Grain growth in protoplanetary disks in the Upper Scorpius revealed by millimeter-wave spectral indices

TL;DR

This study analyzes millimeter-wave spectral indices of protoplanetary disks in Upper Scorpius, revealing that dust grains grow and disks evolve over time, with models indicating increasing inner disk radii and persistent outer disk dust.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectral index measurements for Upper Scorpius disks and models their evolution, highlighting disk expansion and sustained outer dust mass at late stages.

Findings

Spectral index in Upper Scorpius is similar or slightly smaller than in younger regions.

Models suggest increasing inner disk radius during evolution.

Outer disk dust mass persists even at late stages.

Abstract

The measurement of dust size from millimeter-wavelength spectra provides direct constraints on grain growth in protoplanetary disks. The spectral indices between 0.88 mm and 2.9 mm have been measured in multiple young star-forming regions, such as Taurus, Ophiuchus, and Lupus, which have ages of 1-3 Myr. These spectral indices are as low as 2-3, suggesting that grains in disks are much larger than those in the interstellar medium. In this study, we analyze the ALMA archival data of 23 disks in the Upper Scorpius region. The observed wavelength is 2.9 mm in Band 3, the angular resolution is 3.3 arcsec x 2.1 arcsec, which is not high enough to resolve the targets, and the rms noise is below 0.075 mJy beam$^{-1}$ for almost all sources. Together with the literature values of the Band 7 fluxes of the same targets, we find that the average spectral index of the disks in the Upper Scorpius region is $\alpha_\mathrm{mm}=2.09 \pm 0.10$, which is equal to or slightly smaller than those at the other younger regions. To explain the relationship between the fluxes and spectral indices of the disks in the Taurus, Ophiuchus, Lupus, and Upper Scorpius regions, we construct simple disk evolution models. The observations are best reproduced by models in which the inner radius of the disk increases. This suggests that a substantial amount of dust mass must persist in the outer disk regions where the dust temperature is lower than 20 K even at late evolutionary stages. These findings offer key insights into the grain growth and the temporal evolution of protoplanetary disks.