Exploration of the molecular gas content of young debris disks

Séminaire IPAG de Attila Moor (Konkoloy Observatory), jeudi 28 juin 2018 à 11h00, salle Manuel Forestini IPAG

During their early evolution, newborn stars are surrounded by massive gas-rich circumstellar disks. According to the current paradigm, this primordial material dissipates by the age of 10 Myr in most systems, leaving behind a tenuous debris dust disk. The observable parts of these debris disks are composed of short-lived second generation dust grains that are replenished from collisional erosion of larger planetesimals. While the evolution of dust between the primordial and debris stages is rather well studied, the evolution of gas remains poorly explored. With the advent of ALMA now it is possible to probe the CO content of young debris disks enabling us to better explore the transition between the two stages and to understand what role the gas can play in the early evolution of debris disks. In this talk I will give an overview on recent results concerning the molecular gas content of young debris disks. Incidence of CO gas in these systems as well as the possible origin of the observed gas will be discussed.