Proplyds and Massive Disks in the Orion Nebula Cluster Imaged with CARMA and SMA

TL;DR

This study used CARMA and SMA to image the Orion Nebula Cluster, revealing dust masses and disk evolution, and showing environmental effects on disk mass distribution compared to other regions.

Contribution

First detailed millimeter imaging of proplyds and disks in the Orion Nebula Cluster, providing insights into disk masses, evolution, and environmental influences.

Findings

Detected 40 sources with dust masses from 0.01 to 0.5 Msun.

Most stars lack sufficient dust for giant planet formation.

Disks in Orion are less massive than in Taurus, indicating environmental impact.

Abstract

[Abridged] We imaged a 2' x 2' region of the Orion Nebula cluster in 1.3 mm wavelength continuum emission with the recently commissioned Combined Array for Research in Millimeter Astronomy (CARMA) and with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Our mosaics include >250 known near-IR cluster members, of which 36 are so-called "proplyds" that have been imaged previously with the Hubble Space Telescope. We detected 40 sources in 1 mm continuum emission, and several of them are spatially resolved with our observations. Dust masses inferred for detected sources range from 0.01 to 0.5 Msun, and the average disk mass for undetected sources is estimated to be ~0.001 Msun, approximately an order of magnitude smaller than the minimum mass solar nebula. Most stars in the ONC thus do not appear to currently possess sufficient mass in small dust grains to form Jupiter-mass (or larger) planets. Comparison with previous results for younger and older regions indicates that massive disks evolve significantly on ~Myr timescales. We also show that the percentage of stars in Orion surrounded by disks more massive than ~0.01 Msun is substantially lower than in Taurus, indicating that environment has an impact on the disk mass distribution. Finally, we explore potential correlations of disk mass with stellar mass and location within the cluster.