Parker, R.J., Nicholson, R.B. and Alcock, H.L. (2021) Far and extreme ultraviolet radiation fields and consequent disc destruction in star-forming regions. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502 (2). pp. 2665-2681. ISSN 0035-8711
Abstract
The first stages of planet formation usually occur when the host star is still in a (relatively) dense star-forming region, where the effects of the external environment may be important for understanding the outcome of the planet formation process. In particular, star-forming regions that contain massive stars have strong far-ultraviolet (FUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation fields, which can induce mass-loss from protoplanetary discs due to photoevaporation. In this paper, we present a parameter-space study of the expected FUV and EUV fields in N-body simulations of star-forming regions with a range of initial conditions. We then use recently published models to determine the mass-loss due to photoevaporation from protoplanetary discs. In particular, we focus on the effects of changing the initial degree of spatial structure and initial virial ratio in the star-forming regions, as well as the initial stellar density. We find that the FUV fields in star-forming regions are much higher than in the interstellar medium, even when the regions have stellar densities as low as in the Galactic field, due to the presence of intermediate-mass, and massive, stars (>5 M⊙). These strong radiation fields lead to the destruction of the gas component in protoplanetary discs within 1 Myr, implying that gas giant planets must either form extremely rapidly (<1 Myr), or that they exclusively form in star-forming regions like Taurus, which contain no intermediate-mass or massive stars. The latter scenario is in direct tension with meteoritic evidence from the Solar system that suggests the Sun and its protoplanetary disc was born in close proximity to massive stars.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | methods: numerical; protoplanetary discs; photodissociation region (PDR); open clusters and associations: general |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ROYAL SOCIETY DH150108 Royal Society 13178 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 30 Mar 2021 10:16 |
Last Modified: | 31 Mar 2021 03:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/mnras/stab054 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172686 |