Early science with the Large Millimetre Telescope: new mm-wave detections of circumstellar discs in IC 348 from LMT/AzTEC

Abstract

Abstract We present the most complete sample of mm measurements of protoplanetary discs in the star-forming region IC 348 to date. New observations from the Large Millimetre Telescope and the 1.1 mm camera AzTEC are combined with literature results in order to characterize the disc population as relating to both stellar properties within the IC 348 region and across other star-forming regions. In addition to detecting 28 of 116 observed known infrared-excess sources, we detected emission from two previously unknown candidate transition discs in the region. When combined with literature results, we find evidence for a steeper-than-expected slope, on average, in disc spectral energy distributions at millimetre wavelengths in the IC 348 region. We show that the presence or absence of high-mass discs is a sensitive indicator of regional evolution, both among star-forming regions and within IC 348. In contrast, low-mass discs exhibit almost no apparent evolution within the first ∼5 Myr when compared among regions.