin, E., Calahan, J., Cobb, D., Colmenares, M. J., Dickson-Vandervelde, A., , Dignan, A., et al. (2023). High-contrast JWST-MIRI spectroscopy of planet-forming disks for the JDISC Survey. arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2311.17020.
- Wanderley, F., Cunha, K., Souto, D., Smith, V. V., Cao, L., Pinsonneault, M., Allende Prieto, C., Covey, K., Masseron, T., Pascucci, I., Stassun, K. G., Terrien, R., Bergsten, G. J., Bizyaev, D., Fern{\'andez-Trincado}, J. G., J{\"onsson}, H., Hasselquist, S., Holtzman, J. A., Lane, R. R., , Mahadevan, S., et al. (2023). Stellar Characterization and Radius Inflation of Hyades M-dwarf Stars from the APOGEE Survey. \apj, 951(2), 90.
- Whelan, E., Murphy, A., & Pascucci, I. (2023). Optical Forbidden Emission Line Spectro-astrometry of T CrA: Evidence for a Multiple System and Multiple Jets. \apj, 951(1), 1.
- Xie}, C., Pascucci, I., Long, F., Pontoppidan, K. M., Banzatti, A., Kalyaan, A., Salyk, C., Liu, Y., Najita, J. R., Pinilla, P., Arulanantham, N., Herczeg, G. J., Carr, J., Bergin, E. A., Ballering, N. P., Krijt, S., Blake, G. A., Zhang, K. e., {\"Oberg}, K. I., , Green, J. D., et al. (2023). Water-rich Disks around Late M Stars Unveiled: Exploring the Remarkable Case of Sz 114. \apjl, 959(2), L25.
- Bergsten, G. J., Pascucci, I., Mulders, G. D., Fernandes, R. B., & Koskinen, T. T. (2022). The Demographics of Kepler's Earths and Super-Earths into the Habitable Zone. \aj, 164(5), 190.
- Fernandes, R. B., Mulders, G. D., Pascucci, I., Bergsten, G. J., Koskinen, T. T., Hardegree-Ullman, K. K., Pearson, K. A., Giacalone, S., Zink, J., Ciardi, D. R., & O'Brien, P. (2022). pterodactyls: A Tool to Uniformly Search and Vet for Young Transiting Planets in TESS Primary Mission Photometry. \aj, 164(3), 78.
- Hamden, E. T., Schiminovich, D., Nikzad, S., Turner, N. J., Burkhart, B., Haworth, T. J., Hoadley, K., Serena, K. J., Bialy, S., Bryden, G., Chung, H., Imara, N., Kennicutt, R., Pineda, J., Kong, S., Hasegawa, Y., Pascucci, I., Godard, B., Krumholz, M., , Lee, M., et al. (2022). Hyperion: the origin of the stars. A far UV space telescope for high-resolution spectroscopy over wide fields. Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 8, 044008.
- Hasegawa, Y., Haworth, T. J., Hoadley, K., Kim, J. S., Goto, H., Juzikenaite, A., Turner, N. J., Pascucci, I., & Hamden, E. T. (2022). Determining Dispersal Mechanisms of Protoplanetary Disks Using Accretion and Wind Mass Loss Rates. \apjl, 926(2), L23.
- James, M. M., Pascucci, I., Liu, Y., Banzatti, A., Krijt, S., Long, F., & Kamp, I. (2022). Testing the Retrieval of Inner Disk Water Enrichment with Spitzer/IRS and JWST/MIRI. \apj, 941(2), 187.
- Pascucci, I., Cabrit, S., Edwards, S., Gorti, U., Gressel, O., & Suzuki, T. (2022). The Role of Disk Winds in the Evolution and Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks. arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2203.10068.
- Salyk, C., Pontoppidan, K. M., Banzatti, A., K{\"aufl}, U., Hall, C., Pascucci, I., Carmona, A., Blake, G. A., Alexander, R., & Kamp, I. (2022). An Unusual Reservoir of Water Emission in the VV CrA A Protoplanetary Disk. \aj, 164(4), 136.
- Testi, L., Natta, A., Manara, C., Gregorio Monsalvo, I., Lodato, G., Lopez, C., Muzic, K., Pascucci, I., Sanchis, E., Miranda, A. S., Scholz, A., De Simone, M., & Williams, J. (2022). The protoplanetary disk population in the \ensuremath{\rho}-Ophiuchi region L1688 and the time evolution of Class II YSOs. \aap, 663, A98.
- Testi, L., Natta, A., Manara, C., de, G., Lodato, G., Lopez, C., Muzic, K., Pascucci, I., Sanchis, E., Santamaria, M. A., Scholz, A., de, S. M., & Williams, J. (2022). VizieR Online Data Catalog: Young stars in star forming regions (Testi+, 2022). VizieR Online Data Catalog, J/A+A/663/A98.
- Fang, M., Kim, J. S., Pascucci, I., & Apai, D. (2021). An Improved Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram for the Orion Trapezium Cluster. \apj, 908(1), 49.
- Hasegawa, Y., Haworth, T. J., Hoadley, K., Kim, J. S., Goto, H., Juzikenaite, A., Turner, N. J., Pascucci, I., & Hamden, E. T. (2021). Determining dispersal mechanisms of protoplanetary disks using accretion and wind mass loss rates. arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2112.02831.
- Hendler, N., Pascucci, I., Pinilla, P., Tazzari, M., Carpenter, J., Malhotra, R., & Testi, L. (2021). VizieR Online Data Catalog: ALMA observation of 152 1-11Myr aged stars (Hendler+, 2020). VizieR Online Data Catalog, J/ApJ/895/126.
- Hinkel, N. R., Pepper, J., Stark, C. C., Burt, J. A., Ciardi, D. R., Hardegree-Ullman, K. K., Lustig-Yaeger, J., Kopparapu, R., Mishra, L., Molaverdikhani, K., Pascucci, I., Richey-Yowell, T., Safron, E., Wilson, D. J., Bergsten, G., Boyajian, T. S., Caballero, J., Cunha, K., Columbus, A., , Domagal-Goldman, S. D., et al. (2021). Final Report for SAG 22: A Target Star Archive for Exoplanet Science. arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2112.04517.
- Kurtovic, N., Pinilla, P., Long, F., Benisty, M., Manara, C., Natta, A., Pascucci, I., Ricci, L., Scholz, A., & Testi, L. (2021). Size and structures of disks around very low mass stars in the Taurus star-forming region. \aap, 645, A139.
- Kurtovic, N., Pinilla, P., Long, F., Benisty, M., Manara, C., Natta, A., Pascucci, I., Ricci, L., Scholz, A., & Testi, L. (2021). VizieR Online Data Catalog: ALMA mm observations of VLMS in Taurus (Kurtovic+, 2021). VizieR Online Data Catalog, J/A+A/645/A139.
- Lozovsky, M., Helled, R., Pascucci, I., Dorn, C., Venturini, J., & Feldmann, R. (2021). Why do more massive stars host larger planets?. \aap, 652, A110.
- Mulders, G. D., Dr{\k{a}\.zkowska}, J., Marel, N., Ciesla, F. J., & Pascucci, I. (2021). Why Do M Dwarfs Have More Transiting Planets?. \apjl, 920(1), L1.
- Mulders, G. D., Pascucci, I., Ciesla, F. J., & Fernandes, R. B. (2021). The Mass Budgets and Spatial Scales of Exoplanet Systems and Protoplanetary Disks. \apj, 920(2), 66.
- Pani{\'c}, O., Haworth, T., Petr-Gotzens, M., Miley, J., Ancker, M., Vioque, M., Siess, L., Parker, R., Clarke, C., Kamp, I., Kennedy, G., Oudmaijer, R., Pascucci, I., Richards, A., Ratzka, T., & Qi, C. (2021). Planet formation in intermediate-separation binary systems. \mnras, 501(3), 4317-4328.
- Pegues, J., {\"Oberg}, K. I., Bergner, J. B., Huang, J., Pascucci, I., Teague, R., Andrews, S. M., Bergin, E. A., Cleeves, L. I., Guzm{\'an}, V. V., Long, F., Qi, C., & Wilner, D. J. (2021). An Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Survey of Chemistry in Disks around M4-M5 Stars. \apj, 911(2), 150.
- Sanchis, E., Testi, L., Natta, A., Facchini, S., Manara, C., Miotello, A., Ercolano, B., Henning, T., Preibisch, T., Carpenter, J., Gregorio-Monsalvo, I. .., Jayawardhana, R., Lopez, C., Mu{\v{z}i\'c}, K., Pascucci, I., Santamar{\'\ia-Miranda}, A., Terwisga, S., & Williams, J. (2021). Measuring the ratio of the gas and dust emission radii of protoplanetary disks in the Lupus star-forming region. \aap, 649, A19.
- Whelan, E., Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., Edwards, S., Alexander, R., Sterzik, M., & Melo, C. (2021). Evidence for an MHD Disk Wind via Optical Forbidden Line Spectroastrometry. \apj, 913(1), 43.
- Banzatti, A., Pascucci, I., Bosman, A. D., Pinilla, P., Salyk, C., Herczeg, G. J., Pontoppidan, K. M., Vazquez, I., Watkins, A., Krijt, S., Hendler, N., & Long, F. (2020). Hints for Icy Pebble Migration Feeding an Oxygen-rich Chemistry in the Inner Planet-forming Region of Disks. \apj, 903(2), 124.
- Hendler, N., Pascucci, I., Pinilla, P., Tazzari, M., Carpenter, J., Malhotra, R., & Testi, L. (2020). The Evolution of Dust Disk Sizes from a Homogeneous Analysis of 1-10 Myr old Stars. \apj, 895(2), 126.
- Liu, B., Lambrechts, M., Johansen, A., Pascucci, I., & Henning, T. (2020). Pebble-driven planet formation around very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. \aap, 638, A88.
- Long, F., Pinilla, P., Herczeg, G. J., Andrews, S. M., Harsono, D., Johnstone, D., Ragusa, E., Pascucci, I., Wilner, D. J., Hendler, N., Jennings, J., Liu, Y., Lodato, G., Menard, F., Plas, G., & Dipierro, G. (2020). Dual-wavelength ALMA Observations of Dust Rings in Protoplanetary Disks. \apj, 898(1), 36.
- Manara, C., Natta, A., Rosotti, G., Alcal{\'a}, J., Nisini, B., Lodato, G., Testi, L., Pascucci, I., Hillenbrand, L., Carpenter, J., Scholz, A., Fedele, D., Frasca, A., Mulders, G., Rigliaco, E., Scardoni, C., & Zari, E. (2020). X-shooter survey of disk accretion in Upper Scorpius. I. Very high accretion rates at age > 5 Myr. \aap, 639, A58.
- Mo{\'or}, A., Pawellek, N., {\'Abrah\'am}, P., K{\'osp\'al}, \., Vida, K., P{\'al}, A., Dutrey, A., Folco, E. D., Hughes, A. M., Kral, Q., & Pascucci, I. (2020). The Big Sibling of AU Mic: A Cold Dust-rich Debris Disk around CP-72 2713 in the \ensuremath{\beta} Pic Moving Group. \aj, 159(6), 288.
- Mulders, G. D., O'Brien, D. P., Ciesla, F. J., Apai, D., & Pascucci, I. (2020). Earths in Other Solar Systems' N-body Simulations: The Role of Orbital Damping in Reproducing the Kepler Planetary Systems. \apj, 897(1), 72.
- Pascucci, I., Banzatti, A., Gorti, U., Fang, M., Pontoppidan, K., Alexander, R., Ballabio, G., Edwards, S., Salyk, C., Sacco, G., Flaccomio, E., Blake, G. A., Carmona, A., Hall, C., Kamp, I., K{\"aufl}, H. U., Meeus, G., Meyer, M., Pauly, T., , Steendam, S., et al. (2020). The Evolution of Disk Winds from a Combined Study of Optical and Infrared Forbidden Lines. \apj, 903(2), 78.
- Pinilla, P., Pascucci, I., & Marino, S. (2020). Hints on the origins of particle traps in protoplanetary disks given by the M$_dust$ - M$_{\ensuremath{\star}}$ relation. \aap, 635, A105.
- Sanchis, E., Testi, L., Natta, A., Manara, C., Ercolano, B., Preibisch, T., Henning, T., Facchini, S., Miotello, A., Gregorio-Monsalvo, I. .., Lopez, C., Mu{\v{z}i\'c}, K., Pascucci, I., Santamar{\'\ia-Miranda}, A., Scholz, A., Tazzari, M., Terwisga, S., & Williams, J. (2020). Demographics of disks around young very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in Lupus (Corrigendum). \aap, 638, C4.
- Arney, G., Batalha, N., Britt, A. V., Cowan, N., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Dressing, C., France, K., Fujii, Y., Kopparapu, R., Kane, S., Krissansen-Totton, J., Lincowski, A., Lehmer, O., Lopez, E., Lustig-Yaeger, J., Meadows, V. S., Olson, S., Paranteau, M. N., Pascucci, I., , Ramirez, R., et al. (2019). The Sun-like Stars Opportunity. \baas, 51(3), 91.
- Banzatti, A., Pascucci, I., Edwards, S., Fang, M., Gorti, U., & Flock, M. (2019). Kinematic Links and the Coevolution of MHD Winds, Jets, and Inner Disks from a High-resolution Optical [O I] Survey. \apj, 870(2), 76.
- Bennett, D., Akeson, R., Alibert, Y., Anderson, J., Bachelet, E., Beaulieu, J., Bhattacharya, A., Boss, A., Bozza, V., Bryson, S., Buzasi, D., Novati, S. C., Christiansen, J., Domagal-goldman, S. D., Endl, M., Fulton, B. J., Henderson, C. B., Gaudi, B. S., Johnson, S. A., , Koshimoto, N., et al. (2019). Wide-Orbit Exoplanet Demographics. \baas, 51(3), 505.
- Fang, M., Pascucci, I., Kim, J. S., & Edwards, S. (2019). Double-peaked [O I] Profile: A Likely Signature of the Gaseous Ring around KH 15D. \apjl, 879(1), L10.
- Fernandes, R. B., Mulders, G. D., Pascucci, I., Mordasini, C., & Emsenhuber, A. (2019). Hints for a Turnover at the Snow Line in the Giant Planet Occurrence Rate. \apj, 874(1), 81.
- France, K., Pascucci, I., Dong, R., Ardila, D. R., Calvet, N., Castro}, A. I., Espaillat, C., G{\"unther}, H. M., Herczeg, G. J., Manara, C. F., O'Meara, J. M., & Schneider, C. (2019). Detecting Protoplanets and Tracing the Composition and Evolution of Planet-forming Material with Large UV/Optical Observatories. \baas, 51(3), 167.
- Isella, A., Ricci, L., Andrews, S., Baruteau, C., Berger, J., Bergin, E., Birnstiel, T., Bowler, B., Brogan, C., Carrasco, G. C., Chandler, C., Currie, T., Cuzzi, J., D'Angelo, G., Dong, R., Duchene, G., Dutrey, A., Ercolano, B., Espaillat, C., , Estrada, P., et al. (2019). Observing Planetary Systems in the Making. \baas, 51(3), 174.
- Liu, Y., Dipierro, G., Ragusa, E., Lodato, G., Herczeg, G. J., Long, F., Harsono, D., Boehler, Y., Menard, F., Johnstone, D., Pascucci, I., Pinilla, P., Salyk, C., Plas, G., Cabrit, S., Fischer, W. J., Hendler, N., Manara, C. F., Nisini, B., , Rigliaco, E., et al. (2019). Ring structure in the MWC 480 disk revealed by ALMA. \aap, 622, A75.
- Liu, Y., Pascucci, I., & Henning, T. (2019). CLIcK: a Continuum and Line fItting Kit for circumstellar disks. \aap, 623, A106.
- Lodato, G., Dipierro, G., Ragusa, E., Long, F., Herczeg, G. J., Pascucci, I., Pinilla, P., Manara, C. F., Tazzari, M., Liu, Y., Mulders, G. D., Harsono, D., Boehler, Y., M{\'enard}, F., Johnstone, D., Salyk, C., Plas, G., Cabrit, S., Edwards, S., , Fischer, W. J., et al. (2019). The newborn planet population emerging from ring-like structures in discs. \mnras, 486(1), 453-461.
- Long, F., Herczeg, G. J., Harsono, D., Pinilla, P., Tazzari, M., Manara, C. F., Pascucci, I., Cabrit, S., Nisini, B., Johnstone, D., Edwards, S., Salyk, C., Menard, F., Lodato, G., Boehler, Y., Mace, G. N., Liu, Y., Mulders, G. D., Hendler, N., , Ragusa, E., et al. (2019). Compact Disks in a High-resolution ALMA Survey of Dust Structures in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. \apj, 882(1), 49.
- Miley, J., Pani{\'c}, O., Haworth, T., Pascucci, I., Wyatt, M., Clarke, C., Richards, A., & Ratzka, T. (2019). Asymmetric mid-plane gas in ALMA images of HD 100546. \mnras, 485(1), 739-752.
- Mo{\'or}, A., Kral, Q., {\'Abrah\'am}, P., K{\'osp\'al}, \., Dutrey, A., Di, F. E., Hughes, A. M., Juh{\'asz}, A., Pascucci, I., & Pawellek, N. (2019). New Millimeter CO Observations of the Gas-rich Debris Disks 49 Cet and HD 32297. \apj, 884(2), 108.
- Mulders, G. D., Mordasini, C., Pascucci, I., Ciesla, F. J., Emsenhuber, A., & Apai, D. (2019). The Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator. II. Population Synthesis in the Era of Kepler. \apj, 887(2), 157.
- Pascucci, I., Mulders, G. D., & Lopez, E. (2019). The Impact of Stripped Cores on the Frequency of Earth-size Planets in the Habitable Zone. \apjl, 883(1), L15.
- Pawellek, N., Mo{\'or}, A., Pascucci, I., & Krivov, A. V. (2019). Dust spreading in debris discs: do small grains cling on to their birth environment?. \mnras, 487(4), 5874-5888.
- Eisner, J., Arce, H., Ballering, N., Bally, J., Andrews, S., Boyden, R., Di Francesco, J., Fang, M., Johnstone, D., Kim, J., Mann, R., Matthews, B., Pascucci, I., Ricci, L., Sheehan, P., & Williams, J. (2018). Protoplanetary Disk Properties in the Orion Nebula Cluster: Initial Results from Deep, High-resolution ALMA Observations. \apj, 860, 77.
- Fang, M., Kim, J., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Zhang, L., Sicilia-Aguilar, A. .., Alonso-Martinez, M. .., Eiroa, C., & Wang, H. (2018). VizieR Online Data Catalog: Spectroscopy of the foreground population in Orion A (Fang+, 2017). VizieR Online Data Catalog, 515.
- Fang, M., Pascucci, I., Edwards, S., Gorti, U., Banzatti, A., Flock, M., Hartigan, P., Herczeg, G., & Dupree, A. (2018). A New Look at T Tauri Star Forbidden Lines: MHD-driven Winds from the Inner Disk. \apj, 868, 28.
- Fedele, D., Tazzari, M., Booth, R., Testi, L., Clarke, C., Pascucci, I., Kospal, A., Semenov, D., Bruderer, S., Henning, T., & Teague, R. (2018). ALMA continuum observations of the protoplanetary disk AS 209. Evidence of multiple gaps opened by a single planet. \aap, 610, A24.
- Fedele, D., Tazzari, M., Booth, R., Testi, L., Clarke, C., Pascucci, I., Kospal, A., Semenov, D., Bruderer, S., Henning, T., & Teague, R. (2018). VizieR Online Data Catalog: AS 209 ALMA image (Fedele+, 2018). VizieR Online Data Catalog, 361.
- Hendler, N., Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Greenwood, A., Kamp, I., Henning, T., Menard, F., Dent, W., & Evans, N. (2018). Hints for small disks around very low mass stars and brown dwarfs.. VizieR Online Data Catalog, 184.
- Hendler, N., Pinilla, P., Pascucci, I., Pohl, A., Mulders, G., Henning, T., Dong, R., Clarke, C., Owen, J., & Hollenbach, D. (2018). A likely planet-induced gap in the disc around T Cha. \mnras, 475, L62-L66.
- Liu, H., Dunham, M., Pascucci, I., Bourke, T., Hirano, N., Longmore, S., Andrews, S., Carrasco-Gonz{\'alez}, C., Forbrich, J., Galv{\'an-Madrid}, R., Girart, J., Green, J., Ju{\'arez}, C., K{\'osp\'al}, \., Manara, C., Palau, A., Takami, M., Testi, L., & Vorobyov, E. (2018). A 1.3 mm SMA survey of 29 variable young stellar objects. \aap, 612, A54.
- Liu, Y., Dipierro, G., Ragusa, E., Lodato, G., Herczeg, G., Long, F., Harsono, D., Boehler, Y., Menard, F., Johnstone, D., Pascucci, I., Pinilla, P., Salyk, C., Plas, G., Cabrit, S., Fischer, W., Hendler, N., Manara, C., Nisini, B., , Rigliaco, E., et al. (2018). VizieR Online Data Catalog: MWC 480 ALMA image (Liu+, 2019). VizieR Online Data Catalog, 362.
