Letter to the Editor

Efficient dust radial drift around young intermediate-mass stars

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: pinilla@mpia.de
² Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
³ INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy

Received: 25 March 2022
Accepted: 5 June 2022

Abstract

The radial velocities and direct imaging observations of exoplanets have suggested that the frequency of giant planets may decrease for intermediate-mass stars (2.5 − 8 M_⊙). The key mechanism that could hinder their formation remains unclear. From a theoretical point of view, planet formation around intermediate-mass stars may take place on longer timescales, which – coupled with fast migration and efficient photoevaporation – may prevent planetary formation in these environments. In this letter, we investigate the temporal evolution of the radial drift for dust particles in disks when stellar evolution is taken into account. We demonstrate that the particle drift velocity around intermediate-mass stars sharply increases after 1–2 Myr, potentially creating a difficult barrier to overcome in the first steps of planet formation. This high radial drift could explain the lack of disk detections around intermediate-mass stars older than 3–4 Myr, as opposed to low-mass stars (< 2.5 M_⊙), where the drift may not be the most impactful factor for the disk evolution. Future high-resolution images of these disks can help us to explain why planets around intermediate-mass stars may be rare. In addition, we can explore whether the role of efficient dust radial drift does in fact hinder planet formation around intermediate-mass stars – or otherwise.