A 10-micron Search for Inner-Truncated Disks Among Pre-Main-Sequence Stars With Photometric

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arXiv:astro-ph/0010657v1 31 Oct 2000A10µmSearchforInner-TruncatedDisksAmongPre-Main-SequenceStarswithPhotometricRotationPeriods

KeivanG.Stassun1andRobertD.Mathieu1

FrederickJ.Vrba2

TseviMazeh3

ArneHenden2Received–2–

ABSTRACT

Weusemid-IR(primarily10µm)photometryasadiagnosticforthepres-

enceofdiskswithinnercavitiesamong32pre-mainsequencestarsinOrion

andTaurus-Aurigaforwhichrotationperiodsareknownandwhichdonotshow

evidenceforinnerdisksatnear-IRwavelengths.Diskswithinnercavitiesare

predictedbymagneticdisk-lockingmodelsthatseektoexplaintheregulation

ofangularmomentuminTTauristars.Onlythreestarsinoursampleshow

evidenceforexcessmid-IRemission.Whilethesethreestarsmaypossesstrun-

cateddisksconsistentwithmagneticdisk-lockingmodels,theremaining29stars

inoursampledonot.Apparently,starslackingnear-IRexcessesingeneraldo

notpossesstruncateddiskstowhichtheyaremagneticallycoupled.

Wediscusstheimplicationsofthisresultforthehypothesisofdisk-regulated

angularmomentum.Evidently,youngstarscanexistasslowrotatorswithout

theaidofpresentdisk-locking,andthereexistveryyoungstarsalreadyrotating

nearbreakupvelocitywhosesubsequentangularmomentumevolutionwillnotbe

regulatedbydisks.Moreover,wequestionwhetherdisks,whenpresent,truncate

inthemannerrequiredbydisk-lockingscenarios.Finally,wediscusstheneed

forrotationalevolutionmodelstotakefullaccountofthelargedispersionof

rotationratespresentat1Myr,whichmayallowthemodelstoexplainthe

rotationalevolutionoflow-masspre-mainsequencestarsinawaythatdoesnot

dependuponbrakingbydisks.

Subjectheadings:accretion,accretiondisks—stars:evolution—stars:

formation—stars:pre-mainsequence—stars:rotation–3–

1.Introduction

Akeystoneofthecurrentparadigmofrotationalevolutionamonglow-masspre-main-

sequence(PMS)starsistheregulationofstellarangularmomentumbycircumstellar

disks.Indeed,mostrotationalevolutionmodelstodayrelychieflyuponsomeformof

disk-regulatedstellarangularmomentumtoconnecttherotationalpropertiesofTTauri

stars(TTS)tothoseofzero-agemainsequence(ZAMS)stars(Bouvier,Forestini,&Allain

1997;Krishnamurthietal.1997;CollierCameron,Campbell,&Quaintrell1995).The

theoreticaledificesupportingthedisk-regulationparadigmhasbeendevelopedbyseveral

researchers(K¨onigl1991;Ostriker&Shu1995;Yi1995;CollierCameron&Campbell

1993;Ghosh&Lamb1979a,1979b),whereinasteady-state,magneticallymediated,

star-diskcouplingmechanismkeepsthestaratroughlyconstantangularvelocityforthe

lifetimeofthedisk,preventingthestarfromspinningupasitcontracts.Thismagnetic

disk-lockingmodelprovidesanattractivesolutiontothelong-standingpuzzleofhowstars

depleteangularmomentumastheyevolvetothemainsequence(Stauffer&Hartmann

1987).

Observationalinvestigationsofdisk-regulatedangularmomentumhaveyieldedmixed

results.Insupportofdisk-locking,severalauthorshave,eitherdirectlyorindirectly,linked

diskstoslowstellarrotation.Forexample,Herbstandcollaborators(Choi&Herbst1996,

andreferencestherein)havereportedthedistributionofTTSrotationperiodsintheOrion

NebulaCluster(ONC)tobedistinctlybimodal.Theslowrotators(Prot>4days),they

suggest,representthosestarsthatarepresently,orwereuntilrecently,disk-locked.More

directsupporthasbeenpresentedbyEdwardsetal.(1993),whoreportedacorrelation

betweenthepresenceofexcessnear-IRemissionandslowstellarrotationamong34TTSin

TaurusandOrion.ConsideringstarsintheirsamplelaterthanK5,thoseauthorsfound

excessnear-IRemissionamongnoneoftherapidrotatorsbutamonghalfoftheslow–4–

rotators.Bouvieretal.(1993)reportedsimilarresultsamong26TTSinTaurus-Auriga.

TheyfoundthattheclassicalTTS(CTTS;thoseshowingevidenceofactiveaccretionand

circumstellardisks)intheirsamplerotatemoreslowlyonaveragethantheirweak-lined

(WTTS)counterparts.Incontrasttothesestudies,wedidnotfindstrongevidencefora

bimodaldistributionofrotationperiods,nordidwefindevidenceforalinkagebetween

disksandslowstellarrotation,inourownstudyofdisksandstellarrotationinOrion

(Stassunetal.1999,hereafterPaperI;seealsoStassunetal.2000foraconcisesummary).

Among254starswith0.1

bestatisticallyconsistentwithauniformdistribution.Moreover,wefoundnear-IRexcesses

tobepresentwithroughlyequalfrequencyamongbothslowandrapidrotatorswhenwe

combinedourrotationperiodswithnear-IRphotometryfromtheliterature(Hillenbrandet

al.1998)formorethan100starsinoursample.

Herbstetal.(2000)haveshownthatsubdividingtheONCsamplebymasscan

reconcilesomeofthesecontradictoryfindings.Theyfindthatthebimodaldistributionof

rotationperiodsinOrionholdstruewhentheyconsideronlystarswithM⋆>0.25M⊙,i.e.

earlierthanaboutM3.Forthesestars,theyalsofindaweakbutstatisticallysignificant

correlationbetweennear-IRexcessandstellarrotationperiod;theslowerrotatorstendto

exhibitlargernear-IRexcesses.

WhethertheseIRobservationsofTTSinfactagreewiththepredictionsofdisk-locking