Light scattering in circumstellar disks
M. Min* and S. V. Jeffers
- Astronomical institute, Univ. of Utrecht, P.O. Box 80000, NL-3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Planets, asteroids and comets are born in disks of gas and dust surrounding newly formed stars. In these protoplanetary disks, tiny dust grains stick together to form larger bodies. How this happens and at what speed is a question we can address by carefully examining the light scattered and emitted by the dust grains in these disks. Over a timescale of ∼ 10 million years, the system evolves into a debris disk, i.e., a disk mainly composed of second-generation dust produced by collisions of larger bodies and outgassing of comets. These debris disks provide a unique view on what might have been the conditions in the early Solar system. Observations of these disks in scattered light provide a way to image the spatial distribution of the dust grains and, at the same time, obtain information on their sizes and structures. In this contribution, we will discuss observations and theoretical modeling of light scattered by dust grains and aggregates in these circumstellar disks. Effects of grain properties as well as effects of the disk geometry on the observables are discussed with a special focus on imaging polarimetry. Also, the computational and observational challenges we face when interpreting observations of the scattering properties of circumstellar dust are discussed.
- * Corresponding author