- Long, F., Herczeg, G., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Henning, T., Manara, C., Mulders, G., Sz{\H, u. L., & Hendler, N. (2018). An ALMA Survey of Faint Disks in the Chamaeleon I Star-forming Region: Why Are Some Class II Disks so Faint?. \apj, 863, 61.
- Long, F., Pinilla, P., Herczeg, G., Harsono, D., Dipierro, G., Pascucci, I., Hendler, N., Tazzari, M., Ragusa, E., Salyk, C., Edwards, S., Lodato, G., Plas, G., Johnstone, D., Liu, Y., Boehler, Y., Cabrit, S., Manara, C., Menard, F., , Mulders, G., et al. (2018). Gaps and Rings in an ALMA Survey of Disks in the Taurus Star-forming Region. \apj, 869, 17.
- Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., & Ciesla, F. (2018). The Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator. I. The Inner Edges of Planetary Systems. \aj, 156, 24.
- Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Manara, C., Testi, L., Herczeg, G., Henning, T., Mohanty, S., & Lodato, G. (2018). VizieR Online Data Catalog: Protoplanetary disk data in Cha I and Lupus (Mulders+, 2017). VizieR Online Data Catalog, 184.
- Pascucci, I., Mulders, G., Gould, A., & Fernandes, R. (2018). A Universal Break in the Planet-to-star Mass-ratio Function of Kepler MKG Stars. \apjl, 856, L28.
- Pinilla, P., Tazzari, M., Pascucci, I., Youdin, A., Garufi, A., Manara, C., Testi, L., Plas, G., Barenfeld, S., Canovas, H., Cox, E., Hendler, N., P{\'erez}, L., & Marel, N. (2018). Homogeneous Analysis of the Dust Morphology of Transition Disks Observed with ALMA: Investigating Dust Trapping and the Origin of the Cavities. \apj, 859, 32.
- Ercolano, B., & Pascucci, I. (2017). The dispersal of planet-forming discs: theory confronts observations. Royal Society Open Science, 4, 170114.
- Fang, M., Kim, J., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Zhang, L., Sicilia-Aguilar, A. .., Alonso-Mart{\'{\i}nez}, M., Eiroa, C., & Wang, H. (2017). NGC 1980 Is Not a Foreground Population of Orion: Spectroscopic Survey of Young Stars with Low Extinction in Orion A. \aj, 153, 188.
- Hendler, N., Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Greenwood, A., Kamp, I., Henning, T., M{\'enard}, F., Dent, W., & Evans, N. (2017). Hints for Small Disks around Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs. \apj, 841, 116.
- Kim, J., Pascucci, I., Allen, L., Apai, D., Bergin, T., Ciesla, F., Eisner, J., Fang, M., Krijt, S., Najita, J., Rieke, G., & Salyk, C. (2017). Earths in Other Solar Systems: Fundamental Protoplanetary Disk Properties and Their Evolution. LPI Contributions, 2042, 4071.
- Long, F., Herczeg, G., Pascucci, I., Drabek-Maunder, E. .., Mohanty, S., Testi, L., Apai, D., Hendler, N., Henning, T., Manara, C., & Mulders, G. (2017). An ALMA Survey of CO Isotopologue Emission from Protoplanetary Disks in Chamaeleon I. \apj, 844, 99.
- Manara, C., Testi, L., Herczeg, G., Pascucci, I., Alcal{\'a}, J., Natta, A., Antoniucci, S., Fedele, D., Mulders, G., Henning, T., Mohanty, S., Prusti, T., & Rigliaco, E. (2017). X-shooter study of accretion in Chamaeleon I. II. A steeper increase of accretion with stellar mass for very low-mass stars?. \aap, 604, A127.
- Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Ciesla, F., & O'Brien, D. (2017). Constraining Planet Formation Models from the Kepler Exoplanet Population. LPI Contributions, 2042, 4047.
- Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Frasca, A., & Molenda-Zakowicz, J. .. (2017). VizieR Online Data Catalog: Planet occurrence and stellar metallicity for KOIs (Mulders+, 2016). VizieR Online Data Catalog, 515.
- Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Manara, C., Testi, L., Herczeg, G., Henning, T., Mohanty, S., & Lodato, G. (2017). Constraints from Dust Mass and Mass Accretion Rate Measurements on Angular Momentum Transport in Protoplanetary Disks. \apj, 847, 31.
- Pascucci, I., Testi, L., Herczeg, G., Long, F., Manara, C., Hendler, N., Mulders, G., Krijt, S., Ciesla, F., Henning, T., Mohanty, S., Drabek-Maunder, E. .., Apai, D., Szucs, L., Sacco, G., & Olofsson, J. (2017). VizieR Online Data Catalog: ALMA 887$\mu$m obs. of ChaI star-forming region (Pascucci+, 2016). VizieR Online Data Catalog, 183.
- Ricci, L., Cazzoletti, P., Czekala, I., Andrews, S., Wilner, D., Sz{\H, u. L., Lodato, G., Testi, L., Pascucci, I., Mohanty, S., Apai, D., Carpenter, J., & Bowler, B. (2017). ALMA Observations of the Young Substellar Binary System 2M1207. \aj, 154, 24.
- Todorov, K., Luhman, K., Konopacky, Q., McLeod, K., Apai, D., Ghez, A., Pascucci, I., & Robberto, M. (2017). VizieR Online Data Catalog: Late-type targets in Taurus, Cha I, and Upper Sco (Todorov+, 2014). VizieR Online Data Catalog, 178.
- Kim, J. S., Fang, M., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., & Manara, C. F. (2016). A Candidate Planetary-mass Object with a Photoevaporating Disk in Orion. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 833, 16. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/833/2/L16
- {Kastner}, J., {Principe}, D., {Punzi}, K., {Stelzer}, B., {Gorti}, U., {Pascucci}, I., , C. (2016). M Stars in the TW Hya Association: Stellar X-Rays and Disk Dissipation. \aj, 152, 3.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2016). An increase in the mass of planetary systems around lower-mass stars.. VizieR Online Data Catalog, 181.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., {Apai}, D., {Frasca}, A., akowicz}, J. (2016). A Super-solar Metallicity for Stars with Hot Rocky Exoplanets. \aj, 152, 187.
- {Pascucci}, I., {Testi}, L., {Herczeg}, G., {Long}, F., {Manara}, C., {Hendler}, N., {Mulders}, G., {Krijt}, S., {Ciesla}, F., {Henning}, T., {Mohanty}, S., {Drabek-Maunder}, E., {Apai}, D., {Sz{\H u}cs}, L., {Sacco}, G., , J. (2016). A Steeper than Linear Disk Mass-Stellar Mass Scaling Relation. \apj, 831, 125.
- {Simon}, M., {Pascucci}, I., {Edwards}, S., {Feng}, W., {Gorti}, U., {Hollenbach}, D., {Rigliaco}, E., , J. (2016). Tracing Slow Winds from T Tauri Stars via Low-velocity Forbidden Line Emission. \apj, 831, 169.
- {Ciesla}, F., {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2015). "{Volatile Delivery to Planets from Water-rich Planetesimals around Low Mass Stars}". apj, 804, 9.
- {Fedele}, D., {Bruderer}, S., Ancker}, M., , I. (2015). "{On the Asymmetry of the OH Ro-vibrational Lines in HD 100546}". apj, 800, 23.
- {Mo{'o}r}, A., {Henning}, T., {Juh{'a}sz}, A., {{'A}brah{'a}m}, P., {Balog}, Z., {K{'o}sp{'a}l}, {., {Pascucci}, I., {Szab{'o}}, G., {Vavrek}, R., {Cur{'e}}, M., {Csengeri}, T., {Grady}, C., {G{"u}sten}, R., , C. (2015). "{Discovery of Molecular Gas around HD 131835 in an APEX Molecular Line Survey of Bright Debris Disks}". apj, 814, 42.
- {Mulders}, G., {Ciesla}, F., {Min}, M., , I. (2015). "{The Snow Line in Viscous Disks around Low-mass Stars: Implications for Water Delivery to Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zone}". apj, 807, 9.
- {Mulders}, G., {Ciesla}, F., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2015). "{The Water Content of Exo-earths in the Habitable Zone around Low-mass Stars}". IAU General Assembly, 22, 2256008.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2015). "{A Stellar-mass-dependent Drop in Planet Occurrence Rates}". apj, 798, 112.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2015). "{An Increase in the Mass of Planetary Systems around Lower-mass Stars}". apj, 814, 130.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2015). "{Small, Numerous and Close-in: The Population of Planets around Low-mass Stars.}". IAU General Assembly, 22, 2256025.
- {Pascucci}, I., {Edwards}, S., {Heyer}, M., {Rigliaco}, E., {Hillenbrand}, L., {Gorti}, U., {Hollenbach}, D., , M. (2015). "{Narrow Na and K Absorption Lines Toward T Tauri Stars: Tracing the Atomic Envelope of Molecular Clouds}". apj, 814, 14.
- {Rigliaco}, E., {Pascucci}, I., {Duchene}, G., {Edwards}, S., {Ardila}, D., {Grady}, C., {Mendigut{'{i}}a}, I., {Montesinos}, B., {Mulders}, G., {Najita}, J., {Carpenter}, J., {Furlan}, E., {Gorti}, U., {Meijerink}, R., , M. (2015). "{Probing Stellar Accretion with Mid-infrared Hydrogen Lines}". apj, 801, 31.
- Pascucci, I., Ricci, L., Gorti, U., Hollenbach, D., Hendler, N. P., Brooks, K. J., & Contreras, Y. (2014). Low Extreme-ultraviolet Luminosities Impinging on Protoplanetary Disks. apj, 795, 1.
- Rigliaco, E., Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., Edwards, S., & Holenbach, D. (2014). Chasing disk dispersal indicators: The origin of the [OI] low-velocity components from young stars. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 8(S299), 226-227.More infoAbstract: Understanding how a disk surrounding a young star evolves and disperses is crucial in order to understand the subsequent planet formation. In this proceeding, we summarize the results reported by Rigliaco et al. (2013) on the origin of the [OI] low-velocity component as a possible disk dispersal indicator. Copyright © 2013, International Astronomical Union.
- {Alexander}, R., {Pascucci}, I., {Andrews}, S., {Armitage}, P., , L. (2014). The Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks. Protostars and Planets VI, 475-496.
- {Galv{\'a}n-Madrid}, R., {Liu}, H., {Manara}, C., {Forbrich}, J., {Pascucci}, I., {Carrasco-Gonz{\'a}lez}, C., {Goddi}, C., {Hasegawa}, Y., {Takami}, M., , L. (2014). Constraints on photoevaporation models from (lack of) radio emission in the Corona Australis protoplanetary disks. \aap, 570, L9.
- {Keane}, J., {Pascucci}, I., {Espaillat}, C., {Woitke}, P., {Andrews}, S., {Kamp}, I., {Thi}, W., {Meeus}, G., , W. (2014). Herschel Evidence for Disk Flattening or Gas Depletion in Transitional Disks. \apj, 787, 153.
- {Todorov}, K., {Luhman}, K., {Konopacky}, Q., {McLeod}, K., {Apai}, D., {Ghez}, A., {Pascucci}, I., , M. (2014). A Search for Companions to Brown Dwarfs in the Taurus and Chamaeleon Star-Forming Regions. \apj, 788, 40.
- Boley, P. A., Linz, H., Boekel, R. V., Henning, T., Feldt, M., Kaper, L., Leinert, C., Müller, A., Pascucci, I., Robberto, M., Stecklum, B., Waters, L. B., & Zinnecker, H. (2013). The VLTI/MIDI survey of massive young stellar objects: Sounding the inner regions around intermediate-and high-mass young stars using mid-infrared interferometry. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 558.More infoAbstract: Context. Because of inherent difficulties involved in observations and numerical simulations of the formation of massive stars, an understanding of the early evolutionary phases of these objects remains elusive. In particular, observationally probing circumstellar material at distances â‰100 AU from the central star is exceedingly difficult, as such objects are rare (and thus, on average, far away) and typically deeply embedded. Long-baseline mid-infrared interferometry provides one way of obtaining the necessary spatial resolution at appropriate wavelengths for studying this class of objects; however, interpreting such observations is often difficult due to sparse spatial-frequency coverage. Aims. We aim to characterize the distribution and composition of circumstellar material around young massive stars and to investigate exactly which physical structures in these objects are probed by long-baseline mid-infrared interferometric observations. Methods. We used the two-telescope interferometric instrument MIDI of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Southern Observatory to observe a sample of 24 intermediate-and high-mass young stellar objects in the N band (8-13 μm). We had successful fringe detections for 20 objects and present spectrally-resolved correlated fluxes and visibility levels for projected baselines of up to 128 m. We fit the visibilities with geometric models to derive the sizes of the emitting regions, as well as the orientation and elongation of the circumstellar material. Fourteen objects in the sample show the 10 μm silicate feature in absorption in the total and correlated flux spectra. For 13 of these objects, we were able to fit the correlated flux spectra with a simple absorption model, allowing us to constrain the composition and absorptive properties of the circumstellar material. Results. Nearly all of the massive young stellar objects observed show significant deviations from spherical symmetry at mid-infrared wavelengths. In general, the mid-infrared emission can trace both disks and outflows, and in many cases it may be difficult to disentangle these components on the basis of interferometric data alone, because of the sparse spatial frequency coverage normally provided by current long-baseline interferometers. For the majority of the objects in this sample, the absorption occurs on spatial scales larger than those probed by MIDI. Finally, the physical extent of the mid-infrared emission around these sources is correlated with the total luminosity, albeit with significant scatter. Conclusions. Circumstellar material is ubiquitous at distances â‰100 AU around young massive stars. Long-baseline mid-infrared interferometry provides the resolving power necessary for observing this material directly. However, in particular for deeply-embedded sources, caution must be used when attempting to attribute mid-infrared emission to specific physical structures, such as a circumstellar disk or an outflow. © ESO, 2013.
- Dent, W. R., Thi, W. F., Kamp, I., Williams, J. P., Menard, F., Andrews, S., Ardila, D., Aresu, G., Augereau, J. -., Barrado, D., Brittain, S., Carmona, A., Ciardi, D., Danchi, W., Donaldson, J., Duchene, G., Eiroa, C., Fedele, D., Grady, C., , Gregorio-Molsalvo, I. D., et al. (2013). Gasps-a herschel survey of gas and dust in protoplanetary disks: Summary and initial statistics. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 125(927), 477-505.More infoAbstract: We describe a large-scale far-infrared line and continuum survey of protoplanetary disk through to young debris disk systems carried out using the ACS instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory. This Open Time Key program, known as GASPS (Gas Survey of Protoplanetary Systems), targeted ~250 young stars in narrow wavelength regions covering the [OI] fine structure line at 63 μm the brightest far-infrared line in such objects. A subset of the brightest targets were also surveyed in [OI]145 μm, [CII] at 157 μm, as well as several transitions of H2O and high-excitation CO lines at selected wavelengths between 78 and 180 μm. Additionally, GASPS included continuum photometry at 70, 100 and 160 μm, around the peak of the dust emission. The targets were SED Class II- III T Tauri stars and debris disks from seven nearby young associations, along with a comparable sample of isolated Herbig AeBe stars. The aim was to study the global gas and dust content in a wide sample of circumstellar disks, combining the results with models in a systematic way. In this overview paper we review the scientific aims, target selection and observing strategy of the program. We summarise some of the initial results, showing line identifications, listing the detections, and giving a first statistical study of line detectability. The [OI] line at 63 μm was the brightest line seen in almost all objects, by a factor of ~10. Overall [OI]63 μm detection rates were 49%, with 100% of HAeBe stars and 43% of T Tauri stars detected. A comparison with published disk dust masses (derived mainly from sub-mm continuum, assuming standard values of the mm mass opacity) shows a dust mass threshold for [OI] 63 μm detection of ~105 Mȯ. Normalising to a distance of 140 pc, 84% of objects with dust masses ≥105 Mȯ can be detected in this line in the present survey; 32% of those of mass 106-105 Mȯ, and only a very small number of unusual objects with lower masses can be detected. This is consistent with models with a moderate UV excess and disk flaring. For a given disk mass, [OI] detectability is lower forM stars compared with earlier spectral types. Both the continuum and line emission was, in most systems, spatially and spectrally unresolved and centred on the star, suggesting that emission in most cases was from the disk. Approximately 10 objects showed resolved emission, most likely from outflows. In the GASPS sample, [OI] detection rates in T Tauri associations in the 0.3-4 Myr age range were ~50%. For each association in the 5-20 Myr age range, ~2 stars remain detectable in [OI]63 μm, and no systems were detected in associations with age >20 Myr. Comparing with the total number of young stars in each association, and assuming a ISM-like gas/dust ratio, this indicates that ~18% of stars retain a gas-rich disk of total mass ~1 MJupiter for 1-4 Myr, 1-7% keep such disks for 5-10 Myr, but none are detected beyond 10-20 Myr. The brightest [OI] objects from GASPS were also observed in [OI]145 μm, [CII]157 μm and CO J 1/4 18 17, with detection rates of 20-40%. Detection of the [CII] line was not correlated with disk mass, suggesting it arises more commonly from a compact remnant envelope. © 2013. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved.
- Hillenbrand, L. A., Carpenter, J. M., Kim, J. S., Meyer, M. R., Backman, D. E., Moro-Martín, A., Hollenbach, D. J., Hines, D. C., Pascucci, I., & Bouwman, J. (2013). Erratum: The complete census of 70 μm bright debris disks within the feps (formation and evolution of planetary systems) spitzer legacy survey of sun-like stars (Astrophysical Journal (2008) 677 (630)). Astrophysical Journal, 764(1).
- Joergens, V., Herczeg, G., Liu, Y., Pascucci, I., Whelan, E., Alcalá, J., Biazzo, K., Costigan, G., Gully-Santiago, M., Henning, T., Natta, A., Rigliaco, E., Rodríguez-Ledesma, M., Sicilia-Aguilar, A., Tottle, J., & Wolf, S. (2013). Disks, accretion and outflows of brown dwarfs. Astronomische Nachrichten, 334(1-2), 159-163.More infoAbstract: Characterization of the properties of young brown dwarfs are important to constraining the formation of objects at the extreme low-mass end of the initial mass function. While young brown dwarfs share many properties with solar-mass T Tauri stars, differences may be used as tests of how the physics of accretion/outflow and disk chemistry/dissipation depend on the mass of the central object. This article summarizes the presentations and discussions during the splinter session on "Disks, accretion and outflows of brown dwarfs" held at the CoolStars17 conference in Barcelona in June 2012. Recent results in the field of brown dwarf disks and outflows include the determination of brown dwarf disk masses and geometries based on Herschel far-IR photometry (70-160 μm), accretion properties based on X-Shooter spectra, and new outflow detections in the very low-mass regime. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
- Kamp, I., Thi, W. -., Meeus, G., Woitke, P., Pinte, C., Meijerink, R., Spaans, M., Pascucci, I., Aresu, G., & Dent, W. R. (2013). Uncertainties in water chemistry in disks: An application to TW Hydrae. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 559.More infoAbstract: Context. This paper discusses the sensitivity of water lines to chemical processes and radiative transfer for the protoplanetary disk around TW Hya. The study focuses on the Herschel spectral range in the context of new line detections with the PACS instrument from the Gas in Protoplanetary Systems project (GASPS). Aims. The paper presents an overview of the chemistry in the main water reservoirs in the disk around TW Hya. It discusses the limitations in the interpretation of observed water line fluxes. Methods. We use a previously published thermo-chemical Protoplanetary Disk Model (ProDiMo) of the disk around TW Hya and study a range of chemical modeling uncertainties: metallicity, C/O ratio, and reaction pathways and rates leading to the formation of water. We provide results for the simplified assumption of Tgas = T dust to quantify uncertainties arising for the complex heating/cooling processes of the gas and elaborate on limitations due to water line radiative transfer. Results. We report new line detections of p-H 2O (322-211) at 89.99 μm and CO J = 18-17 at 144.78 μm for the disk around TW Hya. Disk modeling shows that the far-IR fine structure lines ([O i], [C ii]) and molecular submm lines are very robust to uncertainties in the chemistry, while the water line fluxes can change by factors of a few. The water lines are optically thick, sub-thermally excited and can couple to the background continuum radiation field. The low-excitation water lines are also sensitive to uncertainties in the collision rates, e.g. with neutral hydrogen. The gas temperature plays an important role for the [O i] fine structure line fluxes, the water line fluxes originating from the inner disk as well as the high excitation CO, CH+ and OH lines. Conclusions. Due to their sensitivity on chemical input data and radiative transfer, water lines have to be used cautiously for understanding details of the disk structure. Water lines covering a wide range of excitation energies provide access to the various gas phase water reservoirs (inside and outside the snow line) in protoplanetary disks and thus provide important information on where gas-phase water is potentially located. Experimental and/or theoretical collision rates for H2O with atomic hydrogen are needed to diminish uncertainties from water line radiative transfer. © 2013 ESO.
