Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0511420

From: Daniel Apai Dr [view email]
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:00:50 GMT (634kb)

The Onset of Planet Formation in Brown Dwarf Disks

Authors: D. Apai (1 and 2), I. Pascucci (1), J. Bouwman (3), A. Natta (4), Th. Henning (3), C. P. Dullemond (3) ((1) Steward Observatory, Tucson, (2) NASA Astrobiology Institute, (3) Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, (4) Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Florence)

Comments: Published in Science 2005, vol 310, 834; 3 pages in final format, 4 figures + 8 pages Supporting Online Material. For final typeset, see this http URL

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/310/5749/834?etoc

DOI: 10.1126/science.1118042

The onset of planet formation in protoplanetary disks is marked by the growth and crystallization of sub-micron-sized dust grains accompanied by dust settling toward the disk mid-plane. Here we present infrared spectra of disks around brown dwarfs and brown dwarf candidates. We show that all three processes occur in such cool disks in a way similar or identical to that in disks around low- and intermediate-mass stars. These results indicate that the onset of planet formation extends to disks around brown dwarfs, suggesting that planet formation is a robust process occurring in most young circumstellar disks.

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511420