Abstract

We present a model for the photoevaporation of circumstellar disks or dense clumps of gas by an external source of ultraviolet radiation. Our model includes the thermal and dynamic effects of 6-13.6 eV far-ultraviolet (FUV) photons and Lyman continuum EUV photons incident upon disks or clumps idealized as spheres of radius rd and enclosed mass M*. For sufficiently large values of rd/M*, the radiation field evaporates the surface gas and dust. Analytical and numerical approximations to the resulting flows are presented; the model depends on rd, M*, the flux of FUV and EUV photons, and the column density of neutral gas heated by FUV photons to high temperatures. Application of this model shows that the circumstellar disks (rd ~ 1014-1015 cm) in the Orion Nebula ("proplyds") are rapidly destroyed by the external UV radiation field.

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