Testing Disk Locking in the Orion Nebula Cluster
Abstract
Understandig how stars form and evolve to reach the main sequence is a key focus area in modern astronomical research. In particular, understanding the rotational evolution of stars during the pre-main sequence phase and how these young stars interact with their surrounding accretion disks is critical. Observations suggest that accretion disks can strongly influence the rotation of the central star which in turn affacts how the star and disk interact. This interaction determines how matter accretes onto the star and may thereby play a role in setting the final stellar mass and may even help determine the final close orbits of inward migrating giant planets. As a result, this star-disk interaction has implications for many key areas in astronomy. Magnetospheric accretion and disk-locking are two key ideas in low mass star formation studies. While the magnetospheric accretion paradigm is well accepted, the related notion of disk-locking {the idea that the star-disk interaction leads to a relatively slow equilibrium stellar rotation rate as opposed to the star continuing to spin up} remains highly controversial. We propose to critically test the predictions of disk-locking and to look for evolution of this pheonmena by measuring the accretion properties of a large sample of young stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster. Combining these measurements with already determined values for the stellar mass, radius, and rotation period will permit the most careful study to date of this phenomena.
- Publication:
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HST Proposal
- Pub Date:
- October 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012hst..prop12995J