Publications
of the
MPIfR
Optical & Infrared
Interferometry Group
Lachaume, R.
Self-gravity vs. irradiation in proto-planetary discs
4e Semaine de l'Astrophysique Française
June 14-18, 2004, Paris, France
Société française d'astronomie et d'astrophysique (SF2A) - Scientific
highlights 2004, p.229
Abstract
Most accretion discs around low-mass young stars are supposed to be
dominated by stellar heating in their outer parts (from a few to a few
hundred AUs of the star), a property on which most IR excess
diagnostics are based. Yet, in enough massive discs, self-gravity
collapses these outer parts that are, then, no longer illuminated, as
non-irradiated disc models predict. Irradiation by the central star may
on the contrary puff up these outer parts.
Using a modified Malbet et al. (2001) disc model that includes both
viscous and stellar heating, I show that massive (accretion rate ~>10-7(α/10-3
)Msun· yr
-1) discs indeed present collapsed
outer parts as predicted by non-irratiated disc models. However,
intermediate mass discs featuring an accretion rate of ~>10-7(α/10-2
)Msun· yr
-1 are badly described by these
models that overestimate the influence of self-gravity.