arXiv · 1010.1668
Short Lifetime of Protoplanetary Disks in Low-metallicity Environments
Abstract
We studied near-infrared disk fractions of six young clusters in the low-metallicity environments with [O/H$] \sim -0.7$ using deep $JHK$ images with Subaru 8.2\,m telescope. We found that disk fraction of the low-metallicity clusters declines rapidly in $<$1\,Myr, which is much faster than the $\sim$5--7\,Myr observed for the solar-metallicity clusters, suggesting that disk lifetime shortens with decreasing metallicity possibly with an $\sim$$10^Z$ dependence. Since the shorter disk lifetime reduces the time available for planet formation, this could be one of the major reasons for the strong planet--metallicity correlation. Although more quantitative observational and theoretical assessments are necessary, our results present the first direct observational evidence that can contribute to explaining the planet--metallicity correlation.
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Chikako Yasui, Naoto Kobayashi, Alan T. Tokunaga, Masao Saito, Chihiro Tokoku. 2010-10-08. Short Lifetime of Protoplanetary Disks in Low-metallicity Environments. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205%2F723%2F1%2Fl113
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