- Kóspál, Á., Moór, A., Juhász, A., Ábrahám, P., Apai, D., Csengeri, T., Grady, C. A., Henning, T., Hughes, A. M., Kiss, C., Pascucci, I., & Schmalzl, M. (2013). Alma observations of the molecular gas in the debris disk of the 30 Myr old star HD 21997. Astrophysical Journal, 776(2).More infoAbstract: The 30 Myr old A3-type star HD 21997 is one of the two known debris dust disks having a measurable amount of cold molecular gas. With the goal of understanding the physical state, origin, and evolution of the gas in young debris disks, we obtained CO line observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Here, we report on the detection of 12CO and 13CO in the J = 2-1 and J = 3-2 transitions and C18O in the J = 2-1 line. The gas exhibits a Keplerian velocity curve, one of the few direct measurements of Keplerian rotation in young debris disks. The measured CO brightness distribution could be reproduced by a simple star+disk system, whose parameters are r in < 26 AU, r out = 138 ± 20 AU, M⊙, and i = 32.°6 ± 3.°1. The total CO mass, as calculated from the optically thin C18O line, is about (4-8) × 10-2 M⊕, while the CO line ratios suggest a radiation temperature on the order of 6-9 K. Comparing our results with those obtained for the dust component of the HD 21997 disk from ALMA continuum observations by Moór et al., we conclude that comparable amounts of CO gas and dust are present in the disk. Interestingly, the gas and dust in the HD 21997 system are not colocated, indicating a dust-free inner gas disk within 55 AU of the star. We explore two possible scenarios for the origin of the gas. A secondary origin, which involves gas production from colliding or active planetesimals, would require unreasonably high gas production rates and would not explain why the gas and dust are not colocated. We propose that HD 21997 is a hybrid system where secondary debris dust and primordial gas coexist. HD 21997, whose age exceeds both the model predictions for disk clearing and the ages of the oldest T Tauri-like or transitional gas disks in the literature, may be a key object linking the primordial and the debris phases of disk evolution. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Mohanty, S., Greaves, J., Mortlock, D., Pascucci, I., Scholz, A., Thompson, M., Apai, D., Lodato, G., & Looper, D. (2013). Protoplanetary disk masses from stars to brown dwarfs. Astrophysical Journal, 773(2).More infoAbstract: We present SCUBA-2 850 μm observations of seven very low mass stars (VLMS) and brown dwarfs (BDs). Three are in Taurus and four in the TW Hydrae Association (TWA), and all are classical T Tauri (cTT) analogs. We detect two of the three Taurus disks (one only marginally), but none of the TWA ones. For standard grains in cTT disks, our 3σ limits correspond to a dust mass of 1.2 M ⊕ in Taurus and a mere 0.2 M ⊕ in the TWA (3-10× deeper than previous work). We combine our data with other submillimeter/millimeter (sub-mm/mm) surveys of Taurus, ρ Oph, and the TWA to investigate the trends in disk mass and grain growth during the cTT phase. Assuming a gas-to-dust mass ratio of 100:1 and fiducial surface density and temperature profiles guided by current data, we find the following. (1) The minimum disk outer radius required to explain the upper envelope of sub-mm/mm fluxes is ∼100 AU for intermediate-mass stars, solar types, and VLMS, and ∼20 AU for BDs. (2) While the upper envelope of apparent disk masses increases with M * from BDs to VLMS to solar-type stars, no such increase is observed from solar-type to intermediate-mass stars. We propose this is due to enhanced photoevaporation around intermediate stellar masses. (3) Many of the disks around Taurus and ρ Oph intermediate-mass and solar-type stars evince an opacity index of β ∼ 0-1, indicating significant grain growth. Of the only four VLMS/BDs in these regions with multi-wavelength measurements, three are consistent with considerable grain growth, though optically thick disks are not ruled out. (4) For the TWA VLMS (TWA 30A and B), combining our 850 μm fluxes with the known accretion rates and ages suggests substantial grain growth by 10 Myr, comparable to that in the previously studied TWA cTTs Hen 3-600A and TW Hya. The degree of grain growth in the TWA BDs (2M1207A and SSPM1102) remains largely unknown. (5) A Bayesian analysis shows that the apparent disk-to-stellar mass ratio has a roughly constant mean of log10 [M disk/M *] ≈ -2.4 all the way from intermediate-mass stars to VLMS/BDs, supporting previous qualitative suggestions that the ratio is ∼1% throughout the stellar/BD domain. (6) Similar analysis shows that the disk mass in close solar-type Taurus binaries (sep
- Moór, A., Juhász, A., Kóspál, Á., Ábrahám, P., Apai, D., Csengeri, T., Grady, C., Henning, T., Hughes, A. M., Kiss, C., Pascucci, I., Schmalzl, M., & Gabányi, K. (2013). ALMA continuum observations of a 30 Myr old gaseous debris disk around HD 21997. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 777(2).More infoAbstract: Circumstellar disks around stars older than 10 Myr are expected to be gas-poor. There are, however, two examples of old (30-40 Myr) debris-like disks containing a detectable amount of cold CO gas. Here we present Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Herschel Space Observatory observations of one of these disks, around HD 21997, and study the distribution and origin of the dust and its connection to the gas. Our ALMA continuum images at 886 μm clearly resolve a broad ring of emission within a diameter of ∼4.″5, adding HD 21997 to the dozen debris disks resolved at (sub)millimeter wavelengths. Modeling the morphology of the ALMA image with a radiative transfer code suggests inner and outer radii of ∼55 and ∼150 AU, and a dust mass of 0.09 M⊕. Our data and modeling hints at an extended cold outskirt of the ring. Comparison with the morphology of the CO gas in the disk reveals an inner dust-free hole where gas nevertheless can be detected. Based on dust grain lifetimes, we propose that the dust content of this gaseous disk is of secondary origin and is produced by planetesimals. Since the gas component is probably primordial, HD 21997 is one of the first known examples of a hybrid circumstellar disk, a thus-far little studied late phase of circumstellar disk evolution. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Moór, A., Ábrahám, P., Kóspál, A., Szabó, G., Apai, D., Balog, Z., Csengeri, T., Grady, C., Henning, T., Juhász, A., Kiss, C., Pascucci, I., Szulágyi, J., & Vavrek, R. (2013). A resolved debris disk around the candidate planet-hosting star HD 95086. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 775(2).More infoAbstract: Recently, a new planet candidate was discovered on direct images around the young (10-17 Myr) A-type star HD 95086. The strong infrared excess of the system indicates that, similar to HR8799, β Pic, and Fomalhaut, the star harbors a circumstellar disk. Aiming to study the structure and gas content of the HD 95086 disk, and to investigate its possible interaction with the newly discovered planet, here we present new optical, infrared, and millimeter observations. We detected no CO emission, excluding the possibility of an evolved gaseous primordial disk. Simple blackbody modeling of the spectral energy distribution suggests the presence of two spatially separate dust belts at radial distances of 6 and 64 AU. Our resolved images obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory reveal a characteristic disk size of ∼6.″0 × 5.″4 (540 × 490 AU) and disk inclination of ∼25°. Assuming the same inclination for the planet candidate's orbit, its reprojected radial distance from the star is 62 AU, very close to the blackbody radius of the outer cold dust ring. The structure of the planetary system at HD 95086 resembles the one around HR8799. Both systems harbor a warm inner dust belt and a broad colder outer disk and giant planet(s) between the two dusty regions. Modeling implies that the candidate planet can dynamically excite the motion of planetesimals even out to 270 AU via their secular perturbation if its orbital eccentricity is larger than about 0.4. Our analysis adds a new example to the three known systems where directly imaged planet(s) and debris disks coexist. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Olofsson, J., Szucs, L., Henning, T., Linz, H., Pascucci, I., & Joergens, V. (2013). The Herschel /PACS view of disks around low-mass stars in Chamaleon-I. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 560.More infoAbstract: Context. Circumstellar disks are expected to be planet birthplaces. The potential for forming one or more planets of various masses is essentially driven by the initial mass of the disks, a crucial parameter for any planet formation theory. Constraining the masses of disks is of great interest for low-mass stars, which are expected to harbor less massive disks. Aims. We present and analyze Herschel/PACS observations of disk-bearing M-type stars that belong to the young ~2 Myr old Chamaleon-I star-forming region, to better constrain the properties of the circumstellar material and the stellar mass dependence of these parameters. Methods. We used the radiative transfer code RADMC to successfully model the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 17 M-type stars detected at PACS wavelengths. Our modeling strategy is carefully designed so that we search for the most probable disks parameters among a large grid of models, via Bayesian inference, which is an approach that has already proven successful. Results. Based on the modeling results, we first discuss the relatively low detection rates of M5 and later spectral type stars with respect to the PACS sensitivity, and argue that their disks masses, or flaring indices, are likely to be low (Mdisk ~ 10-5 M ⊙, γ ~ 1.1). For M0 to M3 stars, we find a relatively broad range of disk masses (10-4-10-3 M ⊙), scale heights, and flaring indices. Via a parametrization of dust stratification, we can reproduce the peak fluxes of the 10 μm emission feature observed with Spitzer/IRS, and find that disks around M-type stars may display signs of dust sedimentation. We discuss a tentative correlation between the strength of the 10 μm emission feature and the parametrized stratification. Conclusions. The Herschel/PACS observations of low-mass stars in Cha-I provide new constraints on their disk properties, overall suggesting that disk parameters for early M-type stars are comparable to those for more massive stars (e.g., comparable scale height and flaring angles). However, regions of the disks emitting at about 100 μm may still be in the optically thick regime, preventing direct determination of disk masses. Thus the modeled disk masses should be considered as lower limits. Nevertheless, we are able to extend the wavelength coverage of SED models and start characterizing effects, such as dust sedimentation, an effort leading the way towards ALMA observations of these low-mass stars. © ESO, 2013.
- Pascucci, I., Herczeg, G., Carr, J. S., & Bruderer, S. (2013). The atomic and molecular content of disks around very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. Astrophysical Journal, 779(2).More infoAbstract: There is growing observational evidence that disk evolution is stellar-mass-dependent. Here, we show that these dependencies extend to the atomic and molecular content of disk atmospheres. We analyze a unique dataset of high-resolution Spitzer/IRS spectra from eight very low mass star and brown dwarf disks. We report the first detections of Ne+, H2, CO2, and tentative detections of H2O toward these faint and low-mass disks. Two of our [Ne II] 12.81 μm emission lines likely trace the hot (≥5000 K) disk surface irradiated by X-ray photons from the central stellar/sub-stellar object. The H2 S(2) and S(1) fluxes are consistent with arising below the fully or partially ionized surface traced by the [Ne II] emission in gas at 600 K. We confirm the higher C2H 2/HCN flux and column density ratio in brown dwarf disks previously noted from low-resolution IRS spectra. Our high-resolution spectra also show that the HCN/H2O fluxes of brown dwarf disks are on average higher than those of T Tauri disks. Our LTE modeling hints that this difference extends to column density ratios if H2O lines trace warm ≥600 K disk gas. These trends suggest that the inner regions of brown dwarf disks have a lower O/C ratio than those of T Tauri disks, which may result from a more efficient formation of non-migrating icy planetesimals. An O/C = 1, as inferred from our analysis, would have profound implications on the bulk composition of rocky planets that can form around very low mass stars and brown dwarfs. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
- Rigliaco, E., Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., Edwards, S., & Hollenbach, D. (2013). Understanding the origin of the [OI] low-velocity component from T Tauri STARS. Astrophysical Journal, 772(1).More infoAbstract: The formation time, masses, and location of planets are strongly impacted by the physical mechanisms that disperse protoplanetary disks and the timescale over which protoplanetary material is cleared out. Accretion of matter onto the central star, protostellar winds/jets, magnetic disk winds, and photoevaporative winds operate concurrently. Hence, disentangling their relative contribution to disk dispersal requires identifying diagnostics that trace different star-disk environments. Here, we analyze the low-velocity component (LVC) of the oxygen optical forbidden lines, which is found to be blueshifted by a few km s -1 with respect to the stellar velocity. We find that the [O I] LVC profiles are different from those of [Ne II] at 12.81 μm and CO at 4.7 μm lines pointing to different origins for these gas lines. We report a correlation between the luminosity of the [OI] LVC and the accretion luminosity L acc. We do not find any correlation with the X-ray luminosity, while we find that the higher is the stellar far-UV (FUV) luminosity, the higher is the luminosity of the [OI] LVC. In addition, we show that the [OI] λ6300/λ5577 ratio is low (ranging between 1 and 8). These findings favor an origin of the [O I] LVC in a region where OH is photodissociated by stellar FUV photons and argue against thermal emission from an X-ray-heated layer. Detailed modeling of two spectra with the highest S/N and resolution shows that there are two components within the LVC: a broad, centrally peaked component that can be attributed to gas arising in a warm disk surface in Keplerian rotation (with FWHM between ∼40 and ∼60 km s-1), and a narrow component (with FWHM ∼ 10 km s-1 and small blueshifts of ∼2 km s -1) that may arise in a cool (≲1000 K) molecular wind. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
- Alexander, R. D., & Pascucci, I. (2012). Deserts and pile-ups in the distribution of exoplanets due to photoevaporative disc clearing. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 422(1), L82-L86.More infoAbstract: We present models of giant planet migration in evolving protoplanetary discs. We show that disc clearing by extreme-ultraviolet photoevaporation can have a strong effect on the distribution of giant planet semimajor axes. During disc clearing, planet migration is slowed or accelerated in the region where photoevaporation opens a gap in the disc, resulting in 'deserts' where few giant planets are found and corresponding 'pile-ups' at smaller and larger radii. However, the precise locations and sizes of these features are strong functions of the efficiency of planetary accretion, and therefore also strongly dependent on planet mass. We suggest that photoevaporative disc clearing may be responsible for the pile-up of ~Jupitermass planets at ~1 au seen in exoplanet surveys, and show that observations of the distribution of exoplanet semimajor axes can be used to test models of both planet migration and disc clearing. © 2012 The Authors. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS.
- Banzatti, A., Meyer, M. R., Bruderer, S., Geers, V., Pascucci, I., Lahuis, F., Juhász, A., Henning, T., & Ábrahám, P. (2012). EX Lupi from quiescence to outburst: Exploring the LTE approach in modeling blended H 2O and OH mid-infrared emission. Astrophysical Journal, 745(1).More infoAbstract: We present a comparison of archival Spitzer spectra of the strongly variable T Tauri EX Lupi, observed before and during its 2008 outburst. We analyze the mid-infrared emission from gas-phase molecules thought to originate in a circumstellar disk. In quiescence the emission shows a forest of H 2O lines, highly excited OH lines, and the Q branches of the organics C 2H 2, HCN, and CO 2, similar to the emission observed toward several T Tauri systems. The outburst emission shows instead remarkable changes: H 2O and OH line fluxes increase, new OH, H 2, and HI transitions are detected, and organics are no longer seen. We adopt a simple model of a single-temperature slab of gas in local thermal equilibrium, a common approach for molecular analyses of Spitzer spectra, and derive the excitation temperature, column density, and emitting area of H 2O and OH. We show how model results strongly depend on the selection of emission lines fitted and how this is likely to be attributed to a combination of non-thermal excitation and multiple emission components. Using H 2O lines that can be approximated as thermalized to a single temperature, our results are consistent with a column density decrease in outburst while the emitting area of warm gas increases. A rotation diagram analysis suggests that the OH emission can be explained with two temperature components, which remarkably increase in column density in outburst. The relative change of H 2O and OH emission suggests a key role for UV radiation in the disk surface chemistry. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Banzatti, A., Meyer, M. R., Bruderer, S., Geers, V., Pascucci, I., Lahuis, F., Juhász, A., Henning, T., & Ábrahám, P. (2012). Erratum: eX LUPI from quiescence to outburst: Exploring the LTE approach in modeling blended H 2O and OH MID-infrared emission (The Astrophysical Journal (2012) 745 (90)). Astrophysical Journal, 751(2).
