Abstract: Dusty debris disks that orbit main sequence stars are comparable to our Solar System’s Kuiper belt. While debris disks have less gas than their younger counterparts, a surprising, recent discovery by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is that many of these debris disks do in fact have substantial reservoirs of molecular gas. This facet provides the opportunity to utilize spectroscopic methods to analyze the Keplerian rotation curve of these types of disks and therefore obtain novel methods to ascertain the mass of the host star. Doing so involves imaging and data cleaning techniques standard to the field, as well as iteratively creating models and comparing those models to the real data in line with a Bayesian approach to find best fit parameters. This project combines archival ALMA data with new Gaia (European Space Agency’s space-based telescope) data that provides precise stellar distances which are crucial for determining more accurate host star masses. We will compare the dynamical masses that we derive with stellar evolution models to test our understanding of these isolated young stars. The broader implication of this research will contribute to the field by testing predictions made by stellar evolution and it has the potential to re-define development outcomes of how these unique systems evolve.
Video:
Live Poster Session:
Thursday, July 29th 1:15-2:30pm EDT