Protoplanetary disks of TTauri binaries in Orion: Prospects for planet formation

TL;DR

This study investigates how binarity affects protoplanetary disk evolution in young Orion binaries, revealing that lower-mass stars tend to lose their disks faster, impacting planet formation prospects.

Contribution

It provides spatially resolved spectroscopic evidence that lower-mass binary components disperse their disks more rapidly than their higher-mass counterparts.

Findings

Lower-mass binary stars show less active accretion signatures.

Binarity influences the timescale of disk dispersal.

Implications for planet formation in binary systems.

Abstract

Dusty protoplanetary disks surrounding young low-mass stars are the birthplaces of planets. Studies of the evolutionary timescales of such disks provide important constraints on the timescales of planet formation. Binary companions, however, can influence circumstellar disk evolution through tidal interactions. In order to trace protoplanetary disks and their properties in young binary systems, as well as to study the effect of binarity on circumstellar disk lifetimes, we have carried out spatially resolved spectroscopy for several low-mass binaries in the well-known Orion Nebula Cluster. Br$_{\gamma}$ emission, which we detect in several systems, is used as a tracer for the presence of an active accretion disk around a binary component. We find a paucity of actively accreting secondaries, and hence, evidence that in a binary system it is the lower mass component that disperses its disk faster.