- Harvey, P. M., Henning, T., Liu, Y., Ménard, F., Pinte, C., Wolf, S., Cieza, L. A., Evans, N. J., & Pascucci, I. (2012). A Herschel survey of cold dust in disks around brown dwarfs and low-mass stars. Astrophysical Journal, 755(1).More infoAbstract: We report the complete photometric results from our Herschel study which is the first comprehensive program to search for far-infrared emission from cold dust around young brown dwarfs (BDs). We surveyed 50 fields containing 51 known or suspected BDs and very low mass stars that have evidence of circumstellar disks based on Spitzer photometry and/or spectroscopy. The objects with known spectral types range from M3 to M9.5. Four of the candidates were subsequently identified as extragalactic objects. Of the remaining 47 we have successfully detected 36 at 70 μm and 14 at 160 μm with signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) greater than 3, as well as several additional possible detections with low S/N. The objects exhibit a range of [24]-[70] μm colors suggesting a range in mass and/or structure of the outer disk. We present modeling of the spectral energy distributions of the sample and discuss trends visible in the data. Using two Monte Carlo radiative transfer codes we investigate disk masses and geometry. We find a very wide range in modeled total disk masses from less than 10 -6 M ⊙ up to 10 -3 M ⊙ with a median disk mass of the order of 3 × 10 -5 M ⊙, suggesting that the median ratio of disk mass to central object mass may be lower than for T Tauri stars. The disk scale heights and flaring angles, however, cover a range consistent with those seen around T Tauri stars. The host clouds in which the young BDs and low-mass stars are located span a range in estimated age from 1-3Myr to 10Myr and represent a variety of star-forming environments. No obvious dependence on cloud location or age is seen in the disk properties, though the statistical significance of this conclusion is not strong. © 2012 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Harvey, P. M., Henning, T., Ménard, F., Wolf, S., Liu, Y., Cieza, L. A., Evans, N. J., Pascucci, I., Merín, B., & Pinte, C. (2012). A Herschel search for cold dust in brown dwarf disks: First results. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 744(1).More infoAbstract: We report initial results from a Herschel program to search for far-infrared emission from cold dust around a statistically significant sample of young brown dwarfs. The first three objects in our survey are all detected at 70 μm, and we report the first detection of a brown dwarf at 160 μm. The flux densities are consistent with the presence of substantial amounts of cold dust in the outer disks around these objects. We modeled the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with two different radiative transfer codes. We find that a broad range of model parameters provide a reasonable fit to the SEDs, but that the addition of our 70 μm, and especially the 160 μm, detection enables strong lower limits to be placed on the disk masses since most of the mass is in the outer disk. We find likely disk masses in the range of a few × 10-6 to 10-4 M ⊙. Our models provide a good fit to the SEDs and do not require dust settling. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., & Hollenbach, D. (2012). Free-free emission and radio recombination lines from photoevaporating disks. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 751(2).More infoAbstract: Recent infrared observations have demonstrated that photoevaporation driven by high-energy photons from the central star contributes to the dispersal of protoplanetary disks. Here, we show that photoevaporative winds should produce a detectable free-free continuum emission given the range of stellar ionizing photons and X-ray luminosities inferred for young Sun-like stars. We point out that Very Large Array observations of the nearby disk around TW Hya might have already detected this emission at centimeter wavelengths and calculate the wind electron density and mass flow rate. We also estimate the intensities of H radio recombination lines tracing the wind and discuss which ones could be detected with current instrumentation. The detection and profiles of these recombination lines would unambiguously prove our inference of free-free emission from photoevaporating disks like TW Hya. In addition, radio/millimeter data can help constraining wind parameters such as temperature and electron density that are fundamental in measuring mass flow rates. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
- Robberto, M., Spina, L., Rio, N. D., Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Ricci, L., Goddi, C., Testi, L., Palla, F., & Bacciotti, F. (2012). An HST imaging survey of low-mass stars in the Chamaeleon i star-forming region. Astronomical Journal, 144(3).More infoAbstract: We present new Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2 observations of 20 fields centered around T Tauri stars in the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. Images have been obtained in the F631N ([O I] λ6300), F656N (Hα), and F673N ([S II] λλ6716, 6731) narrow-band filters, plus the Johnson V-band equivalent F547M filter. We detect 31 T Tauri stars falling within our fields. We discuss the optical morphology of 10 sources showing evidence of either binarity, circumstellar material, or mass loss. We supplement our photometry with a compilation of optical, infrared, and submillimeter (sub-mm) data from the literature, together with new sub-mm data for three objects, to build the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 19 single sources. Using an SED model fitting tool, we self-consistently estimate a number of stellar and disk parameters, while mass accretion rates are directly derived from our Hα photometry. We find that bolometric luminosities derived from dereddened optical data tend to be underestimated in systems with high α 2-24 IR spectral index, suggesting that disks seen nearly edge-on may occasionally be interpreted as low-luminosity (and therefore more evolved) sources. On the other hand, the same α 2-24 IR spectral index, a tracer of the amount of dust in the warmer layers of the circumstellar disks, and the mass accretion rate appear to decay with the isochronal stellar age, suggesting that the observed age spread (≃ 0.5-5Myr) within the cluster is real. Our sample contains a few outliers that may have dissipated their circumstellar disks on a shorter timescale. © © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Sacco, G. G., Flaccomio, E., Pascucci, I., Lahuis, F., Ercolano, B., Kastner, J. H., Micela, G., Stelzer, B., & Sterzik, M. (2012). High-resolution spectroscopy of Ne II emission from young stellar objects. Astrophysical Journal, 747(2).More infoAbstract: Constraining the spatial and thermal structure of the gaseous component of circumstellar disks is crucial for understanding star and planet formation. Models predict that the [Ne II] line at 12.81 μm detected in young stellar objects (YSOs) with Spitzer traces disk gas and its response to high-energy radiation, but such [Ne II] emission may also originate in shocks within powerful outflows. To distinguish between these potential origins for mid-infrared [Ne II] emission and to constrain disk models, we observed 32 YSOs using the high-resolution (R ∼30,000) mid-infrared spectrograph VISIR at the Very Large Telescope. We detected the 12.81 μm [Ne II] line in 12objects, tripling the number of detections of this line in YSOs with high spatial and spectral resolution spectrographs. We obtain the following main results. (1) In ClassI objects the [Ne II] emission observed from Spitzer is mainly due to gas at a distance of more than 20-40AU from the star, where neon is, most likely, ionized by shocks due to protostellar outflows. (2) In transition and pre-transition disks, most of the emission is confined to the inner disk, within 20-40AU from the central star. (3) Detailed analysis of line profiles indicates that, in transition and pre-transition disks, the line is slightly blueshifted (2-12 km s -1) with respect to the stellar velocity, and the line width is directly correlated with the disk inclination, as expected if the emission is due to a disk wind. (4) Models of EUV/X-ray-irradiated disks reproduce well the observed relation between the line width and the disk inclination, but underestimate the blueshift of the line. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Szulágyi, J., Pascucci, I., Ábrahám, P., Apai, D., Bouwman, J., & Moór, A. (2012). Observational constraints on the stellar radiation field impinging on transitional disk atmospheres. Astrophysical Journal, 759(1).More infoAbstract: Mid-infrared atomic and ionic line ratios measured in spectra of pre-main-sequence stars are sensitive indicators of the hardness of the radiation field impinging on the disk surface. We present a low-resolution Spitzer IRS search for [Ar II] at 6.98 μm, [Ne II] at 12.81 μm, and [Ne III] 15.55μm lines in 56 transitional disks. These objects, characterized by reduced near-infrared but strong far-infrared excess emission, are ideal targets to set constraints on the stellar radiation field onto the disk, because their spectra are not contaminated by shock emission from jets/outflows or by molecular emission lines. After demonstrating that we can detect [Ne II] lines and recover their fluxes from the low-resolution spectra, here we report the first detections of [Ar II] lines toward protoplanetary disks. We did not detect [Ne III] emission in any of our sources. Our [Ne II]/[Ne III] line flux ratios combined with literature data suggest that a soft-EUV or X-ray spectrum produces these gas lines. Furthermore, the [Ar II]/[Ne II] line flux ratios point to a soft X-ray and/or soft-EUV stellar spectrum as the ionization source of the [Ar II] and [Ne II] emitting layer of the disk. If the soft X-ray component dominates over the EUV, then we would expect larger photoevaporation rates and, hence, a reduction of the time available to form planets. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
- Berg, K. I., Chunhua, Q. i., K., J., Bergin, E. A., Andrews, S. M., Espaillat, C., Wilner, D. J., Pascucci, I., & Kastner, J. H. (2011). Disk imaging survey of chemistry with SMA. II. Southern sky protoplanetary disk data and full sample statistics. Astrophysical Journal, 734(2).More infoAbstract: This is the second in a series of papers based on data from DISCS, a Submillimeter Array observing program aimed at spatially and spectrally resolving the chemical composition of 12 protoplanetary disks. We present data on six Southern sky sources - IM Lup, SAO 206462 (HD135344b), HD142527, AS 209, AS 205, and V4046 Sgr - which complement the six sources in the Taurus star-forming region reported previously. CO 2-1 and HCO+ 3-2 emission are detected and resolved in all disks and show velocity patterns consistent with Keplerian rotation. Where detected, the emission from DCO+ 3-2, N2H+ 3-2, H2CO 30 3 - 2 0 2 and 41 4 - 31 3, HCN 3-2, and CN 2 3 3/4/2 - 12 2/3/1 are also generally spatially resolved. The detection rates are highest toward the M and K stars, while the F star SAO 206462 has only weak CN and HCN emission, and H2CO alone is detected toward HD142527. These findings together with the statistics from the previous Taurus disks support the hypothesis that high detection rates of many small molecules depend on the presence of a cold and protected disk midplane, which is less common around F and A stars compared to M and K stars. Disk-averaged variations in the proposed radiation tracer CN/HCN are found to be small, despite a two orders of magnitude range of spectral types and accretion rates. In contrast, the resolved images suggest that the CN/HCN emission ratio varies with disk radius in at least two of the systems. There are no clear observational differences in the disk chemistry between the classical/full T Tauri disks and transitional disks. Furthermore, the observed line emission does not depend on the measured accretion luminosities or the number of infrared lines detected, which suggests that the chemistry outside of 100 AU is not coupled to the physical processes that drive the chemistry in the innermost few AU. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Fedele, D., Pascucci, I., Brittain, S., Kamp, I., Woitke, P., Williams, J. P., Dent, W. R., & Thi, W. -. (2011). Water depletion in the disk atmosphere of Herbig AeBe stars. Astrophysical Journal, 732(2).More infoAbstract: We present high-resolution (R ∼ 100,000) L-band spectroscopy of 11 Herbig AeBe stars with circumstellar disks. The observations were obtained with the VLT/CRIRES to detect hot water and hydroxyl radical emission lines previously detected in disks around T Tauri stars. OH emission lines are detected toward four disks. The OH 2Π3/2 P4.5 (1+,1-) doublet is spectrally resolved as well as the velocity profile of each component of the doublet. Its characteristic double-peak profile demonstrates that the gas is in Keplerian rotation and points to an emitting region extending out to ∼15-30AU. The OH emission correlates with disk geometry as it is mostly detected toward flaring disks. None of the Herbig stars analyzed here show evidence of hot water vapor at a sensitivity similar to that of the OH lines. The non-detection of hot water vapor emission indicates that the atmospheres of disks around Herbig AeBe stars are depleted of water molecules. Assuming LTE and optically thin emission we derive a lower limit to the OH/H2O column density ratio >1-25 in contrast to T Tauri disks for which the column density ratio is 0.3-0.4. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Gorti, U., Hollenbach, D., Najita, J., & Pascucci, I. (2011). Emission lines from the gas disk around TW hydra and the origin of the inner hole. Astrophysical Journal, 735(2).More infoAbstract: We compare line emission calculated from theoretical disk models with optical to submillimeter wavelength observational data of the gas disk surrounding TWHya and infer the spatial distribution of mass in the gas disk. The model disk that best matches observations has a gas mass ranging from 10-4 to 10-5 M for 0.06 AU < r < 3.5AU and 0.06 M for 3.5 AU < r < 200AU. We find that the inner dust hole (r < 3.5AU) in the disk must be depleted of gas by 1-2 orders of magnitude compared with the extrapolated surface density distribution of the outer disk. Grain growth alone is therefore not a viable explanation for the dust hole. CO vibrational emission arises within r 0.5AU from thermal excitation of gas. [O I] 6300 and 5577 forbidden lines and OH mid-infrared emission are mainly due to prompt emission following UV photodissociation of OH and water at r ≲ 0.1AU and at r 4AU. [Ne II] emission is consistent with an origin in X-ray heated neutral gas at r ≲ 10AU, and may not require the presence of a significant extreme-ultraviolet (hν > 13.6eV) flux from TWHya. H2 pure rotational line emission comes primarily from r 1 to 30AU. [O I] 63 μm, HCO+, and CO pure rotational lines all arise from the outer disk at r 30-120AU. We discuss planet formation and photoevaporation as causes for the decrease in surface density of gas and dust inside 4AU. If a planet is present, our results suggest a planet mass 4-7 MJ situated at 3AU. Using our photoevaporation models and the best surface density profile match to observations, we estimate a current photoevaporative mass loss rate of 4 × 10-9 M yr-1 and a remaining disk lifetime of 5 million years. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
- Moór, A., Pascucci, I., Kóspál, Á., Ábrahám, P., Csengeri, T., Kiss, L. L., Apai, D., Grady, C., Henning, T., Kiss, C., Bayliss, D., Juhász, A., Kovcs, J., & Szalai, T. (2011). Structure and evolution of debris disks around F-type stars. I. observations, database, and basic evolutionary aspects. Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, 193(1).More infoAbstract: Although photometric and spectroscopic surveys with the Spitzer Space Telescope remarkably increased the number of well-studied debris disks around A-type and Sun-like stars, detailed analyses of debris disks around F-type stars remained less frequent. Using the MIPS camera and the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) spectrograph, we searched for debris dust around 82 F-type stars with Spitzer. We found 27 stars that harbor debris disks, nine of which are new discoveries. The dust distribution around two of our stars, HD50571 and HD170773, was found to be marginally extended on the 70 μm MIPS images. Combining the MIPS and IRS measurements with additional infrared and submillimeter data, we achieved excellent spectral coverage for most of our debris systems. We have modeled the excess emission of 22 debris disks using a single temperature dust ring model and of five debris systems with two-temperature models. The latter systems may contain two dust rings around the star. In accordance with the expected trends, the fractional luminosity of the disks declines with time, exhibiting a decay rate consistent with the range of model predictions. We found the distribution of radial dust distances as a function of age to be consistent with the predictions of both the self-stirred and the planetary-stirred disk evolution models. A more comprehensive investigation of the evolution of debris disks around F-type stars, partly based on the presented data set, will be the subject of an upcoming paper. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Moór, A., Ábrahám, P., Juhász, A., Kiss, C., Pascucci, I., Kóspál, A., Apai, D., Henning, T., Csengeri, T., & Grady, C. (2011). Molecular gas in young debris disks. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 740(1).More infoAbstract: Gas-rich primordial disks and tenuous gas-poor debris disks are usually considered as two distinct evolutionary phases of the circumstellar matter. Interestingly, the debris disk around the young main-sequence star 49 Ceti possesses a substantial amount of molecular gas and possibly represents the missing link between the two phases. Motivated to understand the evolution of the gas component in circumstellar disks via finding more 49 Ceti-like systems, we carried out a CO J = 3-2 survey with the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment, targeting 20 infrared-luminous debris disks. These systems fill the gap between primordial and old tenuous debris disks in terms of fractional luminosity. Here we report on the discovery of a second 49 Ceti-like disk around the 30Myr old A3-type star HD21997, a member of the Columba Association. This system was also detected in the CO(2-1) transition, and the reliable age determination makes it an even clearer example of an old gas-bearing disk than 49 Ceti. While the fractional luminosities of HD21997 and 49 Ceti are not particularly high, these objects seem to harbor the most extended disks within our sample. The double-peaked profiles of HD21997 were reproduced by a Keplerian disk model combined with the LIME radiative transfer code. Based on their similarities, 49 Ceti and HD21997 may be the first representatives of a so far undefined new class of relatively old (≳8Myr), gaseous dust disks. From our results, neither primordial origin nor steady secondary production from icy planetesimals can unequivocally explain the presence of CO gas in the disk of HD21997. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Ore, C. D., Fulchignoni, M., Cruikshank, D. P., Barucci, M. A., Brunetto, R., Campins, H., Bergh, C. D., Debes, J. H., Dotto, E., Emery, J. P., Grundy, W. M., Jones, A. P., Mennella, V., Orthous-Daunay, F., Owen, T., Pascucci, I., Pendleton, Y. J., Pinilla-Alonso, N., Quirico, E., & Strazzulla, G. (2011). Organic materials in planetary and protoplanetary systems: Nature or nurture?. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 533.More infoAbstract: Aims. The objective of this work is to summarize the discussion of a workshop aimed at investigating the properties, origins, and evolution of the materials that are responsible for the red coloration of the small objects in the outer parts of the solar system. Because of limitations or inconsistencies in the observations and, until recently, the limited availability of laboratory data, there are still many questions on the subject. Our goal is to approach two of the main questions in a systematic way:-Is coloring an original signature of materials that are presolar in origin ("nature") or stems from post-formational chemical alteration, or †‰ weathering   ("nurture")?-What is the chemical signature of the material that causes spectra to be sloped towards the red in the visible? We examine evidence available both from the laboratory and from observations sampling different parts of the solar system and circumstellar regions (disks). Methods. We present a compilation of brief summaries gathered during the workshop and describe the evidence towards a primordial vs. evolutionary origin for the material that reddens the small objects in the outer parts of our, as well as in other, planetary systems. We proceed by first summarizing laboratory results followed by observational data collected at various distances from the Sun. Results. While laboratory experiments show clear evidence of irradiation effects, particularly from ion bombardment, the first obstacle often resides in the ability to unequivocally identify the organic material in the observations. The lack of extended spectral data of good quality and resolution is at the base of this problem. Furthermore, that both mechanisms, weathering and presolar, act on the icy materials in a spectroscopically indistinguishable way makes our goal of defining the impact of each mechanism challenging. Conclusions. Through a review of some of the workshop presentations and discussions, encompassing laboratory experiments as well as observational data, we infer that both "nature" and "nurture" are instrumental in the coloration of small objects in the outer parts. © 2011 ESO.
- Pascucci, I., Sterzik, M., Alexander, R. D., Alencar, S. H., Gorti, U., Hollenbach, D., Owen, J., Ercolano, B., & Edwards, S. (2011). The photoevaporative wind from the disk of TW Hya. Astrophysical Journal, 736(1).More infoAbstract: Photoevaporation driven by the central star is expected to be a ubiquitous and important mechanism for dispersing the circumstellar dust and gas from which planets form. Here, we present a detailed study of the circumstellar disk surrounding the nearby star TW Hya and provide observational constraints to its photoevaporative wind. Our new high-resolution (R ∼ 30,000) mid-infrared spectroscopy in the [Ne II] 12.81 μm line confirms that this gas diagnostic traces the unbound wind component within 10AU of the star. From the blueshift and asymmetry in the line profile, we estimate that most (>80%) of the [Ne II] emission arises from disk radii where the midplane is optically thick to the redshifted outflowing gas, meaning beyond the 1 or 4AU dust rim inferred from other observations. We re-analyze high-resolution (R ∼ 48,000) archival optical spectra searching for additional transitions that may trace the photoevaporative flow. Unlike the [Ne II] line, optical forbidden lines from O I, S II, and Mg I are centered at stellar velocity and have symmetric profiles. The only way these lines can trace the photoevaporative flow is if they arise from a disk region physically distinct from that traced by the [Ne II] line, specifically from within the optically thin dust gap. However, the small (∼10kms-1) FWHM of these lines suggests that most of the emitting gas traced at optical wavelengths is bound to the system rather than unbound. We discuss the implications of our results for a planet-induced gap versus a photoevaporation-induced gap. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Teske, J. K., Najita, J. R., Carr, J. S., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., & Henning, T. (2011). Measuring organic molecular emission in disks with low-resolution spitzer spectroscopy. Astrophysical Journal, 734(1).More infoAbstract: We explore the extent to which Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) spectra taken at low spectral resolution can be used in quantitative studies of organic molecular emission from disks surrounding low-mass young stars. We use Spitzer IRS spectra taken in both the high- and low-resolution modules for the same sources to investigate whether it is possible to define line indices that can measure trends in the strength of the molecular features in low-resolution data. We find that trends in the HCN emission strength seen in the high-resolution data can be recovered in low-resolution data. In examining the factors that influence the HCN emission strength, we find that the low-resolution HCN flux is modestly correlated with stellar accretion rate and X-ray luminosity. Correlations of this kind are perhaps expected based on recent observational and theoretical studies of inner disk atmospheres. Our results demonstrate the potential of using the large number of low-resolution disk spectra that reside in the Spitzer archive to study the factors that influence the strength of molecular emission from disks. Such studies would complement results for the much smaller number of circumstellar disks that have been observed at high resolution with IRS. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Thi, W. -., Ménard, F., Meeus, G., Martin-Zaïdi, C., Woitke, P., Tatulli, E., Benisty, M., Kamp, I., Pascucci, I., Pinte, C., Grady, C. A., Brittain, S., White, G. J., Howard, C. D., Sandell, G., & Eiroa, C. (2011). Detection of CH+ emission from the disc around HD 100546. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 530.More infoAbstract: Despite its importance in the thermal balance of the gas and in the determination of primeval planetary atmospheres, the chemistry in protoplanetary discs remains poorly constrained with only a handful of detected species. We observed the emission from the disc around the Herbig Be star HD 100546 with the PACS instrument in the spectroscopic mode on board the Herschel Space Telescope as part of the GAS in Protoplanetary Systems (GASPS) programme and used archival data from the DIGIT programme to search for the rotational emission of CH+. We detected in both datasets an emission line centred at 72.16 μm that most likely corresponds to the J = 5-4 rotational emission of CH +. The J = 3-2 and 6-5 transitions are also detected albeit with lower confidence. Other CH+ rotational lines in the PACS observations are blended with water lines. A rotational diagram analysis shows that the CH+ gas is warm at 323+2320-151 K with a mass of ∼3 × 10-14-5 × 10-12 M ȯ. We modelled the CH+ chemistry with the chemo-physical code ProDiMo using a disc density structure and grain parameters that match continuum observations and near- and mid-infrared interferometric data. The model suggests that CH+ is most abundant at the location of the disc rim at 10-13 AU from the star where the gas is warm, which is consistent with previous observations of hot CO gas emission. © 2011 ESO.
- Woitke, P., Riaz, B., Duchêne, G., Pascucci, I., Lyo, A. -., Dent, W. R., Phillips, N., Thi, W. -., Ménard, F., Herczeg, G. J., Bergin, E., Brown, A., Mora, A., Kamp, I., Aresu, G., Brittain, S., Gregorio-Monsalvo, I. D., & Sandell, G. (2011). The unusual protoplanetary disk around the T Tauri star et Chamaeleontis. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 534.More infoAbstract: We present new continuum and line observations, along with modelling, of the faint (6-8) Myr old T Tauri star ET Cha belonging to the η Chamaeleontis cluster. We have acquired Herschel/PACS photometric fluxes at 70 μm and 160 μm, as well as a detection of the [OI] 63 μm fine-structure line in emission, and derived upper limits for some other far-IR OI, CII, CO and o-H2O lines. These observations were carried out in the frame of the open time key programme GASPS, where ET Cha was selected as one of the science demonstration phase targets. The Herschel data is complemented by new simultaneous ANDICAM B-K photometry, new HST/COS and HST/STIS UV-observations, a non-detection of CO J = 3 → 2 with APEX, re-analysis of a UCLES high-resolution optical spectrum showing forbidden emission lines like [OI] 6300Å, [SII] 6731Å and 6716Å, and [NII] 6583Å, and a compilation of existing broad-band photometric data. We used the thermo-chemical disk code ProDiMo and the Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code MCFOST to model the protoplanetary disk around ET Cha. The paper also introduces a number of physical improvements to the ProDiMo disk modelling code concerning the treatment of PAH ionisation balance and heating, the heating by exothermic chemical reactions, and several non-thermal pumping mechanisms for selected gas emission lines. By applying an evolutionary strategy to minimise the deviations between model predictions and observations, we find a variety of united gas and dust models that simultaneously fit all observed line and continuum fluxes about equally well. Based on these models we can determine the disk dustmass with confidence, Mdust â‰̂ (2-5) × 10-8 MâŠ(tm) whereas the total disk gas mass is found to be only little constrained, Mgas â‰̂ (5 × 10-5-3 × 10-3) MâŠ(tm). Both mass estimates are substantially lower than previously reported. In the models, the disk extends from 0.022 AU (just outside of the co-rotation radius) to only about 10 AU, remarkably small for single stars, whereas larger disks are found to be inconsistent with the CO J = 3 → 2 non-detection. The low velocity component of the [OI] 6300Å emission line is centred on the stellar systematic velocity, and is consistent with being emitted from the inner disk. The model is also consistent with the line flux of H2 v = 1 → 0 S(1) at 2.122 μm and with the [OI] 63 μm line as seen with Herschel/PACS. An additional high-velocity component of the [OI] 6300Å emission line, however, points to the existence of an additional jet/outflow of low velocity 40-65 km s-1 with mass loss rate â‰̂ 10 -9 M·/yr. In relation to our low estimations of the disk mass, such a mass loss rate suggests a disk lifetime of only ∼0.05-3 Myr, substantially shorter than the cluster age. If a generic gas/dust ratio of 100 was assumed, the disk lifetime would be even shorter, only ∼3000 yrs. The evolutionary state of this unusual protoplanetary disk is discussed. © 2011 ESO.
