| Name: SOUMIK KAR |
| Affiliation: PHYSICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY |
| Conference ID: ASI2026_500 |
| Title: Thermal Structure and Spectral Energy Distributions of Protoplanetary Disks: A Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Study |
| Abstract Type: Poster |
| Abstract Category: Sun, Solar System, Exoplanets, and Astrobiology |
| Author(s) and Co-Author(s) with Affiliation: Soumik Kar(Physical Research Laboratory,Ahmedabad-38009,India), Vikas Soni(Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences,Schmiedlstrasse 6, A-8042 Graz, Austria), Kinsuk Acharyya(Physical Research Laboratory,Ahmedabad-38009,India) |
| Abstract: Protoplanetary disks, the birthplaces of planetary systems, composed of dense gas and dust orbiting young stars, also act as reservoirs of organic molecules crucial to prebiotic chemistry. Understanding thermal structure and energy distribution is essential for constraining disk evolution, dust processing, and the physical conditions governing planet formation. Temperature distributions also play a key role in shaping volatile chemistry and dust coagulation pathways.
We present a Monte Carlo radiative transfer study of Class II protoplanetary disks spanning a wide range of stellar masses (0.1–3 M⊙), disk masses (10⁻⁴–10⁻¹ M⊙), and disk sizes from a few AU to several hundred AU. Our self-consistent 2D model computes disk density and temperature structure, capturing transitions between flared and self-shadowed geometries as a function of disk mass and surface density distribution.
We investigate radial and vertical temperature distributions and their impact on broadband SEDs covering optical to millimeter wavelengths. Our models are applied to disk systems in Taurus, Ophiuchus, and Lupus star-forming regions, enabling systematic comparison of how stellar properties, disk mass, and dust distribution influence mid-infrared excess, far-infrared emission, and (sub)millimeter spectral slopes. We explore how disk-to-star mass ratio and dust settling alter thermal stratification and produce observable signatures in multi-wavelength photometry.
Our study shows that both stellar luminosity and disk structure collectively influence the temperature profile of the disk. Additionally, variations in disk mass and dust concentration lead to significant differences in the observed shapes of spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Systems with similar stellar hosts but differing disk properties display dramatically different SED morphologies, especially in the far-infrared range. These findings underscore the need for self-consistent radiative transfer modeling when interpreting disk observations and provide a framework for linking the physical structure of disks to both current and future observations from ALMA, JWST, and ground-based facilities.
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