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Published Online October 20, 2005
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1118042

Reports

Submitted on July 27, 2005
Accepted on October 5, 2005

The Onset of Planet Formation in Brown Dwarf Disks

Dániel Apai 1*, Ilaria Pascucci 2, Jeroen Bouwman 3, Antonella Natta 4, Thomas Henning 3, Cornelis P. Dullemond 3

1 Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA; NASA Astrobiology Institute
2 Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
3 Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, Heidelberg, D-69117, Germany.
4 Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze, Italy.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Dániel Apai , E-mail: apai{at}as.arizona.edu

The onset of planet formation in protoplanetary disks is marked by the growth and crystallization of sub-micron-sized dust grains accompanied by dust settling toward the disk mid-plane. Here we present infrared spectra of disks around brown dwarfs and brown dwarf candidates. We show that all three processes occur in such cool disks in a way similar or identical to that in disks around low- and intermediate-mass stars. These results indicate that the onset of planet formation extends to disks around brown dwarfs, suggesting that planet formation is a robust process occurring in most young circumstellar disks.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Outward Transport of High-Temperature Materials Around the Midplane of the Solar Nebula.
F. J. Ciesla (2007)
Science 318, 613-615
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)