- Mathews, G. S., Dent, W. R., Williams, J. P., Howard, C. D., Meeus, G., Riaz, B., Roberge, A., Sandell, G., Vandenbussche, B., Duchêne, G., Kamp, I., Ménard, F., Montesinos, B., Pinte, C., Thi, W. F., Woitke, P., Alacid, J. M., Andrews, S. M., Ardila, D. R., , Aresu, G., et al. (2010). GAS in Protoplanetary Systems (GASPS). Astronomy and Astrophysics, 518(1).More infoAbstract: Context. Circumstellar discs are ubiquitous around young stars, but rapidly dissipate their gas and dust on timescales of a few Myr. The Herschel Space Observatory allows for the study of the warm disc atmosphere, using far-infrared spectroscopy to measure gas content and excitation conditions, and far-IR photometry to constrain the dust distribution. Aims. We aim to detect and characterize the gas content of circumstellar discs in four targets as part of the Herschel science demonstration phase. Methods. We carried out sensitive medium resolution spectroscopy and high sensitivity photometry at λ ∼ 60-190 μm using the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory. Results. We detect [OI] 63 μm emission from the young stars HD 169142, TW Hydrae, and RECX 15, but not HD 181327. No other lines, including [CII] 158 and [OI] 145, are significantly detected. All four stars are detected in photometry at 70 and 160 μm. Extensive models are presented in associated papers. © 2010 ESO.
- Mathews, G. S., Dent, W. R., Williams, J. P., Howard, C. D., Meeus, G., Riaz, B., Roberge, A., Sandell, G., Vandenbussche, B., Duchêne, G., Kamp, I., Ménard, F., Montesinos, B., Pinte, C., Thi, W. F., Woitke, P., Alacid, J. M., Andrews, S. M., Ardila, D. R., , Aresu, G., et al. (2010). GAS in Protoplanetary Systems (GASPS): I. First results. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 518(4).More infoAbstract: Context. Circumstellar discs are ubiquitous around young stars, but rapidly dissipate their gas and dust on timescales of a few Myr. The Herschel Space Observatory allows for the study of the warm disc atmosphere, using far-infrared spectroscopy to measure gas content and excitation conditions, and far-IR photometry to constrain the dust distribution. Aims. We aim to detect and characterize the gas content of circumstellar discs in four targets as part of the Herschel science demonstration phase. Methods. We carried out sensitive medium resolution spectroscopy and high sensitivity photometry at λ ∼ 60-190 μm using the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory. Results. We detect [OI] 63 μm emission from the young stars HD 169142, TW Hydrae, and RECX 15, but not HD 181327. No other lines, including [CII] 158 and [OI] 145, are significantly detected. All four stars are detected in photometry at 70 and 160 μm. Extensive models are presented in associated papers. © ESO 2010.
- Meeus, G., Pinte, C., Woitke, P., Montesinos, B., Mendigutía, I., Riviere-Marichalar, P., Eiroa, C., Mathews, G. S., Vandenbussche, B., Howard, C. D., Roberge, A., Sandell, G., Duchêne, G., Ménard, F., Grady, C. A., Dent, W. R., Kamp, I., Augereau, J. C., Thi, W. F., , Tilling, I., et al. (2010). Gas in the protoplanetary disc of HD 169142: Herschel's view. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 518(4).More infoAbstract: In an effort to simultaneously study the gas and dust components of the disc surrounding the young Herbig Ae star HD 169142, we present far-IR observations obtained with the PACS instrument onboard the Herschel Space Observatory. This work is part of the open time key program GASPS, which is aimed at studying the evolution of protoplanetary discs. To constrain the gas properties in the outer disc, we observed the star at several key gas-lines, including [OI] 63.2 and 145.5 μm, [CII] 157.7 μm, CO 72.8 and 90.2 μm, and o-H2O 78.7 and 179.5 μm. We only detect the [OI] 63.2 μm line in our spectra, and derive upper limits for the other lines. We complement our data set with PACS photometry and 12/13CO data obtained with the Submillimeter Array. Furthermore, we derive accurate stellar parameters from optical spectra and UV to mm photometry. We model the dust continuum with the 3D radiative transfer code MCFOST and use this model as an input to analyse the gas lines with the thermo-chemical code ProDiMo. Our dataset is consistent with a simple model in which the gas and dust are well-mixed in a disc with a continuous structure between 20 and 200 AU, but this is not a unique solution. Our modelling effort allows us to constrain the gas-to-dust mass ratio as well as the relative abundance of the PAHs in the disc by simultaneously fitting the lines of several species that originate in different regions. Our results are inconsistent with a gas-poor disc with a large UV excess; a gas mass of 5.0 ± 2.0 × 10-3 $M-{\odot}$ is still present in this disc, in agreement with earlier CO observations. © ESO 2010.
- Najita, J. R., Carr, J. S., Strom, S. E., Watson, D. M., Pascucci, I., Hollenbach, D., Gorti, U., & Keller, L. (2010). Spitzer spectroscopy of the transition object TW Hya. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 712(1), 274-286.More infoAbstract: We report sensitive Spitzer IRS spectroscopy in the 10-20 μm region of TWHya, a nearby T Tauri star. The unusual spectral energy distribution of the source, that of a "transition object," indicates that the circumstellar disk in the system has experienced significant evolution, possibly as a result of planet formation. The spectrum we measure is strikingly different from that of other classical T Tauri stars reported in the literature, displaying no strong emission features of H2O, C2H 2, or HCN. The difference suggests that the inner planet formation region (≲5AU) of the gaseous disk has evolved physically and/or chemically away from the classical T Tauri norm. Nevertheless, TWHya does show a rich spectrum of emission features of atoms (H I, [Ne II], and [Ne III]) and molecules (H2, OH, CO2, HCO+, and possibly CH3), some of which are also detected in classical T Tauri spectra. The properties of the neon emission are consistent with an origin for the emission in a disk irradiated by X-rays (with a possible role for additional irradiation by stellar EUV). The OH emission we detect, which also likely originates in the disk, is hot, arising from energy levels up to 23,000K above ground, and may be produced by the UV photodissociation of water. The H I emission is surprisingly strong, with relative strengths that are consistent with case B recombination. While the absence of strong molecular emission in the 10-20 μm region may indicate that the inner region of the gaseous disk has been partly cleared by an orbiting giant planet, chemical and/or excitation effects may be responsible instead. We discuss these issues and how our results bear on our understanding of the evolutionary state of the TWHya disk. © 2010 The American Astronomical Society.
- Pascucci, I., Proffitt, C., Ghavamian, P., Sahnow, D., Oliveira, C., Aloisi, A., Keyes, T., & Penton, S. V. (2010). Monitoring of the wavelength calibration lamps for the Hubble Space Telescope. Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, 7731.More infoAbstract: The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) are the two optical-UV spectrographs on board the Hubble Space Telescope. To determine the wavelength scale for individual science observations, internal arc lamp spectra accompany most observations of external targets. Here we present a detailed analysis of the changes in the COS and STIS internal lamp fluxes and spectra over time, and also compare our results to pre-launch ground testing, and to laboratory accelerated aging testing of similar lamps. Most of the analysis presented here focuses on the behaviour of the lamps in the far-UV (FUV). We find that the STIS LINE lamp has faded by a factor of ∼15 in the very short FUV wavelengths (1150-1200Å) over the 13-year period on which STIS was in space, a much steeper fading than predicted from accelerated aging tests in the laboratory. We also find that all STIS lamps have faded during the period in which the spectrograph was not operational (2004-2009) thus pointing to on-orbit conditions as an additional and important cause of lamp fading. We report that the COS P1 lamp output appears to decline with usage with a similar slope as the LINE and HITM1 lamps on STIS. Finally, we recommend switching from the LINE to the HITM2 lamp for a more efficient wavelength calibration of the STIS settings covering the very short FUV wavelengths. © 2010 SPIE.
- Pinte, C., Woitke, P., Ménard, F., Duchêne, G., Kamp, I., Meeus, G., Mathews, G., Howard, C. D., Grady, C. A., Thi, W. -., Tilling, I., Augereau, J. -., Dent, W. R., Alacid, J. M., Andrews, S., Ardila, D. R., Aresu, G., Barrado, D., Brittain, S., , Ciardi, D. R., et al. (2010). The Herschel view of GAS in Protoplanetary Systems (GASPS). Astronomy and Astrophysics, 518(1).More infoAbstract: The Herschel GASPS key program is a survey of the gas phase of protoplanetary discs, targeting 240 objects which cover a large range of ages, spectral types, and disc properties. To interpret this large quantity of data and initiate self-consistent analyses of the gas and dust properties of protoplanetary discs, we have combined the capabilities of the radiative transfer code MCFOST with the gas thermal balance and chemistry code ProDiMo to compute a grid of ≈ 300 000 disc models (DENT). We present a comparison of the first Herschel/GASPS line and continuum data with the predictions from the DENT grid of models. Our objective is to test some of the main trends already identified in the DENT grid, as well as to define better empirical diagnostics to estimate the total gas mass of protoplanetary discs. Photospheric UV radiation appears to be the dominant gas-heating mechanism for Herbig stars, whereas UV excess and/or X-rays emission dominates for T Tauri stars. The DENT grid reveals the complexity in the analysis of far-IR lines and the difficulty to invert these observations into physical quantities. The combination of Herschel line observations with continuum data and/or with rotational lines in the (sub-)millimetre regime, in particular CO lines, is required for a detailed characterisation of the physical and chemical properties of circumstellar discs. © 2010 ESO.
- Pinte, C., Woitke, P., Ménard, F., Duchêne, G., Kamp, I., Meeus, G., Mathews, G., Howard, C. D., Grady, C. A., Thi, W. -., Tilling, I., Augereau, J. -., Dent, W. R., Alacid, J. M., Andrews, S., Ardila, D. R., Aresu, G., Barrado, D., Brittain, S., , Ciardi, D. R., et al. (2010). The Herschel view of GAS in Protoplanetary Systems (GASPS): First comparisons with a large grid of models. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 518(4).More infoAbstract: The Herschel GASPS key program is a survey of the gas phase of protoplanetary discs, targeting 240 objects which cover a large range of ages, spectral types, and disc properties. To interpret this large quantity of data and initiate self-consistent analyses of the gas and dust properties of protoplanetary discs, we have combined the capabilities of the radiative transfer code MCFOST with the gas thermal balance and chemistry code ProDiMo to compute a grid of ≈ 300 000 disc models (DENT). We present a comparison of the first Herschel/GASPS line and continuum data with the predictions from the DENT grid of models. Our objective is to test some of the main trends already identified in the DENT grid, as well as to define better empirical diagnostics to estimate the total gas mass of protoplanetary discs. Photospheric UV radiation appears to be the dominant gas-heating mechanism for Herbig stars, whereas UV excess and/or X-rays emission dominates for T Tauri stars. The DENT grid reveals the complexity in the analysis of far-IR lines and the difficulty to invert these observations into physical quantities. The combination of Herschel line observations with continuum data and/or with rotational lines in the (sub-)millimetre regime, in particular CO lines, is required for a detailed characterisation of the physical and chemical properties of circumstellar discs. © ESO 2010.
- Szucs, L., Apai, D., Pascucci, I., & Dullemond, C. P. (2010). Stellar-mass-dependent disk structure in coeval planet-forming disks. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 720(2), 1668-1673.More infoAbstract: Previous studies suggest that the planet-forming disks around very low mass stars/brown dwarfs may be flatter than those around more massive stars, in contrast to model predictions of larger scale heights for gas-disks around lower-mass stars. We conducted a statistically robust study to determine whether there is evidence for stellar-massdependent disk structure in planet-forming disks. We find a statistically significant difference in the Spitzer/IRAC color distributions of disks around very low mass and low mass stars all belonging to the same star-forming region, the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. We show that self-consistently calculated flared disk models cannot fit the median spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the two groups. These SEDs can only be explained by flatter disk models, consistent with the effect of dust settling in disks. We find that, relative to the disk structure predicted for flared disks, the required reduction in disk scale height is anti-correlated with the stellar mass; i.e., disks around lower-mass stars are flatter. Our results show that the initial and boundary conditions of planet formation are stellar-mass-dependent, an important finding that must be considered in planet formation models. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
- Thi, W. -., Mathews, G., Ménard, F., Woitke, P., Meeus, G., Riviere-Marichalar, P., Pinte, C., Howard, C. D., Roberge, A., Sandell, G., Pascucci, I., Riaz, B., Grady, C. A., Dent, W. R., Kamp, I., Duchêne, G., Augereau, J. -., Pantin, E., Vandenbussche, B., , Tilling, I., et al. (2010). Herschel -PACS observation of the 10 Myr old T Tauri disk TW Hya: Constraining the disk gas mass. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 518(4).More infoAbstract: Planets are formed in disks around young stars. With an age of ∼10 Myr, TW Hya is one of the nearest T Tauri stars that is still surrounded by a relatively massive disk. In addition a large number of molecules has been found in the TW Hya disk, making TW Hya the perfect test case in a large survey of disks with Herschel-PACS to directly study their gaseous component. We aim to constrain the gas and dust mass of the circumstellar disk around TW Hya. We observed the fine-structure lines of [O i] and [C ii] as part of the open-time large program GASPS. We complement this with continuum data and ground-based 12 CO 3-2 and 13CO 3-2 observations. We simultaneously model the continuum and the line fluxes with the 3D Monte-Carlo code MCFOST and the thermo-chemical code ProDiMo to derive the gas and dust masses. We detect the [O i] line at 63 μm. The other lines that were observed, [O i] at 145 μm and [C ii] at 157 μm, are not detected. No extended emission has been found. Preliminary modeling of the photometric and line data assuming [ 12CO] /[13CO] = 69 suggests a dust mass for grains with radius
- Öberg, K. I., Chunhua, Q. i., K., J., Bergin, E. A., Andrews, S. M., Espaillat, C., A., T., Wilner, D. J., & Pascucci, I. (2010). The disk imaging survey of Chemistry with SMA. I. Taurus protoplanetary disk data. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 720(1), 480-493.More infoAbstract: Chemistry plays an important role in the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks, with implications for the composition of comets and planets. This is the first of a series of papers based on data from DISCS, a Submillimeter Array survey of the chemical composition of protoplanetary disks. The six Taurus sources in the program (DM Tau, AA Tau, LkCa 15, GM Aur, CQ Tau, and MWC 480) range in stellar spectral type from M1 to A4 and offer an opportunity to test the effects of stellar luminosity on the disk chemistry. The disks were observed in 10 different lines at ∼3″ resolution andanrms of ∼100 mJy beam -1 at ∼0.5 km s-1. The four brightest lines are CO 2-1, HCO+ 3-2, CN 233/4/2 - 1 2 2/3/1, and HCN 3-2, and these are detected toward all sources (except for HCN toward CQ Tau). The weaker lines of CN222-1 11,DCO+ 3-2, N2H+ 3-2, H 2CO303-202, and414-313 are detected toward two to three disks each, and DCN 3-2 only toward LkCa 15. CH3OH 421-312 and c-C3H2 are not detected. There is no obvious difference between the T Tauri and Herbig Ae sources with regard to CN and HCN intensities. In contrast, DCO+, DCN, N2H+, and H2CO are detected only toward the T Tauri stars, suggesting that the disks around Herbig Ae stars lack cold regions for long enough timescales to allow for efficient deuterium chemistry, CO freeze-out, and grain chemistry. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
- Carpenter, J. M., Jeroen, B., Mamajek, E. E., Meyer, M. R., Hillenbrand, L. A., Backman, D. E., Thomas, H., Hines, D. C., David, H., Jinyoung, S. K., Amaya, M., Ilaria, P., Silverstone, M. D., Stauffer, J. R., & Sebastian, W. (2009). Formation and evolution of planetary systems: properties of debris dust around solar-type stars. Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, 181(1), 197-226.More infoAbstract: We present Spitzer photometric (IRAC and MIPS) and spectroscopic (IRS low resolution) observations for 314 stars in the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems Legacy program. These data are used to investigate the properties and evolution of circumstellar dust around solar-type stars spanning ages from approximately 3 Myr3 Gyr. We identify 46 sources that exhibit excess infrared emission above the stellar photosphere at 24 μm, and 21 sources with excesses at 70 μm. Five sources with an infrared excess have characteristics of optically thick primordial disks, while the remaining sources have properties akin to debris systems. The fraction of systems exhibiting a 24 μm excess greater than 10.2% above the photosphere is 15% for ages < 300 Myr and declines to 2.7% for older ages. The upper envelope to the 70 μm fractional luminosity appears to decline over a similar age range. The characteristic temperature of the debris inferred from the IRS spectra range between 60 and 180 K, with evidence for the presence of cooler dust to account for the strength of the 70 μm excess emission. No strong correlation is found between dust temperature and stellar age. Comparison of the observational data with disk models containing a power-law distribution of silicate grains suggests that the typical inner-disk radius is ≳10 AU. Although the interpretation is not unique, the lack of excess emission shortward of 16 μm and the relatively flat distribution of the 24 μm excess for ages ≲300 Myr is consistent with steady-state collisional models. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Cortes, S. R., Meyer, M. R., Carpenter, J. M., Pascucci, I., Schneider, G., Wong, T., & Hines, D. C. (2009). Grain growth and global structure of the protoplanetary disk associated with the mature classical t tauri star, PDS66. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 697(2), 1305-1315.More infoAbstract: We present Australia Telescope Compact Array interferometric observations of the old (13Myr), nearby (86pc) classical T Tauri star (cTTS), PDS66. Unresolved 3 and 12mm continuum emission is detected toward PDS66, and upper limits are derived for the 3 and 6cm flux densities. The millimeter-wave data show a spectral slope flatter than that expected for interstellar medium-sized dust particles, which is evidence of grain growth. We also present HST/NICMOS 1.1 μm point-spread-function-subtracted coronagraphic imaging observations of the circumstellar environment of PDS66. The Hubble Space Telescope observations reveal a bilaterally symmetric circumstellar region of dust scattering 0.32% of the central starlight, declining in surface brightness as r -4.53. The light-scattering disk of material is inclined 32° 5° from a face-on viewing geometry, and extends to a radius of 170 AU. These data are combined with published optical and longer wavelength observations to make qualitative comparisons between the median Taurus and PDS66 spectral energy distributions. By comparing the near-infrared emission to a simple model, we determine that the location of the inner disk radius is consistent with the dust sublimation radius (1400 K at 0.1 AU). We place constraints on the total disk mass using a flat-disk model and find that it is probably too low to form gas giant planets according to current models. Despite the fact that PDS66 is much older than a typical cTTS (≤5Myr), its physical properties are not much different. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society.
- Ingleby, L., Calvet, N., Bergin, E., Yerasi, A., Espaillat, C., Herczeg, G., Roueff, E., Abgrall, H., Hernndez, J., Bricẽo, C., Pascucci, I., Miller, J., Fogel, J., Hartmann, L., Meyer, M., Carpenter, J., Crockett, N., & McClure, M. (2009). Far-ultraviolet H2 emission from circumstellar disks. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 703(2 PART 2), L137-L141.More infoAbstract: We analyze the far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra of 33 classical T Tauri stars (CTTS), including 20 new spectra obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys Solar Blind Channel (ACS/SBC) on the Hubble Space Telescope. Of the sources, 28 are in the ∼1 Myr old Taurus-Auriga complex or Orion Molecular Cloud, 4 in the 8-10 Myr old Orion OB1a complex, and 1, TW Hya, in the 10 Myr old TW Hydrae Association. We also obtained FUV ACS/SBC spectra of 10 non-accreting sources surrounded by debris disks with ages between 10 and 125 Myr. We use a feature in the FUV spectra due mostly to electron impact excitation of H2 to study the evolution of the gas in the inner disk. We find that the H2 feature is absent in non-accreting sources, but is detected in the spectra of CTTS and correlates with accretion luminosity. Since all young stars have active chromospheres which produce strong X-ray and UV emission capable of exciting H2 in the disk, the fact that the non-accreting sources show no H2 emission implies that the H2 gas in the inner disk has dissipated in the non-accreting sources, although dust (and possibly gas) remains at larger radii. Using the flux at 1600 , we estimate that the column density of H2 left in the inner regions of the debris disks in our sample is less than ∼3 × 10-6 g cm-2, 9 orders of magnitude below the surface density of the minimum mass solar nebula at 1 AU. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society.
- Linz, H., Henning, T., Feldt, M., Pascucci, I., Boekel, R. V., Men'Shchikov, A., Stecklum, B., Chesneau, O., Ratzka, T., Quanz, S. P., Leinert, C., Waters, L. B., & Zinnecker, H. (2009). Mid-infrared interferometry of massive young stellar objects. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 505(2), 655-661.More infoAbstract: Context. Our knowledge of the inner structure of embedded massive young stellar objects is still quite limited. Thus, it is difficult to decide to what extent the mass accumulation onto forming massive stars differs from the process of low-mass star formation. Aims.We attempt to overcome the spatial resolution limitations of conventional thermal infrared imaging. Methods.We employed mid-infrared interferometry using the MIDI instrument on the ESO/VLTI facility to investigate M8E-IR, a well-known massive young stellar object suspected of containing a circumstellar disk. Spectrally dispersed visibilities in the 8-13 μm range have been obtained at seven interferometric baselines. Results.We resolve the mid-infrared emission of M8E-IR and find typical sizes of the emission regions of the order of 30 milliarcseconds (=45 AU). Radiative transfer simulations were performed to interpret the data. The fitting of the spectral energy distribution, in combination with the measured visibilities, does not provide evidence for an extended circumstellar disk with sizes ≳ 100 AU but requires the presence of an extended envelope. The data are not able to constrain the presence of a small-scale disk in addition to an envelope. In either case, the interferometry measurements indicate the existence of a strongly bloated, relatively cool central object, possibly tracing the recent accretion history ofM8E-IR. In addition, we present 24.5 μm images that clearly distinguish between M8EIR and the neighbouring ultracompact Hii region and which show the cometary-shaped infrared morphology of the latter source. Conclusions. Our results show that IR interferometry, combined with radiative transfer modelling, can be a viable tool to reveal crucial structure information on embedded massive young stellar objects and to resolve ambiguities arising from fitting the SED. © 2009 ESO.
