The fate of discs around massive stars in young clusters

I. Physikalisches Institut, University of Cologne, Germany e-mail: pfalzner@ph1.uni-koeln.de

Received: 24 January 2006
Accepted: 10 April 2006

Abstract

Aims.To understand whether there is a difference in the dispersion of discs around stars in high-density young stellar clusters like the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) according to the mass of the star.

Methods.Two types of simulations were combined – N-body simulations of the dynamics of the stars in the ONC and mass loss results from simulations of star-disc encounters, where the disc mass loss of all stars is determined as a function of time.

Results.We find that in the Trapezium, the discs around high-mass stars are dispersed much more quickly and to a larger degree by their gravitational interaction than for intermediate-mass stars. This is consistent with recent observations of IC 348, where a higher disc frequency was found around solar mass stars than for more massive stars, suggesting that this might be a general trend in large young stellar clusters.