2005/06/29 by J. R. Stauffer, L. Rebull, L. M. Rebull +22
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Circumstellar dust #Debris #Debris disk #Physics #Planetary system #Pleiades #Solar mass #Spitzer Space Telescope #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/444420
published as Astron.J.130:1834-1844,2005 · 32 postscript pages including 8 figues and 3 tables. To appear in the Astronomical Journal
arxiv created 2005/06/29 · openalex publication_date 2005/09/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Fluxes and upper limits in the wavelength range from 3.6 to 70 μm from the Spitzer Space Telescope are provided for 20 solar-mass Pleiades members. One of these stars shows a probable mid-IR excess, and two others have possible excesses, presumably due to circumstellar debris disks. For the star with the largest, most secure excess flux at MIPS (Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer ) wavelengths, HII 1101, we derive log( L dust / L * ) ∼ -3.8 and an estimated debris disk mass of 4.2 × 10 -5 M for an assumed uniform dust grain size of 10 μm. If the stars with detected excesses are interpreted as stars with relatively recent, large collisional events producing a transient excess of small dust particles, the frequency of such disk transients is ∼10% for our ∼100 Myr, Pleiades G dwarf sample. For the stars without detected 24–70 μm excesses, the upper limits to their fluxes correspond to approximate 3 σ upper limits to their disk masses of 6 × 10 -6 M using the MIPS 24 μm upper limit or 2 × 10 -4 M using the MIPS 70 μm limit. These upper limit disk masses (for "warm" and "cold" dust, respectively) are roughly consistent with, but somewhat lower than, predictions of a heuristic model for the evolution of an "average" solar-mass star's debris disk based on extrapolation backward in time from current properties of the Sun's Kuiper Belt.