| Name | OT1_ipascucc_1 |
| Title | Understanding the Origin of Transition Disks via Disk Mass Measurements |
| URL | http://archives.esac.esa.int/hsa/whsa-tap-server/data?retrieval_type=OBSERVATION&observation_id=1342229824&instrument_name=PACS&product_level=LEVEL0&compress=true |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-14k7up7 |
| Author | pascucci, i. |
| Description | Transition disks are a distinguished group of few Myr-old systems caught in the phase of dispersing their inner dust disk. Three different processes have been proposed to explain this inside-out clearing: grain growth, photoevaporation driven by the central star, and dynamical clearing by a forming giant planet. Which of these processes lead to a transition disk? Distinguishing between them requires the combined knowledge of stellar accretion rates and disk masses. We propose here to use 43.8 hours of PACS spectroscopy to detect the OI 63 micron emission line from a sample of 21 well-known transition disks with measured mass accretion rates. We will use this line, in combination with ancillary CO millimeter lines, to measure their gas disk mass. Because gas dominates the mass of protoplanetary disks our approach and choice of lines will enable us to trace the bulk of the disk mass that resides beyond tens of AU from young stars. Our program will quadruple the number of transition disks currently observed with Herschel in this setting and for which disk masses can be measured. We will then place the transition and the ~100 classical/non-transition disks of similar age (from the Herschel KP Gas in Protoplanetary Systems) in the mass accretion rate-disk mass diagram with two main goals: 1) reveal which gaps have been created by grain growth, photoevaporation, or giant planet formation and 2) from the statistics, determine the main disk dispersal mechanism leading to a transition disk. |
| Publication |
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| Instrument | PACS_PacsLineSpec_point |
| Temporal Coverage | 2011-09-27T23:39:48Z/2012-09-04T10:33:22Z |
| Version | SPG v14.2.0 |
| Mission Description | Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009! It is the fourth cornerstone mission in the ESA science programme. With a 3.5 m Cassegrain telescope it is the largest space telescope ever launched. It is performing photometry and spectroscopy in approximately the 55-671 µm range, bridging the gap between earlier infrared space missions and groundbased facilities. |
| Creator Contact | https://support.cosmos.esa.int/h®erschel/ |
| Date Published | 2013-03-04T08:16:30Z |
| Last Update | 2026-03-02 |
| Keywords | Herschel Space Observatory data, ESA Herschel mission dataset, far-infrared astronomy observations, submillimeter astronomy data, infrared space telescope observations, PACS photometer data, PACS spectrometer data, SPIRE photometer data, SPIRE Fourier transform spectrometer data, HIFI heterodyne spectroscopy data, far-infrared spectroscopy dataset, submillimeter spectral line observations, cold universe observations dataset, star formation infrared data, molecular cloud far-infrared observations, interstellar medium spectroscopy data, protoplanetary disk infrared observations, galaxy evolution far-infrared data, dust emission submillimeter observations, cosmic infrared background measurements, extragalactic infrared survey data, calibrated level 2 data products, FITS files astronomy, spectral cubes far-infrared, flux-calibrated maps, continuum photometry data, spectral energy distribution measurements, ESA Herschel Science Archive data |
| Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
| Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, pascucci et al., 2013, 'Understanding the Origin of Transition Disks via Disk Mass Measurements', SPG v14.2.0, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-14k7up7 |