Radiation hydrodynamics simulations of protoplanetary disks: Stellar mass dependence of the disk photoevaporation rate

TL;DR

This study uses radiation hydrodynamics simulations to explore how the photoevaporation rate of protoplanetary disks depends on stellar mass, revealing a strong mass dependence that explains observed disk lifetimes.

Contribution

The paper introduces a comprehensive simulation study across a range of stellar masses, deriving a stellar mass-dependent mass-loss rate and a semi-analytic model for disk dispersal.

Findings

Mass-loss rate scales as (M*/M_sun)^2

Inner disk lifetime decreases with increasing stellar mass

Photoevaporation can explain observed stellar mass dependence of disk lifetime

Abstract

Recent multi-wavelength observations suggest that inner parts of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) have shorter lifetimes for heavier host stars. Since PPDs around high-mass stars are irradiated by strong ultra-violet radiation, photoevaporation may provide an explanation for the observed trend. We perform radiation hydrodynamics simulations of photoevaporation of PPDs for a wide range of host star mass of $M_* =0.5$-$7.0 M_{\odot}$. We derive disk mass-loss rate $\dot{M}$, which has strong stellar dependence as $\dot{M} \approx 7.30\times10^{-9}(M_{*}/M_{\odot})^{2}M_{\odot}\rm{yr}^{-1}$. The absolute value of $\dot{M}$ scales with the adopted far-ultraviolet and X-ray luminosities. We derive the surface mass-loss rates and provide polynomial function fits to them. We also develop a semi-analytic model that well reproduces the derived mass-loss rates. The estimated inner disk lifetime decreases as the host star mass increases, in agreement with the observational trend. We thus argue that photoevaporation is a major physical mechanism for PPD dispersal for a wide range of the stellar mass and can account for the observed stellar mass dependence of the inner disk lifetime.