Peering at the First Stages of Planet Formation: Getting a Clearer View of Grain Growth, Settling, and Clearing in Dusty Disks

凝视行星形成的第一阶段：更清楚地了解尘埃盘中的颗粒生长、沉降和清理

• 批准号: 0901947
• 负责人: Catherine Espaillat
• 金额: $ 24.9万
• 依托单位: Espaillat Catherine C
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0901947&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Peering; First; Stages; Planet; Formation

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr. Catherine Espaillat is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Dr. Espaillat will quantify dust evolution in protoplanetary disks around low-mass pre-main sequence stars, the precursors of our own Sun. To this end the PI will measure grain growth and settling, the first two steps towards planet formation, in disks located within the star-forming clouds of Taurus, Chamaeleon, and Ophiuchus. In addition to studying "full" disks the PI will also target objects which are in the process of clearing gaps in their disks, a phenomena which is most likely due to newly formed planets. The main tool in exploring these issues will be the state-of-the-art D'Alessio disk model, which the PI will advance to the next level of sophistication in this proposed study. By combining spectral energy distributions that employ mid-infrared Spitzer and far-infrared Herschel data with spatial brightness distributions obtained with interferometers in the millimeter and infrared, the PI will provide a self-consistent analysis of the amount of dust growth, settling, and clearing in disks, which will also serve as a guide for future disk studies with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The systematic, semi-empirical evidence obtained throughout this project will provide needed insight and constraints to aid in theoretical modeling of dust evolution and planet formation, bringing us a few steps closer to understanding the origin of our own solar system.Dr. Espaillat will also develop a formal mentor-training program with the Harvard College Science Mentors Program and will establish a similar university mentoring program for minority students in science. Through these two programs the PI will train graduate students who have volunteered to serve as mentors to younger women and minority graduate and undergraduate students.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。凯瑟琳·埃斯帕拉特博士被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在哈佛-史密森天体物理中心开展研究和教育计划。Espaillat博士将量化低质量主序前恒星周围原行星盘中的尘埃演化，这些恒星是我们太阳的前身。为此，PI将测量位于金牛座、变色龙和蛇夫座恒星形成云内的圆盘中的颗粒生长和沉降，这是行星形成的前两个步骤。除了研究“完整”的圆盘外，PI还将瞄准那些正在清除圆盘中间隙的物体，这种现象很可能是由于新形成的行星。探索这些问题的主要工具将是最先进的D 'Alessio圆盘模型，PI将在这项拟议的研究中将其推进到下一个复杂的水平。通过将使用中红外斯皮策和远红外赫歇尔数据的光谱能量分布与用毫米和红外干涉仪获得的空间亮度分布相结合，PI将提供对尘埃生长量的自洽分析，沉降，以及磁盘中的清除，这也将作为詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜（JWST）未来磁盘研究的指导。在整个项目中获得的系统的、半经验的证据将提供所需的洞察力和限制，以帮助建立尘埃演化和行星形成的理论模型，让我们离太阳系的起源更近了几步。Espaillat博士还将培养一位正式的导师-该公司还将与哈佛大学科学导师计划合作开展一个培训项目，并将为少数民族学生建立一个类似的大学科学导师计划。通过这两个项目，PI将培训自愿担任年轻女性和少数民族研究生和本科生导师的研究生。