The following document lists the file abstract/RMATHIEU_GAPS.abs
from catalogue VI/111.
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We propose to use SWS and LWS spectra to search for gaps in disks cleared by binary companions. More than half of all solar-mass stars are members of binary systems. Thus binary formation is the primary branch of the star formation process, and binary systems represent a large fraction of potential sites of planet formation. A binary embedded within a disk is predicted to rapidly clear an annular gap. This clearing preferentially removes material at certain temperatures, and thus removes disk emission at their characteristic wavelengths. Gaps should thus be detectable as dips or changes in slope in infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of young binaries. However, existing data sample the SED too sparsely for reliable detection of most gaps, particularly longward of 20 microns where only IRAS data are available. In addition, the presence of strong silicate emission from many young stars can contribute significantly to broadband fluxes measured near 10 microns. A strong emission feature can offset depressed continuum emission at 10 microns, masking the effect of a gap on the SED. ISO spectra would allow detection of the gaps by providing dense sampling in wavelength and clearly revealing the continuum level around the silicate feature. We have mounted an extensive ground-based observing campaign to search for gaps, but detecting small gaps in the closest binaries or any gaps in the disks of wider binaries requires ISO data. Modeling of SEDs will allow us to constrain the size of gaps, an important parameter in determining the efficiency of interactions, the ability of gaps to regulate disk accretion onto the stars, and the mass reservoir avail- able for planet formation. Since binaries are so common, understanding the extent of disk-binary interactions is vital to understanding stel- lar evolution and planet formation in a majority of stellar systems.