2003/09/05 by Aigen Li, J. I. Lunine · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/376939
published as Astrophys.J. 594 (2003) 987-1010 · published in The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 594, pp. 987--1010; 46 pages; 12 figures
openalex publication_date 2003/09/05 · arxiv created 2003/11/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We model the infrared (IR) emission from the double-ring disk of HD 141569A, using a porous dust model that was previously shown to be successful in reproducing the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the disks around β Pictoris and HR 4796A. The dust consists of either unaltered or highly processed interstellar materials and vacuum with a volume fraction of ~90%. Together with a population of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, of which a large fraction are charged, the porous dust model made of coagulated but otherwise unaltered protostellar interstellar grains provides an excellent fit to the entire SED from the mid-IR to millimeter wavelengths, including the PAH mid-IR emission features. The nondetection of the 21 μm crystalline silicate feature predicted from the porous dust model composed of highly processed grains (mainly crystalline silicate dust) imposes an upper limit of ~10% on the mass fraction of crystalline silicates. Spectroscopic and broadband photometric predictions are made for SIRTF observations, which will provide further tests of the applicability of the porous dust model to circumstellar disks.