- Meeus, G., Juhász, A., Henning, T., Bouwman, J., Chen, C., Lawson, W., Apai, D., Pascucci, I., & Sicilia-Aguilar, A. (2009). MBM 12: Young protoplanetary discs at high galactic latitude. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 497(2), 379-392.More infoAbstract: We present Spitzer infrared observations to constrain disc and dust evolution in young T Tauri stars in MBM 12, a star-forming cloud at high latitude with an age of 2 Myr and a distance of 275 pc. The region contains 12 T Tauri systems, with primary spectral types between K3 and M6; 5 are weak-line and the rest classical T Tauri stars. We first use MIPS and literature photometry to compile spectral energy distributions for each of the 12 members in MBM 12, and derive their IR excesses. Of the 8 stars that are detected with MIPS (spectral types between K3 and M5), only 1 lacks an IR excess - the other 7 all have an IR excess that can be attributed to a disc. This means that in MBM 12, for the detected spectral types K3-M5, we have a very high disc fraction rate, about 90%. Furthermore, 3 of those 7 excess sources are candidate transitional discs. The four lowest-mass systems in the cloud, with spectral types of M5-M6, were undetected by Spitzer. Their upper limits indicate that they either have a transitional disc, or no disc at all. The IRS spectra are analysed with the newly developed two-layer temperature distribution (TLTD) spectral decomposition method. For the 7 T Tauri stars with a detected IR excess, we analyse their solid-state features to derive dust properties such as mass-averaged grain size, composition and crystallinity. The mass-averaged grain size we determine from the 10 micron feature has a wide range, between 0.4 and 6 μm. This grain size is much smaller in the longer-wavelength region: between 0.1 and 1.5 μm. We find that latertype objects have larger grain sizes, as was already shown by earlier studies. Furthermore, we find a wide range in mass fraction of the crystalline grains, between 3 and (at least) 30%, with no relation to the spectral type nor grain size.We do find a spatial gradient in the forsterite to enstatite range, with more enstatite present in the warmer regions. The fact that we see a radial dependence of the dust properties indicates that radial mixing is not very efficient in the discs of these young T Tauri stars. The sources that have the least amount of disc flaring have the largest grain sizes, pointing to dust settling. A comparison between the objects with companions closer than 400 AU ("binaries") and those with wider or no companions ("singles"), shows that disc evolution already starts to differentiate at an age of 2 Myr: the excess at 30 μm is a factor of 3 greater for the "single" group. The SED analysis shows that the discs in MBM 12, in general, undergo rapid inner disc clearing, while the binary sources have faster disc evolution. The dust grains seem to evolve independently of the stellar properties, but are mildly related to disc properties such as flaring and accretion rates. © ESO 2009.
- Moór, A., Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Ábrahám, P., Grady, C., Henning, T., Juhász, A., Kiss, C., & Kóspál, Á. (2009). The discovery of new warm debris disks around F-type stars. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 700(1 PART 2), L25-L29.More infoAbstract: We report the discovery of four rare debris disks with warm excesses around F stars, significantly increasing the number of such systems known in the solar neighborhood. Three of the disks are consistent with the predictions of steady-state planetesimal disk evolution models. The oldest source, HD 169666, displays a dust fractional luminosity too high to be in a steady state and we suggest that this system recently underwent a transient event of dust production. In addition, two spectra of this star separated by approximately three years show silicate emission features, indicative of submicron- to micron-sized grains. We argue that such small grains would be rapidly depleted and their presence in both spectra suggests that the production of small dust is continuous over a timescale of at least a few years. We predict that systems showing variable mid-infrared spectra, if they exist, will provide valuable help in distinguishing the possible scenarios proposed for dust replenishment. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society.
- Pascucci, I., & Sterzik, M. (2009). Evidence for disk photoevaporation driven by the central star. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 702(1), 724-732.More infoAbstract: The lifetime of isolated protoplanetary disks is thought to be set by the combination of viscous accretion and photoevaporation driven by stellar high-energy photons. Observational evidence for magnetospheric accretion in young Sun-like stars is robust. Here we report the first observational evidence for disk photoevaporation driven by the central star. We acquired high-resolution (R 30,000) spectra of the [NeII] 12.81 μm line from seven circumstellar disks using VISIR on Melipal/VLT. We show that the three transition disks in the sample all have [NeII] line profiles consistent with those predicted by a photoevaporative flow driven by stellar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) photons. The 6 km s-1 blueshift of the line from the almost face-on disk of TW Hya is clearly inconsistent with emission from a static disk atmosphere and convincingly points to the presence of a photoevaporative wind. We do not detect any [NeII] line close to the stellar velocity from the sample of classical optically thick (nontransition) disks. We conclude that most of the spectrally unresolved [NeII] emission in these less-evolved systems arises from jets/outflows rather than from the disk. The pattern of the [NeII] detections and nondetections suggests that EUV-driven photoevaporation starts only at a later stage in the disk evolution. © 2009 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Luhman, K., Henning, T., Bouwman, J., Meyer, M. R., Lahuis, F., & Natta, A. (2009). The different evolution of gas and dust in disks around Sun-like and cool stars. Astrophysical Journal, 696(1), 143-159.More infoAbstract: Planet formation is profoundly impacted by the properties of protoplanetary disks and their central star. However, how disk properties vary with stellar parameters remains poorly known. Here, we present the first comprehensive, comparative Spitzer/IRS study of the dust and gas properties of disks around young Sun-like stars (K1-M5) and cool stars/brown dwarfs (M5-M9). The comparison of these two large samples of over 60 sources reveal major differences in the evolution of both the dust and gas components. We report the first detection of organic molecules in disks around brown dwarfs. The detection rate statistics and the line flux ratios of HCN and C2H2 show a striking difference between the two samples, demonstrating a significant underabundance of HCN relative to C2H2 in the disk surface of cool stars. We propose this to originate from the large difference in the UV irradiation around the two types of sources. The statistical comparison of the 10 μm silicate emission features also reveals a difference between the two samples. Cool stars and brown dwarfs show weaker features arising from more processed silicate grains in the disk atmosphere. These findings complement previous indications of flatter disk structures and longer disk lifetimes around cool stars. Our results highlight important differences in the chemical and physical evolution of protoplanetary disks as a function of stellar mass, temperature, and radiation field which should be taken into account in planet formation models. We note that the different chemistry of preplanetary materials in the disk may also influence the bulk composition and volatile content of the forming planets. In particular, if exogenous HCN has played a key role in the synthesis of prebiotic molecules on Earth as proposed, then prebiotic chemistry may unfold differently on planets around cool stars. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
- Woitke, P., Dent, B., Thi, W., Sibthorpe, B., Rice, K., Williams, J., Sicilia-Aguilar, A., Brown, J., Kamp, I., Pascucci, I., Alexander, R., & Roberge, A. (2009). Gas evolution in protoplanetary disks. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1094, 225-233.More infoAbstract: This article summarizes a Splinter Session at the Cool Stars XV conference in St. Andrews with 3 review and 4 contributed talks. The speakers have discussed various approaches to understand the structure and evolution of the gas component in protoplanetary disks. These ranged from observational spectroscopy in the UV, infrared and millimeter, through to chemical and hydrodynamical models. The focus was on disks around low-mass stars, ranging from classical T Tauri stars to transitional disks and debris disks. Emphasis was put on water and organic molecules, the relation to planet formation, and the formation of holes and gaps in the inner regions. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.
- Apai, D., Janson, M., Moro-Martín, A., Meyer, M. R., Mamajek, E. E., Masciadri, E., Henning, T., Pascucci, I., Kim, J. S., Hillenbrand, L. A., Kasper, M., & Biller, B. (2008). A survey for massive giant planets in debris disks with evacuated inner cavities. Astrophysical Journal, 672(2), 1196-1201.More infoAbstract: The commonality of collisionally replenished debris around main-sequence stars suggests that minor bodies are frequent around Sun-like stars. Whether or not debris disks in general are accompanied by planets is yet unknown, but debris disks with large inner cavities-perhaps dynamically cleared-are considered to be prime candidates for hosting large-separation massive giant planets. We present here a high-contrast VLT/NACO angular differential imaging survey for eight such cold debris disks. We investigated the presence of massive giant planets in the range of orbital radii where the inner edge of the dust debris is expected. Our observations are sensitive to planets and brown dwarfs with masses >3-7 Jupiter mass, depending on the age and distance of the target star. Our observations did not identify any planet candidates. We compare the derived planet mass upper limits to the minimum planet mass required to dynamically clear the inner disks. While we cannot exclude that single giant planets are responsible for clearing out the inner debris disks, our observations constrain the parameter space available for such planets. The nondetection of massive planets in these evacuated debris disks further reinforces the notion that the giant planet population is confined to the inner disk (
- Bouwman, J., Henning, T., Hillenbrand, L. A., Meyer, M. R., Pascucci, I., Carpenter, J., Hines, D., Kim, J. S., Silverstone, M. D., Hollenbach, D., & Wolf, S. (2008). The formation and evolution of planetary systems: Grain growth and chemical processing of dust in T tauri systems. Astrophysical Journal, 683(1), 479-498.More infoAbstract: This paper is one in a series presenting results obtained within the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS) Legacy Science Program on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Here we present a study of dust processing and growth in seven protoplanetary disks. Our spectra indicate that the circumstellar silicate dust grains have grown to sizes at least 10 times larger than observed in the interstellar medium and show evidence for a non-negligible (∼5% in mass fractions) contribution from crystalline species. These results are similar to those of other studies of protoplanetary disks. In addition, we find a correlation between the strength of the amorphous silicate feature and the shape of the spectral energy distribution. This latter result is consistent with the growth and subsequent gravitational settling of dust grains toward the disk midplane. Furthermore, we find a change in the relative abundance of the different crystalline species: more enstatite than forsterite is observed in the inner warm dust population at ∼1 AU, while forsterite dominates in the colder outer regions at ∼5-15 AU. This change in the relative abundances argues for a localized crystallization process rather than a radial mixing scenario in which crystalline silicates are being transported outwards from a single formation region in the hot inner parts of the disk. Finally, we report the detection of emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules in five out of seven sources. We find a tentative PAH band at 8.2 μm that was previously undetected in the spectra of disks around low-mass pre-main-sequence stars. © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Feldt, M., Pascucci, I., Chesneau, O., Apai, D., Henning, T., Leinert, C., Linz, H., Men'shchikov, A., & Stecklum, B. (2008). Interferometry of M8E-IR with MIDI - Resolving the dust emission. ESO Astrophysics Symposia, 2008, 263-267.More infoAbstract: We report on interferometry of the high-mass young stellar object M8E-IR performed with MIDI at the ESO-VLTI. The observations were carried out using the UT1-UT3 and UT2-UT3 baselines. The visibilities in the 8...13 micron range derived from the spectrally dispersed fringes indicate the presence of circumstellar emission presumably originating from warm dust. We resolve the MIR emission of M8E-IR and derive an extension between 15 and 30mas which correspond to linear sizes of 30-50AU at the distance of the source. These are the scales at which circumstellar disks around massive stars are expected. We discuss the properties of the dust envelope based on the results of our preliminary model and in the context of supplementary NACO observations. © 2007 Springer.
- Hillenbrand, L. A., Carpenter, J. M., Kim, J. S., Meyer, M. R., Backman, D. E., Moro-Martín, A., Hollenbach, D. J., Hines, D. C., Pascucci, I., & Bouwman, J. (2008). The complete census of 70 μm-bright debris disks within "the formation and evolution of planetary systems" Spitzer legacy survey of sun-like stars. Astrophysical Journal, 677(1), 630-656.More infoAbstract: We report detection of cool dust surrounding solar-type stars from observations performed as part of the Spitzer Legacy Science Program FEPS. From a sample of 328 stars having ages ∼0.003-3 Gyr we have selected sources with 70 μm flux densities indicating excess in their SEDs above expected photospheric emission. Six strong excess sources are likely primordial circumstellar disks, remnants of the star formation process. Another 25 sources having ≥3 σ excesses are associated with dusty debris disks, generated by collisions within planetesimal belts that are possibly stirred by existing planets. Six additional sources with ≥2 σ excesses require confirmation as debris disks. In our analysis, most (>80%) 70 μm excess sources have ≥3 σ excesses at 33 μm as well, while only a minority (
- Linz, H., Stecklum, B., Follert, R., Henning, T., Boekel, R. V., Men'shchikov, A., Pascucci, I., & Feldt, M. (2008). Mid-infrared interferometry of massive young stellar objects. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 131.More infoAbstract: The very inner structure of massive YSOs is difficult to trace. With conventional observational methods we identify structures still several hundreds of AU in size. However, the (proto-)stellar growth takes place at the innermost regions (
- Meyer, M. R., Carpenter, J. M., Mamajek, E. E., Hillenbrand, L. A., Hollenbach, D., Moro-Martin, A., Kim, J. S., Silverstone, M. D., Najita, J., Hines, D. C., Pascucci, I., Stauffer, J. R., Bouwman, J., & Backman, D. E. (2008). Evolution of mid-infrared excess around sun-like stars: Constraints on models of terrestrial planet formation. Astrophysical Journal, 673(2 PART 2), L181-L184.More infoAbstract: We report observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope regarding the frequency of 24 μm excess emission toward Sun-like stars. Our unbiased sample is composed of 309 stars with masses 0.7-2.2 M⊙, and ages from 3 Gyr that lack excess emission at wavelengths ≤8 μm. We identify 30 stars that exhibit clear evidence of excess emission from the observed 24 mm/8 μm flux ratio. The implied 24 μm excesses of these candidate debris disk systems range from 13% (the minimum detectable) to more than 100% compared to the expected photospheric emission. The frequency of systems with evidence for dust debris emitting at 24 μm ranges from 8.5% - 19% at ages
- Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Hardegree-Ullman, E., Kim, J. S., Meyer, M. R., & Bouwman, J. (2008). Medium-separation binaries do not affect the first steps of planet formation. Astrophysical Journal, 673(1), 477-486.More infoAbstract: The first steps of planet formation are marked by the growth and crystallization of sub-micrometer-sized dust grains accompanied by dust settling toward the disk midplane. In this paper we explore whether the first steps of planet formation are affected by the presence of medium-separation stellar companions. We selected two large samples of disks around single and binary T Tauri stars in Taurus that are thought to have only a modest age spread of a few Myr. The companions of our binary sample are at projected separations between ∼ 10 and 450 AU, with masses down to about 0.1 M⊙. We used the strength and shape of the 10 μm silicate emission feature as a proxy for grain growth and for crystallization, respectively. The degree of dust settling was evaluated from the ratio of fluxes at two different mid-infrared wavelengths. We find no statistically significant difference between the distribution of 10 μm silicate emission features from single and binary systems. In addition, the distribution of disk flaring is indistinguishable between the single and binary system samples. These results show that the first steps of planet formation are not affected by the presence of a companion at tens of AU. © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Fontani, F., Pascucci, I., Caselli, P., Wyrowski, F., Cesaroni, R., & Walmsley, C. M. (2007). Comparative study of complex N- and O-bearing molecules in hot molecular cores. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 470(2), 639-652.More infoAbstract: Aims. We have observed several emission lines of two Nitrogen-bearing (C2H5CN and C2H3CN) and two Oxygen-bearing (CH3OCH3 and HCOOCH3) molecules towards a sample of well-known hot molecular cores (HMCs) in order to check whether the chemical differentiation seen in the Orion-HMC and W 3(H2O) between O- and N-bearing molecules is a general property of HMCs. Methods. With the IRAM-30m telescope we have observed 12 HMCs in 21 bands, centered at frequencies from 86250 to 258 280 MHz. Results. In six sources, we have detected a number of transitions sufficient to derive their main physical properties. The rotational temperatures obtained from C 2H5CN, C2H3CN and CH 3OCH3 range from ∼100 to ∼150 K in these HMCs. The total column densities of these molecules are of the order of ∼10 15-1017cm-2. Single Gaussian fits performed to unblended lines show a marginal difference in the line peak velocities of the C2H5CN and CH3OCH3 lines, indicating a possible spatial separation between the region traced by the two molecules. On the other hand, neither the linewidths nor the rotational temperatures and column densities confirm such a result. The average molecular abundances of C2H5CN, C2H3CN and CH 3OCH3 are in the range ∼10-9-10 -10, comparable to those seen in the Orion hot core. In other HMCs Bisschop et al. 2007 found comparable values for C2H5CN but values ∼2.5 times larger for CH3OCH3. By comparing the abundance ratio of the pair C2H5CN/C 2H3CN with the predictions of theoretical models, we derive that the age of our cores ranges between 3.7 and 5.9 × 10 4 yr. Conclusions. The abundances of C2H5CN and C2H3CN are strongly correlated, as expected from theory which predicts that C2H3CN is formed through gas phase reactions involving C2H5CN. A correlation is also found between the abundances of C2H5CN and CH 3OCH3, and C2H3CN and CH 3OCH3. In all tracers the fractional abundances increase with the H2 column density while they are not correlated with the gas temperature. On average, the chemical and physical differentiation between O- and N-bearing molecules seen in Orion and W3(H2O) is not revealed by our observations. We believe that this is partly due to the poor angular resolution of our data, which allows us to derive only average values over the sources of the discussed parameters. © ESO 2007.
- Herczeg, G. J., Najita, J. R., Hillenbrand, L. A., & Pascucci, I. (2007). High-resolution spectroscopy of [Ne Π] emission from TW hydrae. Astrophysical Journal, 670(1), 509-515.More infoAbstract: We present high-resolution echelle spectra of [Nen Π] 12.81 μm. emission from the classical T Tauri star (CTTS) TW Hya, obtained with MICHELLE on Gemini North. The line is centered at the stellar radial velocity and has an intrinsic FWHM of 21 ± 4 km s-1. The line width is broader than other narrow emission lines typically associated with the disk around TW Hya. If formed in a disk, the line broadening could result from turbulence in a warm disk atmosphere, Keplerian rotation at an average distance of 0.1 AU from the star, or a photoevaporative flow from the optically thin region of the disk. We place upper limits on the [Ne Π] emission flux from the CTTSs DP Tau and BP Tau. © 2007. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Pascucci, I., Hollenbach, D., Najita, J., Muzerolle, J., Gorti, U., Herczeg, G. J., Hillenbrand, L. A., Kim, J. S., Carpenter, J. M., Meyer, M. R., Mamajek, E. E., & Bouwman, J. (2007). Detection of [Ne II] emission from young circumstellar disks. Astrophysical Journal, 663(1 I), 383-393.More infoAbstract: We report the detection of [Ne II] emission at 12.81 μ in four out of the six optically thick dust disks observed as part of the FEPS Spitzer Legacy program. In addition, we detect a H I (7-6) emission line at 12.37 μm from the source RX J 1852.3-3700. Detections of [Ne II] lines are favored by low mid-infrared excess emission. Both stellar X-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photons can sufficiently ionize the disk surface to reproduce the observed line fluxes, suggesting that emission from Ne+ originates in the hot disk atmosphere. On the other hand, the H I (7-6) line is not associated with the gas in the disk surface, and magnetospheric accretion flows can account for at most ∼30% of the observed flux. We conclude that accretion shock regions and/or the stellar corona could contribute to most of the H I (7-6) emission. Finally, we discuss the observations necessary to identify whether stellar X-rays or EUV photons are the dominant ionization mechanism for Ne atoms. Because the observed [Ne II] emission probes very small amounts of gas in the disk surface ∼ 10-6 MJ ) we suggest using this gas line to determine the presence or absence of gas in more evolved circumstellar disks. © 2007. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Goto, M., Stecklum, B., Linz, H., Feldt, M., Henning, T. H., Pascucci, I., & Usuda, T. (2006). High-resolution infrared imaging of Herschel 36 SE: A showcase for the influence of massive stars in cluster environments. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 649(1 I), 299-305.More infoAbstract: We present high-resolution infrared imaging of the massive star-forming region around the O star Herschel 36. Special emphasis is given to a compact infrared source at 0″25 southeast of the star. The infrared source, hereafter Her 36 SE, is extended in the broadband images but features spatially unresolved Brγ line emission. The line-emission source coincides in position with the previous HST detections in Ha and the 2 cm radio continuum emission detected by VLA interferometry. We propose that the infrared source Her 36 SE harbors an early B-type star, deeply embedded in a dusty cloud. The fan shape of the cloud with Her 36 at its apex, however, manifests direct and ongoing destructive influence of the O7 V star on Her 36 SE. © 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Silverstone, M. D., Meyer, M. R., Mamajek, E. E., Hines, D. C., Hillenbrand, L. A., Najita, J., Pascucci, I., Bouwman, J., Kim, J. S., Carpenter, J. M., Stauffer, J. R., Backman, D. E., Moro-Martin, A., Henning, T., Wolf, S., Brooke, T. Y., & Padgett, D. L. (2006). Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS): Primordial warm dust evolution from 3 to 30 Myr around Sun-like stars. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 639(2 I), 1138-1146.More infoAbstract: We present data obtained with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope (Spitzer) for a sample of 74 young (t < 30 Myr old) Sun-like (0.7 < M*/M⊙ < 1.5) stars. These are a subset of the observations that comprise the Spitzer Legacy science program entitled the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS). Using IRAC, we study the fraction of young stars that exhibit 3.6-8.0 μm infrared emission in excess of that expected from the stellar photosphere, as a function of age from 3 to 30 Myr. The most straightforward interpretation of such excess emission is the presence of hot (300-1000 K) dust in the inner regions (
- Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Bouwman, J., Natta, A., Henning, T., & Dullemond, C. P. (2005). The onset of planet formation in brown dwarf disks. Science, 310(5749), 834-836.More infoPMID: 16239438;Abstract: The onset of planet formation in protoplanetary disks is marked by the growth and crystallization of sub-micrometer-sized dust grains accompanied by dust settling toward the disk mid-plane. Here, we present infrared spectra of disks around brown dwarfs and brown dwarf candidates. We show that all three processes occur in such cool disks in a way similar or identical to that in disks around low- and intermediate-mass stars. These results indicate that the onset of planet formation extends to disks around brown dwarfs, suggesting that planet formation is a robust process occurring in most young circumstellar disks.
