TITLE:
Self Consistent Modeling of the Dust Emission from HD 100546: Evidence for Simultaneous Grain Evolution and Disk Disruption?
AUTHORS:
Steven D. Doty, Niranjan Reji, Angela Sommerer
KEYWORDS:
Protostellar Disks, Dust Evolution
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Vol.15 No.4,
November
27,
2025
ABSTRACT: We have performed self-consistent, three-dimensional, continuum radiative transfer modeling in the disk of HD 100546. Following observations and previous work, the model includes gaps in the disk. The model also includes variations in dust size, composition, and distribution. A best fit model is achieved over a wide wavelength range from 2 - 1000 mm. While we generally confirm the results of previous models, we find evidence for dust settling and shattering in the outer disk. We also find evidence for dust segregation in the inner disk, and inferential evidence for an irregular and tenuous inner region ~1 AU, which may be due to early disruption of the disk. Such settling is an important process in planet formation. The location of the settling in the outer disk, and the existence of segregation and irregularity in the interior, suggest that the race between disruption, settling, and planet formation is on-going in HD 100546, and that the timescales for the various processes vary throughout the disk at a given epoch.