2003/06/10 by Aigen Li, J. I. Lunine · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/374865
published as Astrophys.J. 590 (2003) 368-378 · published in The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 590, pp. 368--378; 26 pages; 9 figures
openalex publication_date 2003/06/10 · 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 spectral energy distribution (SED) from the mid-infrared to submillimeter of the ringlike disk of HR 4796A, the dustiest A-type star. We consider dust made of either coagulated but otherwise unaltered protostellar interstellar grains or grains that are highly processed in a protostellar/protoplanetary nebula with silicate dust annealed and carbon dust oxidized. Both types of dust are successful in reproducing the observed SED, provided that the grains are highly fluffy, with a vacuum volume fraction of ~90%. We find no evidence for the existence of a hot "zodiacal dust" component a few astronomical units from the star, which was suggested by previous workers to account for the 10 μm wavelength emission.