- Chesneau, O., Min, M., Herbst, T., Waters, L. B., Hillier, D. J., Leinert, C., Koter, A. D., Pascucci, I., Jaffe, W., Köhler, R., Alvarez, C., Boekel, R. V., Brandner, W., Graser, U., Lagrange, A. M., Lenzen, R., Morel, S., & Schöller, M. (2005). The sub-arcsecond dusty environment of Eta Carinae. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 435(3), 1043-1061.More infoAbstract: The core of the nebula surrounding Eta Carinae has been observed with the VLT Adaptive Optics system NACO and with the interferometer VLTI/MIDI to constrain spatially and spectrally the warm dusty environment and the central object. In particular, narrow-band images at 3.74 μm and 4.05 μm reveal the butterfly shaped dusty environment close to the central star with unprecedented spatial resolution. A void whose radius corresponds to the expected sublimation radius has been discovered around the central source. Fringes have been obtained in the Mid-IR which reveal a correlated flux of about 100 Jy situated 073 south-east of the photocenter of the nebula at 8.7 pm, which corresponds with the location of the star as seen in other wavelengths. This correlated flux is partly attributed to the central object, and these observations provide an upper limit for the SED of the central source from 2.2 μm to 13.5 μm. Moreover, we have been able to spectrally disperse the signal from the nebula itself at PA = 318 degree, i.e. in the direction of the bipolar nebula (∼310°) within the MIDI field of view of 3″. A large amount of corundum (Al2O3) is discovered, peaking at 0″.6-1″.2 south-east from the star, whereas the dust content of the Weigelt blobs is dominated by silicates. We discuss the mechanisms of dust formation which are closely related to the geometry of this Butterfly nebulae. © ESO 2005.
- Hollenbach, D., Gorti, U., Meyer, M., Kim, J. S., Morris, P., Najita, J., Pascucci, I., Carpenter, J., Rodmann, J., Brooke, T., Hillenbrand, L., Mamajek, E., Padgett, D., Soderblom, D., Wolf, S., & Lunine, J. (2005). Formation and evolution of planetary systems: Upper limits to the gas mass in HD 105. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 631(2 I), 1180-1190.More infoAbstract: We report infrared spectroscopic observations of HD 105, a nearby (∼40 pc) and relatively young (∼30 Myr) GO star with excess infrared continuum emission, which has been modeled as arising from an optically thin circumstellar dust disk with an inner hole of size ≳13 AU. We have used the high spectral resolution mode of the Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope to search for gas emission lines from the disk. The observations reported here provide upper limits to the fluxes of H2 S(0) 28 μm, H2 S(1) 17 μm, H2 S(2) 12 μm, [Fe II] 26 μm, [Si II] 35 μm, and [S I] 25 μm infrared emission lines. The H2 line upper limits place direct constraints on the mass of warm molecular gas in the disk: M(H2) < 4.6, 3.8 × 10-2, and 3.0 × 10-3 MJ at T = 50, 100, and 200 K, respectively. We also compare the line flux upper limits to predictions from detailed thermal/chemical models of various gas distributions in the disk. These comparisons indicate that if the gas distribution has an inner hole with radius ri,gas, the surface density at that inner radius is limited to values ranging from ≲3 g cm-2 at ri,gas = 0.5 AU to 0.1 g cm-2 at ri,gas = 5-20 AU. These values are considerably below the value for a minimum mass solar nebula, and suggest that less than 1 Jupiter mass (MJ) of gas (at any temperature) exists in the 1-40 AU planet-forming region. Therefore, it is unlikely that there is sufficient gas for gas giant planet formation to occur in HD 105 at this time. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Brandner, W., Henning, T., Lenzen, R., Potter, D. E., Lagrange, A. -., & Rousset, G. (2004). NACO polarimetric differential imaging of TW Hya. A sharp look at the closest T Tauri disk. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 415(2), 671-676.More infoAbstract: We present high-contrast imaging data on the disk of the classical T Tauri star TW Hya. The images were obtained through the polarimetric differential imaging technique with the adaptive optics system NACO. Our commissioning data show the presence of polarized disk emission between 0.1″ and 1.4″ form the star. We derive the first Ks-band radial polarized intensity distribution. We show that the polarized intensity compares well to shorter wavelengths surface brightness observations and confirm the previously reported gradual slope change around 0.8″. These results show the potential of the new polarimetric differential imaging technique at 8 m-class telescopes to map the inner regions of protoplanetary disks.
- Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Sterzik, M. F., Van, N., Bouwman, J., Dullemond, C. P., & Henning, T. (2004). Grain growth and dust settling in a brown dwarf disk. Gemini/T-ReCS* observations of CFHT-BD-Tau 4. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 426(3), L53-L57.More infoAbstract: We present accurate mid-infrared observations of the disk around the young, bona fide brown dwarf CFHT-BD-Tau 4. We report GEMINI/T-ReCS measurements in the 7.9, 10.4 and 12.3 μm filters, from which we infer the presence of a prominent, broad silicate emission feature. The shape of the silicate feature is dominated by emission from 2 μm amorphous olivine grains. Such grains, being an order of magnitude larger than those in the interstellar medium, are a first proof of dust processing and grain growth in disks around brown dwarfs. The object's spectral energy distribution is below the prediction of the classical flared disk model but higher than that of the two-layer flat disk. A good match can be achieved by using an intermediate disk model with strongly reduced but non-zero flaring. Grain growth and dust settling processes provide a natural explanation for this disk geometry and we argue that such intermediate flaring might explain the observations of several other brown dwarf disks as well.
- Kun, M., Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Nikolić, S., & Eredics, M. (2004). Initial conditions of low, intermediate and high mass star formation. Baltic Astronomy, 13(3), 434-438.More infoAbstract: We examined the structures and star-forming properties of three nearby molecular clouds, usually not included in star formation studies: the small filamentary complex L1333, the cometary-shaped cloud L1251, and L1340, a round fragmented cloud forming moderate size clusters of low- and intermediate-mass stars. We compare some properties of these clouds with other nearby regions of low- and high-mass star formation.
- Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Henning, T., Stecklum, B., & Brandl, B. (2004). The hot core-ultracompact H II connection in G10.47+0.03. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 426(2), 523-534.More infoAbstract: We present infrared imaging and spectroscopic data of the complex massive star-forming region G10.47+0.03. The detection of seven mid-infrared (MIR) sources in our field combined with a sensitive Ks/ISAAC image allows to establish a very accurate astrometry, at the level of 073. Two MIR sources are found to be coincident with two ultracompact H II regions (UCH IIs) within our astrometric accuracy. Another MIR source lies very close to three other UCH II regions and to the hot molecular core (HMC) in G10.47+0.03. Spectroscopy of two of the most interesting MIR sources allows to identify the location and spectral type of the ionizing sources. We discuss in detail the relationship between the HMC, the UCH II regions and the nearby MIR source. The nature of the other MIR sources is also investigated.
- Pascucci, I., Wolf, S., Steinacker, J., Dullemond, C. P., Henning, T., Niccolini, G., Woitke, P., & Lopez, B. (2004). The 2D continuum radiative transfer problem: Benchmark results for disk configurations. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 417(3), 793-805.More infoAbstract: We present benchmark problems and solutions for the continuum radiative transfer (RT) in a 2D disk configuration. The reliability of three Monte-Carlo and two grid-based codes is tested by comparing their results for a set of well-defined cases which differ for optical depth and viewing angle. For all the configurations, the overall shape of the resulting temperature and spectral energy distribution is well reproduced. The solutions we provide can be used for the verification of other RT codes. We also point out the advantages and disadvantages of the various numerical techniques applied to solve the RT problem.
- Sterzik, M. F., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Van, N., & Dullemond, C. P. (2004). Evolution of young brown dwarf disks in the mid-infrared. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 427(1), 245-250.More infoAbstract: 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 (≈2 Myr) Cha Hal we measure fluxes at 10.4 μm and 12.3 μm that are fully consistent with a standard flared disk model and prominent silicate emission. For the μ10 Myr old brown dwarf 2MASS1207-3932 located in the TW Hydrae association we find excess emission at 8.7 μm and 10.4 μm with respect to the photosphere, and confirm disk accretion as a 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 dwarf disks may appear on a timescale of 10 Myr and can be witnessed by observations in the mid-infrared.
- Wang, H., Apai, D., Henning, T., & Pascucci, I. (2004). FU orionis: A binary star?. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 601(1 II), L83-L86.More infoAbstract: By using the Adaptive Optics with a Laser for Astronomy system at the 3.6 m telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory, we detected a faint red star in the apparent vicinity of FU Ori, the prototype of the FUor outburst stars. Independent confirmation of the detection is obtained from archival Probing the Universe with Enhanced Optics/Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope images. The separation between the companion candidate and FU Ori is 0′.50, and their brightness contrast is around 4 mag. We discuss the possible nature of the newly detected star based on near-infrared photometry and its proper motion relative to FU Ori. The photometric data are consistent with a nearby late-type main-sequence star, a background giant star, and a pre-main-sequence star. On the basis of the proper motion and the stellar surface density in the direction toward FU Ori, we argue that the probabilities of the first two options are very low.
- Apai, D., Brandner, W., Pascucci, I., Henning, T., Lenzen, R., & Lagrange, A. -. (2003). The sharpest look at the closest T Tauri disk: NACO polarimetric differential imaging of the TW Hya. European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP, 329-332.More infoAbstract: We present images of the disk around the T Tauri star TW Hya, which have the highest spatial resolution reached so far. The images were obtained through the polarimetric differential imaging technique with the adaptive optics system NACO. Our commissioning data show the presence of polarized disk emission between 0.1″ and 1.4″ from the star. We derive the first Ks-band surface brightness distribution and confirm the previously reported slope change at 0.8″. These results show the potential of the new polarimetric differential imaging technique at 10 m class telescopes to map the inner regions of protoplanetary disks.
- Klein, R., Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Henning, T., & Waters, L. B. (2003). First detection of millimeter dust emission from brown dwarf disks. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 593(1 II), L57-L60.More infoAbstract: We report results from the first deep millimeter continuum survey targeting brown dwarfs (BDs). The survey led to the first detection of cold dust in the disks around two young BDs (CFHT-BD-Tau 4 and IC 348 613), with deep JCMT and IRAM observations reaching flux levels of a few microjanskys. The dust masses are estimated to be a few Earth masses, assuming the same dust opacities as are usually applied to T Tauri stars.
- Pascucci, I., Apai, D., Henning, T., & Dullemond, C. P. (2003). The first detailed look at a brown dwarf disk. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 590(2 II), L111-L114.More infoAbstract: The combination of mid-infrared and recent submillimeter/millimeter measurements allows us to set up the first comprehensive spectral energy distribution (SED) of the circumstellar material around a young brown dwarf. Simple arguments suggest that the dust is distributed in the form of a disk. We compare basic models to explore the disk parameters. The modeling shows that a flat disk geometry fits well with the observations. A flared disk explains the SED only if it has a puffed-up inner rim and an inner gap much larger than the dust sublimation radius. Similarities and differences with disks around T Tauri stars are discussed.
- Pascucci, I., Henning, T., Steinacker, J., & Wolf, S. (2003). 2D/3D dust continuum radiative transfer codes to analyze and predict VLTI observations. Astrophysics and Space Science, 286(1-2), 113-118.More infoAbstract: Radiative Transfer (RT) codes with image capability are a fundamental tool for preparing interferometric observations and for interpreting visibility data. In view of the upcoming VLTI facilities, we present the first comparison of images/visibilities coming from two 3D codes that use completely different techniques to solve the problem of self-consistent continuum RT. In addition, we focus on the astrophysical case of a disk distorted by tidal interaction with by-passing stars or internal planets and investigate for which parameters the distortion can be best detected in the mid-infrared using the mid-infrared interferometric device MIDI.
- Pascucci, I., Henning, T., Steinacker, J., & Wolf, S. (2003). Analyze and predict VLTI observations: The role of 2D/3D dust continuum radiative transfer codes. European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP, 533-536.More infoAbstract: Radiative Transfer (RT) codes with image capability are a fundamental tool for preparing interferometric observations and for interpreting visibility data. In view of the upcoming VLTI facilities, we present the first comparison of images/visibilities coming from two 3D codes that use completely different techniques to solve the problem of self-consistent continuum RT. In addition, we focus on the astrophysical case of a disk distorted by tidal interaction with by-passing stars or internal planets and investigate for which parameters the distortion can be best detected in the mid-infrared using the mid-infrared interferometric device MIDI.
- Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Henning, T., Sterzik, M. F., Klein, R., Semenov, D., Günther, E., & Stecklum, B. (2002). Probing dust around brown dwarfs: The naked LP 944-20 and the disk of Chamaeleon Hα 2. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 573(2 II), L115-L117.More infoAbstract: We present the first mid-infrared (MIR) detection of a field brown dwarf (BD) and the first ground-based MIR measurements of a disk around a young BD candidate. We prove the absence of warm dust surrounding the field BD LP 944-20. In the case of the young BD candidate Cha Hα 2, we find clear evidence for thermal dust emission from a disk. Surprisingly, the object does not exhibit any silicate feature as previously predicted. We show that the flat spectrum can be explained by an optically thick flat dust disk.
- Stecklum, B., Brandl, B., Henning, T., Pascucci, I., Hayward, T. L., & Wilson, J. C. (2002). High resolution mid-infrared imaging of W3(OH). Astronomy and Astrophysics, 392(3), 1025-1029.More infoAbstract: We present results of our diffraction-limited mid-infrared imaging of the massive star-forming region W3(OH) with SpectroCam-10 on the 5-m Hale telescope at wavelengths of 8.8, 11.7, and 17.9 μm. The thermal emission from heated dust grains associated with the ultracompact HII region W3(OH) is resolved and has a spatial extent of ∼2″ in the N band. We did not detect the hot core source W3(H2O) which implies the presence of at least 12 mag of extinction at 11.7 μm towards this source. These results together with other data were used to constrain the properties of W3(OH) and W3(H2O) and their envelopes by modelling the thermal dust emission.
Proceedings Publications
- Bergsten, G., Pascucci, I., Hardegree-Ullman, K., Christiansen, J., Fernandes, R., & Mulders, G. (2023, oct). The Occurrence of Earth-sized Planets around M Dwarf Stars. In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, 55.
- Bergsten, G., Pascucci, I., Mulders, G., Fernandes, R., & Koskinen, T. (2023, jan). Demographics of Kepler's Small Planets into the Habitable Zone. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 55.
- Deng, D., Ruaud, M., Gorti, U., & Pascucci, I. (2023, oct). DiskMINT: A Tool to Estimate Disk Masses with CO Isotopologues. In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, 55.
- Fernandes, R., Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Bergsten, G., Koskinen, T., & Hardegree-Ullman, K. (2023, jan). Preliminary Estimates of the Occurrence of close in (sub-)Neptunes in Young Clusters. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 55.
- Pascucci, I. (2023, jan). Planetary Systems in Formation: Current Understanding and Future Prospects. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 55.
- Pascucci, I., Cabrit, S., Edwards, S., Gorti, U., Gressel, O., & Suzuki, T. (2023, jul). The Role of Disk Winds in the Evolution and Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks. In Protostars and Planets VII, 534.
- Skinner, B., Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., Ruaud, M., Schwarz, K., Chapillon, E., & Deng, D. (2023, jan). ACA Survey of Atomic Carbon in Large Lupus Disks. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 55.
- Bergsten, G., Pascucci, I., Mulders, G., Fernandes, R., & Koskinen, T. (2022, jun). The Population of Earths and super-Earths into the Habitable Zone. In Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 54.
- Bergsten, G., Pascucci, I., Mulders, G., Fernandes, R., & Koskinen, T. (2022, nov). The Demographics of Kepler's Earths and Super-Earths into the Habitable Zone. In Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2, 2687.
- Fernandes, R., Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Bergsten, G., & Koskinen, T. (2022, jun). Understanding the Demographics of Young Transiting Planets in TESS Photometry using Pterodactyls. In Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 54.
- Kim, J. S., Hartman, P., Haworth, J., Fang, M., Facchini, S., Pascucci, I., & Heo, J. (2022, dec). External UV Environments and Photoevaporating Protoplanetary Disks: Most Common UV Environment of Stellar Nurseries in the Solar Neighborhood - NGC 1977. In Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun.
- Pascucci, I. (2022, jun). Testing Planet Formation Mechanisms via Protoplanetary Disk Observations and Exoplanet Demographics. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 54.
- Banzatti, A., Pascucci, I., Bosman, A., Pinilla, P., Salyk, C., Herczeg, G., Pontoppidan, K., Vazquez, I., Watkins, A., Krijt, S., Hendler, N., & Long, F. (2021, jan). A Spitzer+ALMA synergy: a correlation between water emission inside the snow line and the large-scale distribution of disk pebbles. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 53.
- Bergsten, G., Pascucci, I., Mulders, G., Fernandes, R., & Koskinen, T. (2021, jul). Demographics of Small Kepler Planets and their Dependence on Stellar Mass. In Posters from the TESS Science Conference II (TSC2).
- Fernandes, R. B., Mulders, G. D., & Pascucci, I. (2021, jul). Using TESS to Unearth the Frequency of Habitable Zone Earth-size Planets. In Posters from the TESS Science Conference II (TSC2).
- James, M., Pascucci, I., Banzatti, A., Krijt, S., & Liu, Y. (2021, jun). Towards constraining the pebble inward flux in planet-forming disks. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 53.
- Kim, J. S., Fang, M., Clarke, C., Facchini, S., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., & Haworth, T. (2021, mar). External Photoevaporation of Disks around Low Mass Young Stellar and Sub-Stellar Objects. In The 20.5th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun (CS20.5).
- Mulders, G., Pascucci, I., Ciesla, F., & Fernandes, R. (2021, jan). The Mass Budgets and Spatial Scales of Exoplanets and Protoplanetary Disks. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 53.
- Pascucci, I. (2021, jan). The Evolution of Disk Winds from a Combined Study of Optical and Infrared Forbidden Lines. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 53.
- Pascucci, I. (2021, mar). Observational constraints for pebble-driven planet formation. In Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 53.
- Pegues, J., {\"Oberg}, K., Andrews, S., Bergner, J., Czekala, I., Huang, J., Teague, R., Bergin, E., Cleeves, L. I., Guzm{\'an}, V., Herczeg, G., Long, F., Pascucci, I., Qi, C., & Wilner, D. (2021, mar). Characterizing Young, Cool M-Stars and their Planet-Forming Disks. In The 20.5th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun (CS20.5).
- Roberge, A., Fischer, D., Peterson, B., Bean, J., Calzetti, D., Dawson, R., Dressing, C., Feinberg, L., France, K., Guyon, O., Harris, W., Marley, M., Meadows, V., Moustakas, L., O'Meara, J., Pascucci, I., Postman, M., Pueyo, L., Redding, D., , Rigby, J., et al. (2021, may). The Large UV / Optical / Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) Telling the Story of Life in the Universe. In Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 53.
- Mulders, G., Ciesla, F., O'Brien, D., Apai, D., & Pascucci, I. (2020, jan). The role of planetesimals and gas in the orbital assembly of close-in exoplanets. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#235, 235.
- Mulders, G., O'Brien, D., Ciesla, F., Apai, D., & Pascucci, I. (2020, oct). The role of planetesimals and gas in the orbital assembly of close-in exoplanets. In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, 52.
- Babaian, D. D., Ricci, L., Pascucci, I., & Isella, A. (2019, Jun). Linking the properties of protoplanetary disks and their host stars in the Taurus region. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#234, 234.
