I present the results of six papers related the formation and evolution of planets and planetary systems, all of which are based on high-resolution, ground-based, mid-infrared observations.The first three chapters are studies of T Tauri binaries. T Tauri stars are young, low mass stars, whose disks form the building blocks of extrasolar planets. The first chapter is a study of the 0.68"/0.12" triple system, T Tauri. Our spatially resolved N-band photometry reveals silicate absorption towards one component, T Tau Sa, indicating the presence of an edge-on disk, which is in contrast to the other components. The second chapter is an adaptive optics fed N-band spectroscopy study of the 0.88" binary, UY Aur. We find that the dust grains around UY Aur A are ISM-like, while the mineralogy of the dust around UY Aur B is more uncertain, due to self-extinction. The third chapter presents a survey of spatially resolved silicate spectroscopy for nine T Tauri binaries. We find with 90\%-95\% confidence that the silicate features of the binaries are more similar than those of randomly paired single stars. This implies that a shared binary property, such as age or composition, is an important parameter in dust grain evolution.The fourth chapter is a study of the planetary system, 2MASS 1207. We explore the source of 2MASS 1207 b's under-luminosity, which has typically been explained as the result of an edge-on disk of large, grey-extincting dust grains. We find that the edge-on disk theory is incompatible with several lines of evidence, and suggest that 2MASS 1207 b's appearance can be explained by a thick cloudy atmosphere, which might be typical among young, planetary systems.The fifth chapter is a study of the white dwarf, Sirius B, which in the context of this thesis is being studied as a post-planetary system. Our N-band imaging demonstrates that Sirius B does not have an infrared excess, in contrast to previous results.The sixth chapter is a study of mid-infrared atmospheric dispersion, which in the context of this thesis is being studied as an effect that will limit the ability of ELTs to image planetary systems. We measure mid-infrared atmospheric dispersion, for the first time, and use our results to confirm theoretical models.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/202978 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Skemer, Andrew |
| Contributors | Close, Laird, Hinz, Phil, Greene, Tom, Rieke, George, Eisner, Josh, Close, Laird |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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