Low-mass, pre-main-sequence stars - The infrared emission from circumstellar dust

Abstract

Models for the dust shells around the low-mass, premain sequence stars IRS 1 and IRS 2 embedded in the Serpens molecular cloud are calculated which accurately fit the stars' observed near-IR fluxes. The far-IR fluxes are predicted, and the model parameters are adjusted to provide a best fit to the observed near-IR spectra. Best fit models are obtained for protostar masses of 2.97 and 2.14 solar masses, an accretion rate of about 10 to the -7th solar masses/yr, and inner shell radii of 9.6 x 10 to the 12th and 4.6 x 10 to the 12th cm, respectively, for IRS 1 and 2. The calculated spectra of the dust shells alone peak at about 2 microns and have no other broad continuum maxima longward of 2-3 microns. The empirical technique of Churchwell and Koornneef (1986) for estimating the mean temperature, radius, and luminosity of circumstellar dust shells by using H and K fluxes gives values in reasonably good agreement with the model calculations.