- Mulders, G. D., Mordasini, C., Pascucci, I., Ciesla, F., Emsenhuber, A., & Apai, D. (2019, Aug). Exoplanet Population Synthesis in the Era of Large Exoplanets Surveys. In AAS/Division for Extreme Solar Systems Abstracts, 51.
- Pascucci, I., Banzatti, A., Fang, M., Edwards, S., & Gorti, U. (2019, Jan). Mass loss rates and MHD-driven disk winds traced by optical forbidden lines. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#233, 233.More infocontributed talk
- Pascucci, I., Mulders, G., Fernandes, R., & Gould, A. (2019, Jan). Exoplanet Populations beyond Kepler. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#233, 233.More infoinvited talk
- Pawellek, N., Mo{\'or}, A., Pascucci, I., & Krivov, A. (2019, Aug). Dust Spreading in Debris Discs: Do Small Grains Cling on to Their Birth Environment?. In AAS/Division for Extreme Solar Systems Abstracts, 51.
- Banzatti, A., Pascucci, I., & Edwards, S. (2018, jan). The evolution of inner disk winds from a large survey of high-resolution [OI] spectra. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#231, 231.
- Pascucci, I. (2018, jul). The Evolution and Dispersal of Planet-forming Disks. In 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, 42.
- Pascucci, I., Andrews, S., Chandler, C., & Isella, A. (2018, dec). Disk Winds and the Evolution of Planet-Forming Disks. In Science with a Next Generation Very Large Array, 517.
- Punzi, K., Kastner, J., Principe, D., Stelzer, B., Gorti, U., Pascucci, I., & Argiroffi, C. (2018, jan). M Stars in the TW Hydra Association: A Chandra Large Program Survey. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#231, 231.
- Banzatti, A., Pontoppidan, K., Salyk, C., Dishoeck, E., Herczeg, G., Blake, G., Garufi, A., Kama, M., Pascucci, I., & Edwards, S. (2017, aug). Revealing the physical and thermo-chemical evolution of planet-forming disk regions. In Accretion: Building New Worlds Conference, held 15-18 August 2017, at Houston, Texas. id. 2016.
- France, K., Fleming, B., West, G., McCandliss, S., Bolcar, M., Harris, W., Moustakas, L., O'Meara, J., Pascucci, I., Rigby, J., Schiminovich, D., & Tumlinson, J. (2017, aug). The LUVOIR Ultraviolet Multi-Object Spectrograph (LUMOS): instrument definition and design. In Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series, 10397.
- Pascucci, I., & SLICK, E. (2017, jan). A Steeper than Linear Disk Mass-Stellar Mass Scaling Relation. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#229, 229.
- Simon, M., Pascucci, I., Edwards, S., Feng, W., Rigliaco, E., Gorti, U., Hollenbach, D., & Tuttle Keane, J. (2017, jan). Evidence for Magnetically Driven Protoplanetary Disk Winds. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts \#229, 229.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2016, jan). The Dependence of the Kepler Planet Population on Host Star Properties. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 227.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2016, oct). The Dependence of the Kepler Planet Population on Host Star Properties. In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, 48.
- {Simon}, M., {Pascucci}, I., {Edwards}, S., {Feng}, W., {Rigliaco}, E., {Gorti}, U., {Hollenbach}, D., , J. (2016, jun). Tracing Slow Winds from T Tauri Stars via Low Velocity Forbidden Line Emission. In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 228.
- {Feng}, W., {Edwards}, S., {Pascucci}, I., , E. (2015, jan). "{Revisiting Forbidden Lines in T Tauri stars}". In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 225.
- Rigliaco, E., Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., Edwards, S., & Holenbach, D. (2014, Fall). Chasing disk dispersal indicators: the origin of the [OI] low-velocity components from young stars Exploring the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems. In International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, 299, 266-227.
- Skemer, A., Apai, D., Bailey, V., Biller, B., Bonnefoy, M., Brandner, W., Buenzli, E., Close, L., Crepp, J., Defrere, D., Desidera, S., Eisner, J., Esposito, S., Fortney, J., Henning, T., Hinz, P., Hofmann, K., Leisenring, J., Males, J., , Millan-Gabet, R., et al. (2014, NOT PROVIDED). LEECH: A 100 Night Exoplanet Imaging Survey at the LBT Exploring the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems. In International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, 299, 70-71.
- {Mulders}, G., {Ciesla}, F., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2014, mar). The Water Content of Exo-earths in the Habitable Zone. In Search for Life Beyond the Solar System. Exoplanets, Biosignatures {\amp} Instruments.
- {Mulders}, G., {Pascucci}, I., , D. (2014, nov). Small, numerous and close-in: How occurrence rates of planets around lower-mass stars can constrain planet formation mechanisms.. In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, 46.
- {Pascucci}, I. (2014, nov). The Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks - Impact on Planetary Architectures. In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, 46.
- {Pascucci}, I., {Herczeg}, G., {Carr}, J., , S. (2014, mar). An enhanced carbon chemistry in disks around very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs?. In Search for Life Beyond the Solar System. Exoplanets, Biosignatures {\amp} Instruments.
- {Simon}, M., {Pascucci}, I., {Rigliaco}, E., {Gorti}, U., , D. (2014, mar). Measuring the Relative Contributions of Viscous Accretion and Photoevaporation to the Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks. In Search for Life Beyond the Solar System. Exoplanets, Biosignatures {\amp} Instruments.
- {Skemer}, A., {Apai}, D., {Bailey}, V., {Biller}, B., {Bonnefoy}, M., {Brandner}, W., {Buenzli}, E., {Close}, L., {Crepp}, J., {Defrere}, D., {Desidera}, S., {Eisner}, J., {Esposito}, S., {Fortney}, J., {Henning}, T., {Hinz}, P., {Hofmann}, K., {Leisenring}, J., {Males}, J., , {Millan-Gabet}, R., et al. (2014, jan). LEECH: A 100 Night Exoplanet Imaging Survey at the LBT. In Exploring the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems, 299.
- Pascucci, I., Abraham, P., & et, a. l. (2012, Fall). Spatially resolved far-infrared imaging of bright debris disks: studying the disk structure and the stirring mechanism. In From Atoms to Pebbles: Herschel’s view of Star and Planet Formation.
- Pascucci, I., Henning, T., & et, a. l. (2012, Fall). A Herschel Search for Cold Dust in Brown Dwarf Disks. In From Atoms to Pebbles: Herschel’s view of Star and Planet Formation.
Presentations
- Pascucci, I. (2019, March). The Demographics of Planet-forming Disks. workshop "Planet-forming disks: A workshop to honor Antonella Natta".
- Pascucci, I. (2019, September). Mass loss rates and MHD-driven disk winds: An Observational Perspective. workshop on "Planet formation", Ringberg, Germany.
- Pascucci, I. (2018, August). The Evolution and Dispersal of Planet-forming Disks. COSPAR 2018.More infoinvited review talk
- Pascucci, I. (2018, November). Exoplanet Populations beyond Kepler. NASA/Goddard seminar.More infoinvited
- Kim, J. S., Pascucci, I., Apai, D., & Eisner, J. A. (2017, November). EARTHS IN OTHER SOLAR SYSTEMS: FUNDAMENTAL PROTOPLANETARY DISK PROPERTIES AND THEIR EVOLUTION. Habitable Worlds 2017: A System Science Workshop (NASA NExSS workshop). Laramie, WY: NASA - the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS).More infoThe Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), a NASA research coordination network dedicated to the study of planetary habitability held a five-day workshop on Habitable Worlds 2017: A System Science Workshop, November 13–17, 2017 at the University of Wyoming Conference Center (UWCC) and Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center (MHRGC) in Laramie, Wyoming. I was one of the local organization committee and also served to select scientific programs.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, April). EARTHS IN OTHER SOLAR SYSTEMS: FUNDAMENTAL DISK PROPERTIES AND THEIR EVOLUTION. Contributed talk at the AbSciCon 2017 conference, Phoenix, 25 April 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, December). Scaling Laws in Disks and Exoplanets. Disk workshop in Milan, Italy, 21 Dec 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, December). The Origins of Habitable Planetary Systems: Constraints from Disks and Exoplanets. Colloquium at the University of Leicester, UK, 6 Dec 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, July). Disk Dispersal: Impact on Planet Formation and Planetary Atmospheres. Invitation to the Kavli ExoFrontiers 2017 Symposium in Cambridge UK, July 10-12, 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, June). Disk evolution and angular momentum transport. MIAPP Programme "Protoplanetary Disks and Planet Formation and Evolution".More infoInvitation to the MIAPP Programme "Protoplanetary Disks and Planet Formation and Evolution", Garching by Munich,June 12-23, 2017
- Pascucci, I. (2017, June). The Origins of Habitable Planetary Systems: Constraints from Disks and Exoplanets. Munich Physics Colloquium, June 26, 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, March). Angular Momentum Transport in Protoplanetary Disks: Constraints from disk observations. Invited talk at the Kavli Institute in Santa Barbara, California, 28 March 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, March). The Origins of Planetary systems: Constraints from Disks and Exoplanets. Colloquium at the ETH, Zurich, 6 March 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, November). Angular Momentum Transport in Protoplanetary Disks: Re-distribute or extract, that is the question. DIAS, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 29Nov2017, seminar.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, November). The Origins of Habitable Planetary Systems: Constraints from Disks and Exoplanets. MPIA, Heidelberg colloquium, 3 November 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, October). Imprints of Formation on Exoplanets: The role of Stellar Mass and Metallicity. Invited review at the conference "Know Thy Star, Know Thy Planet, October 9-12, 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, October). The Origins of Habitable Planetary Systems: Constraints from Disks and Exoplanets. Colloquium at the University of Michigan, 26 October 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, September). Angular Momentum Transport in Protoplanetary Disks: Re-distribute or extract, that is the question. Star and Planet formation seminar MPIA, 13 September 2017.
- Pascucci, I. (2017, September). The Evolution and Dispersal of Planet-forming Disks. Invited review at the Planet Formation and Evolution 2017 meeting, Jena, Germany, 25 Sep.
- Pascucci, I. (2014, October). Disk Dispersal by Star-driven Photoevaporation - Progress and Perspective. EXCHANGING MASS, MOMENTUM, AND IDEAS: CONNECTING ACCRETION AND OUTFLOWS IN YOUNG STELLAR OBJECTS. ESA/ESTEC.
- Pascucci, I. (2015, August). SLICK: Scaling Laws in Circumstellar Disks. LPLC (LPL conference).More inforegular presentation + panelist for a discussion on the similarities and differences between solar system and other planetary systems
- Pascucci, I. (2015, July). Disk Dispersal and the Architecture of Planetary systems. Regular seminars. ITA and MPIA Heidelberg.More infotwo seminars one at the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA) and the other at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg
- Pascucci, I. (2015, June). Disk Dispersal and Planet Formation. Gordon Conference on the Origin of the Solar System.
- Pascucci, I. (2015, March). Establishing the Disk Mass-Stellar Mass Scaling Relation. NRAO Community Day. Biosphere2 Arizona.
- Pascucci, I. (2015, October). Planet Formation with JWST. JWST Conference. ESTEC, The Netherlands.
- Pascucci, I. (2015, October). Scaling Laws in Disks and Exoplanets - Testing Planeta Formation Theories. ESO/MPA/MPE/USM Joint Astronomy Colloquium. ESO Munich.
- Pascucci, I. (2015, October). Scaling Laws in Disks and Exoplanets. Colloquium. ETH Zurich.
- Pascucci, I. (2015, September). "Team2 Goals and Progress" and "The disk mass-stellar mass scaling relation". EOS All Hands meeting.More infoDelivered two presentations at the Earths in Other Solar Systems meeting
- Pascucci, I. (2014, August). The EUV Luminosity of Young Stars: Implications for the Dispersal of Protoplanetary Material. LPLC, Tucson, Arizona.More infocontributed talk at the LPLC
- Pascucci, I. (2014, June). The EUV Luminosity from Young Cool Stars. Cool Stars 18 international conference, Flagstaff, Arizona.More infocontributed talk at the Cool Stars 18 international conference
- Pascucci, I. (2014, March). An enhanced carbon chemistry in disks around very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs?. Conference entitled “Search for Life Beyond the Solar System”, Tucson, Arizona.More infocontributed talk at the conference “Search for Life Beyond the Solar System”
- Pascucci, I. (2014, November). The Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks: Impact on Planetary Architectures. 46th Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting. Tucson, AZ.More infocontributed talk at the 46th Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting
- Pascucci, I. (2013, January). Free-free Emission from Photoevaporating Disks. 21st American Astronomical Society Meeting, Long Beach, California.More infocontributed talk at the 21st American Astronomical Society Meeting, Long Beach, California, 6-10 January, 2013
- Pascucci, I. (2013, January). The Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks, Impact on Planetary Architectures. colloquium.More infoThe Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks, Impact on Planetary Architectures – colloquium at the LPL, University of Arizona, Tucson, 22 January, 2013
- Pascucci, I. (2013, January). Warm Gas in the Planet-Forming Region of Disks. 21st AAS Meeting. Long Beach, California.More infoinvited talk at the 21st AAS Meeting as part of the Science Highlights from NASA’s Astrophysics Data Analysis Program
- Pascucci, I. (2013, July). The Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks: Impact on Planetary Architectures. Protostars and Planets VI Conference, Heidelberg, Germany.More infoinvited review talk at the Protostars and Planets VI Conference, Heidelberg, Germany
- Pascucci, I. (2012, August). Evidence for Disk Photoevaporation Driven by the Central Star – Impact on Planetary Architecture. LPLC, University of Arizona.More infoinvited talk, LPLC, University of Arizona
- Pascucci, I. (2012, January). The Origins of Planetary Systems, Constraints from Protoplanetary Disks. colloquium at the University of Toronto.More infoThe Origins of Planetary Systems, Constraints from Protoplanetary Disks – colloquium at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 23 January, 2012
- Pascucci, I. (2012, June). Planet Formation Around M-dwarf Stars. Workshop “Transiting Planets in the House of the Sun”.More infoInvited review talk at the workshop “Transiting Planets in the House of the Sun”, Maui, 3-6 June, 2012
- Pascucci, I. (2012, June). The Disk Scaling Laws. 16th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Barcelona.More infoInvited review talk at the 16th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Barcelona, Spain, 24-29 June, 2012
- Pascucci, I. (2012, March). Evidence for Disk Photoevaporation Driven by the Central Star – Impact on Planetary Architecture. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.More infoContributed talk at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, Texas, March, 2012
- Pascucci, I. (2011, May). The Mechanisms Driving the Evolution and Dispersal of Protoplanetary Disks. Conference “Exploring Strange New Worlds”.More infoContributed talk at the conference “Exploring Strange New Worlds”, Flagstaff, May 2011
- Pascucci, I. (2011, November). The Origins of Planetary Systems. colloquium.More infoThe Origins of Planetary Systems – colloquium (invited as Beatrice M. Tinsley Research Scholar) at the University of Texas, Austin, 6-10 November, 2011
Poster Presentations
- Apai, D., Apai, D., Pascucci, I., Pascucci, I., Fang, M., Fang, M., Kim, J. S., & Kim, J. S. (2017, June). Fantastic YSOs and photoevaporating protoplanetary disks in the Orion’s sibling - NGC 1977. Francesco's Legacy: Star Formation in Space and Time. Florence, Italy: Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri.
- Keane, J., Pascucci, I., Andrews, S., Dent, B., Espaillat, C., Meeus, G., Thi, W., & Woitke, P. (2014, Fall). From Classical Disks to Transition Disks: An Increasing Dust-to-Gas Ratio?. AAS Meeting #221American Astronomical Society.More info#220.02
- Pascucci, I., & Spitzer, F. (2014, Fall). GASPS Herschel Key Program Team Warm Gas in the Planet-Forming Region of Disks. AAS Meeting #221American Astronomical Society.More info#116.02
- Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., & Hollenbach, D. (2014, Fall). Free-free Emission from Photoevaporating Disks. AAS Meeting #221American Astronomical Society.More info#205.04
- Rigliaco, E., Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., Edwards, S., & Hollenbach, D. (2014, Fall). CHASING DISK DISPERSAL INDICATORS: THE ORIGIN OF THE [OI] LOW-VELOCITY COMPONENT FROM YOUNG STELLAR OBJECTS. AAS Meeting #223American Astronomical Society.More info#401.04
- Moór, A., Kóspál, Á., Ábrahám, P., Juhász, A., Apai, D., Csengeri, T., Grady, C., Henning, T., Kiss, C., & Pascucci, I. (2013, July). Molecular Gas in Young Debris Disks. Protostars and Planets VI. Heidelberg, Germany.More infoPoster #: 2B067
- Rigliaco, E., Pascucci, I., Gorti, U., Edwards, S., & Hollenbach, D. (2013, July). Understanding the origin of the [OI] low-velocity component from young stars. Protostars and Planets VI. Heidelberg, Germany.More infoPoster #: 2S039
- Zimmerman, N., Skemer, A., Apai, D., Bailey, V., Biller, B., Bonnefoy, M., Brandner, W., Buenzli, E., Close, L., Crepp, J., Defrere, D., Desidera, S., Eisner, J., Esposito, S., Fortney, J., Henning, T., Hinz, P., Hofmann, K., Leisenring, J., , Males, J., et al. (2013, July). A 100-Night Exoplanet Imaging Survey at the LBT. Protostars and Planets VI. Heidelberg, Germany.More infoPoster #: 2K006
- Osten, R., Wolfe, M., Ake, T., Aloisi, A., Bostroem, K., Dixon, W., Ghavamian, P., Goudfrooij, ., Ely, J., Massa, D., Niemi, S., Oliveira, C., Osterman, S., Pascucci, I., Penton, S., Proffitt, C., Sahnow, D., Wheeler, ., York, B., & Zheng, W. (2012, Fall). Summary of the COS Cycle 17 Calibration Program. Instrument Science Report COS 2012-02.
- Pascucci, I., & Apai, D. (2012, March). Stellar-Mass-Dependent Evolution of Planet Forming Disks. 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The Woodlands, TX.More infoLPI Contribution No. 1659; id: 1244
- Pascucci, I., Sterzik, M., Alexander, R., & Sacco, G. (2012, March). Evidence for Disk Photoevaporation Driven by the Central Star — Impact on Planetary Architectures. 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The Woodlands, TX.More infoLPI Contribution No. 1659; id:1155
Case Studies
- Apai, D., Cowan, N., Kopparapu, R., Kaspar, M., Hu, R., Morley, C., Fujii, Y., Kane, S., Maley, M., del Genio, A., Karalidi, T., Komacek, T., Mamajeck, E., Mandell, A., Domagal-Goldman, S., Barman, T., Boss, A., Breckinridge, J., Crossfield, I., , Danchi, W., et al. (2017. Exploring Other Worlds: Science Questions for Future Direct Imaging Missions (SAG 15)(p. 99).
Others
- Grant, S., Argyriou, I., Barrado, N. D., Christiaens, V., Gasman, D., Guedel, M., Henning, T. K., Kamp, I., Kanwar, J., Lagage, P., Mahadeva, A. A., Pascucci, I., Perotti, G., Rodgers-Lee, D., Tabone, B., Temmink, M., Van, D., & Waters, R. (2023). Probing carbon chemistry and dust in the planet-forming zones of brown dwarf disks.
- Long, F., Andrews, S. M., Banzatti, A., Harsono, D., Herczeg, G. J., Li, R., Lu, C. X., Pascucci, I., Pontoppidan, K. M., Wilner, D., & Xie, C. (2023). Why do some 50 Myr old stars still accrete?.
- Pascucci, I., Booth, R. A., Carpenter, J., Fang, M., Gorti, U., Liu, Y., Long, F., Pontoppidan, K. M., & Xie, C. (2023). The volatile content and C/O ratio of old disks: constraints on young planet atmospheres.
- Zhang, K. e., Anderson, D., Beatty, T. G., Bergin, E. A., Blake, G. A., Carpenter, J., Cieza, L. A., Hogerheijde, M., Miley, J. M., Pascucci, I., Perez, L., Pinilla, P., Pontoppidan, K. M., Rosotti, G., Salyk, C., Schwarz, K., Tabone, B., Trapman, L., & Vioque, M. (2023). Building on ALMA: a JWST legacy survey of the chemical evolution of planet-forming disks.
- Banzatti, A., Ballering, N., Bosman, A., Herczeg, G. J., Kalyaan, A., Krijt, S., Lambrechts, M., Long, F., Meyer, M. R., Oberg, K., Pascucci, I., Pinilla, P., Pontoppidan, K. M., Rosotti, G., Salyk, C., Vazquez, I., & Watkins, A. (2021). The infrared water spectrum as a tracer of pebble delivery to rocky planets.
- Pascucci, I., Alexander, R., Ballabio, G., Clarke, C., Gaspar, A., & Gorti, U. (2021). Caught in the act of dispersing their disks? MIRI MRS can tell.
- Pascucci, I., Beck, T., Brittain, S., Cabrit, S., Edwards, S., Gorti, U., Krijt, S., Muzerolle, J., Najita, J., Ruaud, M., Salyk, C., Schwarz, K., Semenov, D., & Testi, L. (2021). Testing the emerging paradigm of wind-driven accretion with NIRSpec spectro-imaging.
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