Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Full Refereed Journal Article (PDF/Postscript)
· Full Refereed Scanned Article (GIF)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:astro-ph/0209150)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (23) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
· HEP/Spires Information
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Astrometric signatures of self-gravitating protoplanetary discs
Authors:
Rice, W. K. M.; Armitage, P. J.; Bate, M. R.; Bonnell, I. A.
Affiliation:
AA(School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS), AB(JILA, Campus Box 440, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0440, USA; Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0391, USA), AC(School of Physics, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QL), AD(School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS)
Publication:
Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 338, Issue 1, pp. 227-232. (MNRAS Homepage)
Publication Date:
01/2003
Origin:
MNRAS
Astronomy Keywords:
accretion, accretion discs, astrometry, stars: formation, planetary systems: protoplanetary discs, stars: pre-main-sequence
DOI:
10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06046.x
Bibliographic Code:
2003MNRAS.338..227R

Abstract

We use high-resolution numerical simulations to study whether gravitational instabilities within circumstellar discs can produce astrometrically detectable motion of the central star. For discs with masses of Mdisc= 0.1M*, which are permanently stable against fragmentation, we find that the magnitude of the astrometric signal depends upon the efficiency of disc cooling. Short cooling times produce prominent filamentary spiral structures in the disc, and lead to stellar motions that are potentially observable with future high precision astrometric experiments. For a disc that is marginally unstable within radii of ~10 au, we estimate astrometric displacements of 10-102μ arcsec on decade time-scales for a star at a distance of 100 pc. The predicted displacement is suppressed by a factor of several in more stable discs in which the cooling time exceeds the local dynamical time by an order of magnitude. We find that the largest contribution comes from material in the outer regions of the disc and hence, in the most pessimistic scenario, the stellar motions caused by the disc could confuse astrometric searches for low-mass planets orbiting at large radii. They are, however, unlikely to present any complications in searches for embedded planets orbiting at small radii, relative to the disc size, or Jupiter-mass planets or greater orbiting at large radii.

Printing Options

Send high resolution image to Level 2 Postscript Printer
Send low resolution image to Level 2 Postscript Printer
Send low resolution image to Level 1 Postscript Printer
Get high resolution PDF image
Get low resolution PDF
Send 300 dpi image to PCL Printer
Send 150 dpi image to PCL Printer

More Article Retrieval Options

HELP for Article Retrieval
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
  New!

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints