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We aim at understanding the formation of cloud layers in quasi-static substellar atmospheres. The time-dependent description presented in (Helling & Woitke 2006) is a kinetic model describing nucleation, growth and evaporation. It is extended to treat gravitational settling and is applied to the static-stationary case of substellar model atmospheres. From the solution for the dust moments, we determine the grain size distribution function which, together with the calculated material volume fractions, provides the basis to calculate the opacities of the composite dust grains. The cloud particles in brown dwarfs and hot giant-gas planets are found to be small in the high atmospheric layers (0.01mum), and composed of a rich mixture of all considered condensates, in particular the abundant MgSiO3[s], Mg2SiO4[s] and SiO2[s]. As the particles settle downward, they increase in size and reach several 100mum in the deepest layers. The more volatile parts of the grains evaporate and the particles stepwise purify to form composite particles of high-temperature condensates in the deeper layers, mainly Fe[s] and Al2O3[s]. The gas phase abundances of the elements involved in the dust formation process vary by orders of magnitudes throughout the atmosphere. The grain size distribution is found to be relatively broad in the upper atmospheric layers but often strongly peaked in the deeper layers. The spectral appearance of the cloud layers in the mid IR (7-20mum) is close to a grey body with only weak broad features on a few percent level, mainly caused by MgSiO3[s], and Mg2SiO4[s]. Our models predict that the gas phase depletion is much weaker as compared to phase-equilibrium calculations in the high atmospheric layers. [abridged], Comment: 16 pages, 9 Figures. A&A accepted

Near-infrared imaging surveys of high-mass star-forming regions reveal an amazingly complex interplay between star formation and the environment (Churchwell et al. 2006; Alvarez et al. 2004). By means of near-IR spectroscopy the embedded massive young stars can be characterized and placed in the context of their birth site. However, so far spectroscopic surveys have been hopelessly incomplete, hampering any systematic study of these very young massive stars. New integral field instrumentation available at ESO has opened the possibility to take a huge step forward by obtaining a full spectral inventory of the youngest massive stellar populations in star-forming regions currently accessible. Simultaneously, the analysis of the extended emission allows the characterization of the environmental conditions. The Formation and Early Evolution of Massive Stars (FEMS) collaboration aims at setting up a large observing campaign to obtain a full census of the stellar content, ionized material, outflows and PDR's over a sample of regions that covers a large parameter space. Complementary radio, mm and infrared observations will be used for the characterization of the deeply embedded population. For the first eight regions we have obtained 40 hours of SINFONI observations. In this contribution, we present the first results on three regions that illustrate the potential of this strategy., Comment: To appear in ASP Conf. Proceedings of "Massive Star Formation: Observations confront Theory", H. Beuther et al. (eds.), held in Heidelberg, September 2007

Near-infrared surveys of high-mass star-forming regions start to shed light onto their stellar content. A particular class of objects found in these regions, the so-called massive Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) are surrounded by dense circumstellar material. Several near- and mid-infrared diagnostic tools are used to infer the physical characteristics and geometry of this circumstellar matter. Near-infrared hydrogen emission lines provide evidence for a disk-wind. The profiles of the first overtone of the CO band-heads, originating in the inner 10 AU from the central star, are well fitted assuming a keplerian rotating disk. The mid-infrared spectral energy distribution requires the presence of a more extended envelope containing dust at a temperature of about 200 K. CRIRES observations of CO fundamental absorption lines confirm the presence of a cold envelope. We discuss the evolutionary status of these objects., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings for "Massive Star Formation: Observations confront Theory 2007" edited by H. Beuther

We observed the Herbig Ae/Be stars UX Ori, HD 34282, HD 100453, HD 101412, HD 104237 and HD 142666, and the T Tauri star HD 319139 and searched for H2 0-0 S(2) emission at 12.278 micron and H2 0-0 S(1) emission at 17.035 micron with VISIR, ESO-VLT's high-resolution MIR spectrograph. None of the sources present evidence for H2 emission. Stringent 3sigma upper limits to the integrated line fluxes and the mass of optically thin warm gas in the disks are derived. The disks contain less than a few tenths of Jupiter mass of optically thin H2 gas at 150 K at most, and less than a few Earth masses of optically thin H2 gas at 300 K and higher temperatures. We compare our results to a Chiang and Goldreich (1997, CG97) two-layer disk model. The upper limits to the disk's optically thin warm gas mass are smaller than the amount of warm gas in the interior layer of the disk, but they are much larger than the amount of molecular gas in the surface layer. We present a calculation of the expected thermal H2 emission from optically thick disks, assuming a CG97 disk structure, a gas-to-dust ratio of 100 and Tgas = Tdust. The expected H2 thermal emission fluxes from typical disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars (10^-16 to 10^-17 erg/s/cm2 at 140 pc) are much lower than the detection limits of our observations (5*10^-15 erg/s/cm2). H2 emission levels are very sensitive to departures from the thermal coupling between the molecular gas and dust. Additional sources of heating of gas in the disk's surface layer could have a major impact on the expected H2 disk emission. In the observed sources the molecular gas and dust in the surface layer have not significantly departed from thermal coupling (Tgas/Tdust< 2) and that the gas-to-dust ratio in the surface layer is very likely lower than 1000., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted by A&A. v2: typo in footnote ** corrected, v3: corrections of the A&A language editor included, typo in title of Fig. 1. corrected

We present a comparison between independent computer codes, modeling the physics and chemistry of interstellar photon dominated regions (PDRs). Our goal was to understand the mutual differences in the PDR codes and their effects on the physical and chemical structure of the model clouds, and to converge the output of different codes to a common solution. A number of benchmark models have been created, covering low and high gas densities and far ultraviolet intensities. The benchmark models were computed in two ways: one set assuming constant temperatures, thus testing the consistency of the chemical network and photo-processes, and a second set determining the temperature selfconsistently. We investigated the impact of PDR geometry and agreed on the comparison of results from spherical and plane-parallel PDR models. We identified a number of key processes governing the chemical network which have been treated differently in the various codes, and defined a proper common treatment. We established a comprehensive set of reference models for ongoing and future PDR model bench-marking and were able to increase the agreement in model predictions for all benchmark models significantly., Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures, see all benchmark data under: http://www.ph1.uni-koeln.de/pdr-comparison

Dust clouds influence the atmospheric structure of brown dwarfs, and they affect the heat transfer and change the gas-phase chemistry. However, the physics of their formation and evolution is not well understood. In this letter, we predict dust signatures and propose a potential observational test of the physics of dust formation in brown dwarf atmosphere based on the spectral features of the different solid components predicted by dust formation theory. A momentum method for the formation of dirty dust grains (nucleation, growth, evaporation, drift) is used in application to a static brown dwarf atmosphere structure to compute the dust grain properties, in particular the heterogeneous grain composition and the grain size. Effective medium and Mie theory are used to compute the extinction of these spherical grains. Dust formation results in grains whose composition differs from that of grains formed at equilibrium. Our kinetic model predicts that solid amorphous SiO2[s] (silica) is one of the most abundant solid component followed by amorphous MgSiO4[s] and MgSiO3[s], while SiO2[s] is absent in equilibrium models because it is a metastable solid. Solid amorphous SiO2[s] possesses a strong broad absorption feature centered at 8.7mum, while amorphous Mg2SiO4[s]/MgSiO3[s] absorb at 9.7mum beside other absorption features at longer wavelength. Those features at lambda < 15mum are detectable in absorption if grains are small (radius < 0.2mum) in the upper atmosphere as suggested by our model. We suggest that the detection of a feature at 8.7mum in deep infrared spectra could provide evidence for non-equilibrium dust formation that yields grains composed of metastable solids in brown dwarf atmospheres. This feature will shift towards 10mum and broaden if silicates (e.g. fosterite) are much more abundant., Comment: A&A Letter, accepted

We performed a spectroscopic survey toward five intermediate-mass class I YSOs located in the Southern Vela molecular cloud in the L and M bands at resolving powers 600-800 up to 10,000, using the Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera mounted on the VLT-ANTU. Lower mass companion objects were observed simultaneously in both bands. Solid H2O at 3 micron is detected in all sources, including the companion objects. CO ice at 4.67 micron is detected in a few main targets and one companion object. One object (LLN 19) shows little CO ice but strong gas-phase CO ro-vibrational lines in absorption. The CO ice profiles are different from source to source. The amount of water ice and CO ice trapped in a water-rich mantle may correlate with the flux ratio at 12 and 25 micron. The abundance of H2O-rich CO likely correlates with that of water ice. A weak feature at 3.54 mu attributed to solid CH3OH and a broad feature near 4.62 mu are observed toward LLN17, but not toward the other sources. The derived abundances of solid CH3OH and OCN- are ~10% and ~1% of the H2O ice abundance respectively. The H2O optical depths do not show an increase with envelope mass, nor do they show lower values for the companion objects compared with the main protostar. The line-of-sight CO ice abundance does not correlate with the source bolometric luminosity. Comparison of the solid CO profile toward LLN17, which shows an extremely broad CO ice feature, and that of its lower mass companion at a few thousand AU, which exhibits a narrow profile, together with the detection of OCN- toward LLN17 provide direct evidences for local thermal processing of the ice., Comment: Replace wrong files. Accepted by A&A, 22 pages, 18 figures

We report on the observation of hot water vapor (steam) in the inner AU of a young massive star located in the star-forming region IRAS 08576-4334. The water lines are detected in a medium resolution (R=10,000) K-band spectrum taken by the infrared spectrometer ISAAC mounted on the VLT-ANTU. The water vapor is at a mean temperature of 1565+/-510 K, cooler than the hot CO found in the same object, which is at 1660K and the column density is N(H2O)=(2.5 +/- 0.4)x1E18 cm-2. The profile of both H2O and CO lines is best reproduced by the emission from a Keplerian disk. To interpret the data, we also investigate the formation of molecules and especially CO and water vapor in the inner hot and dense part of disks around young high mass stars using a pseudo time-dependent gas-phase chemical model. Molecules are rapidly photodissociated but this destruction is compensated by an efficient formation due to fast neutral-neutral reactions. The ability of CO molecules to self-shield significantly enhances its abundance. Water molecules are sufficiently abundant to be detectable. The observed H2O/CO ratio is reproduced by gas at 1600K and an enhanced UV field over gas density ratio I_UV/nH=1E(-4)- 1E(-6). The simulations support the presence of CO and H2O molecules in the inner disks around young massive stars despite the strong UV radiation and show that the OH radical plays an essential role in hot gas chemistry., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, Accepted to A&A

We present the results of medium-resolution spectroscopy of five nearby Herbig Ae/Be stars at 4.7 micron: UX Ori, HD 34282, HD 50138, V380 Ori, HK Ori. The goal was to search for CO fundamental ro-vibrational emission. None of the targets show CO features, either in absorption nor in emission. We derive a 5sigma upper limit of < 10^-12 cm^-2 to the column density of hot CO (T ~ 1500 K) in the sources. These upper limits are considerably lower than the values of Herbig Ae/Be stars for which warm and hot CO emission has been reported.The non-detection of CO v=1-0 emission in these five targets suggest that Herbig Ae/Be stars are not a homogeneous group with respect to the structure of the gaseous disk and/or the amount of CO in the inner 50 AU of their disks., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, accepted by A&A

We report on the observation of CO bandhead emission around 51 Oph (dv=2). A high resolving power (R~10,000) spectrum was obtained with the infrared spectrometer ISAAC mounted on VLT-ANTU. Modeling of the profile suggests that the hot (Tgas=2000-4000K) and dense (n_H>1e10 cm-3) molecular material as probed by the CO bandhead is located in the inner AU of a Keplerian disk viewed almost edge-on. Combined with the observation of cooler gas (Tgas=500-900K) by ISO-SWS and the lack of cold material, our data suggest that the disk around 51 Oph is essentially warm and small. We demonstrate the presence of a dust-free inner disk that extents from the inner truncation radius until the dust sublimation radius. The disk around 51 Oph may be in a rare transition state toward a small debris disk object., Comment: Letter accepted for publication in A&A

We present observations of CO overtone bandhead emission toward four massive Young Stellar Objects (spectral type O6--B5). The high signal-to-noise ratio K-band spectra were obtained with VLT-ISAAC at a resolution of 30 km/s, sufficient to resolve the bandheads, but not the individual J-lines. We are able to explain the shape of the lines by assuming a simple isothermal keplerian disk model seen at different inclinations. The gas temperature ranges from 1500 to 4500 K and the CO column density is between 0.1 and 4 10^21 cm^-2. The emission probably arises within the first few astronomical units of the disk, consistent with the high gas temperature. Our results indicate that molecules can survive close to a hot star and suggest that dense (n_H > 10^10 cm^-3) inner disks may be relatively common at an advanced stage of high-mass star formation., Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters

We present 3-5 micron VLT-ISAAC spectroscopy searching for evidence of methanol ices in edge-on disks of young embedded stars. Examples include the disks of L1489 IRS in Taurus and CRBR 2422.8-3423 in Ophiuchus, the last of which has the highest column density of solid CO known toward a YSO. We find no unambiguous evidence for abundant methanol in the observed disks, but give strict upper limits. Several additional low-mass sources in the Serpens and Chameleon molecular clouds exhibit abundant solid methanol, although it is not clear if the ice is associated with a disk or with the envelope. These are the first detections of solid methanol in the circumstellar environments of embedded young low-mass stars providing evidence that complex molecular species previously observed only in the solid state toward high-mass star forming regions are also present near solar-type young stars. The constraints on the formation mechanisms of methanol and the chemical evolution of ices as the material is incorporated into circumstellar disks are discussed., Comment: 3 pages. To be published in the proceedings of the IAU Joint Discussion 14, 2003, Sydney

Medium resolution (lambda/Delta lambda = 5000-10000) VLT-ISAAC M-band spectra are presented of 39 young stellar objects in nearby low-mass star forming clouds showing the 4.67 micron stretching vibration mode of solid CO. By taking advantage of the unprecedentedly large sample, high S/N ratio and high spectral resolution, similarities in the ice profiles from source to source are identified. It is found that excellent fits to all the spectra can be obtained using a phenomenological decomposition of the CO stretching vibration profile at 4.67 micron into 3 components. All observed interstellar CO profiles can thus be uniquely described by a model depending on only 3 linear fit parameters, indicating that a maximum of 3 specific molecular environments of solid CO exist under astrophysical conditions. A simple physical model of the CO ice is presented, which shows that the 2139.9 cm-1 component is indistinguishable from pure CO ice. It is concluded, that in the majority of the observed lines of sight, 60-90% of the CO is in a nearly pure form. In the same model the 2143.7 cm-1 component can possibly be explained by the longitudinal optical (LO) component of the vibrational transition in pure crystalline CO ice which appears when the background source is linearly polarised. Furthermore the absorption band from solid 13CO at 2092 cm-1 is detected towards IRS 51 in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex and an isotopic ratio of 12CO/13CO=68+/-10 is derived. It is shown that all the observed solid 12CO profiles, along with the solid 13CO profile, are consistent with grains with an irregularly shaped CO ice mantle simulated by a Continuous Distribution of Ellipsoids (CDE), but inconsistent with the commonly used models of spherical grains in the Rayleigh limit. [Abstract abridged], Comment: 30 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Preprint w. high res figures available at http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~pontoppi/ms3823.pdf

We present detections of the absorption band at 3.53 micron due to solid methanol toward three low-mass young stellar objects located in the Serpens and Chameleon molecular cloud complexes. The sources were observed as part of a large spectroscopic survey of ~40 protostars. This is the first detection of solid methanol in the vicinity of low mass (M <1 Msol) young stars and shows that the formation of methanol does not depend on the proximity of massive young stars. The abundances of solid methanol compared to water ice for the three sources are in the range 15-25% which is comparable to those for the most methanol-rich massive sources known. The presence of abundant methanol in the circumstellar environment of some low mass young stars has important consequences for the formation scenarios of methanol and more complex organic species near young solar-type stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A letters

We report the first detection of DCO+ in a circumstellar disk. The DCO+ J=5-4 line at 360.169 GHz is observed with the 15m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in the disk around the pre-main sequence star TW Hya. Together with measurements of the HCO+ and H13CO+ J=4-3 lines, this allows an accurate determination of the DCO+/HCO+ ratio in this disk. The inferred value of 0.035+-0.015 is close to that found in cold pre-stellar cores and is somewhat higher than that measured in the envelope around the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293 -2422. It is also close to the DCN/HCN ratio obtained for pristine cometary material in the jet of comet Hale-Bopp. The observed DCO+/HCO+ ratio for TW Hya is consistent with theoretical models of disks which consider gas-phase fractionation processes within a realistic 2-D temperature distribution and which include the effects of freeze-out onto grains., Comment: Accepted by A&A Letters; 4 pages, 1 figure

General results from a 3-5 micron spectroscopic survey of nearby low-mass young stellar objects are presented. L and M-band spectra have been obtained of \~50 low mass embedded young stars using the ISAAC spectrometer mounted on UT1-Antu at Paranal Observatory. For the first time, a consistent census of the CO, H2O ices and the minor ice species CH3OH and OCN- and warm CO gas present around young stars is obtained, using large number statistics and resolving powers of up to R=10000. The molecular structure of circumstellar CO ices, the depletion of gaseous CO onto grains in protoplanetary disks, the presence of hot gas in the inner parts of circumstellar disks and in outflows and infalls are studied. Furthermore, the importance of scattering effects for the interpretation of the spectra have been addressed., Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the conference "Chemistry as a Diagnostic of Star Formation", University of Waterloo, Canada, 21-23 August 2002

We present direct evidence for CO freeze-out in a circumstellar disk around the edge-on class I object CRBR 2422.8-3423, observed in the M band with VLT-ISAAC at a resolving power R~10,000. The spectrum shows strong solid CO absorption, with a lower limit on the column density of 2.2E18 cm-2. The solid CO column is the highest observed so far, including high-mass protostars and background field stars. Absorption by foreground cloud material likely accounts for less than 10% percent of the total solid CO, based on the weakness of solid CO absorption toward nearby sources and the absence of gaseous C18O J=2-1 emission 30'' south. Gas-phase ro-vibrational CO absorption lines are also detected with a mean temperature of 50 +/-10 K. The average gas/solid CO ratio is ~1 along the line of sight. For an estimated inclination of 20 +/- 5 degree, the solid CO absorption originates mostly in the cold, shielded outer part of the flaring disk, consistent with the predominance of apolar solid CO in the spectrum and the non-detection of solid OCN-, a thermal/ultraviolet processing of the ice mantle. The gaseous CO comes from the warm upper layers closer to the star., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figues, accepted for publication in A&A Letters

There is now strong evidence suggesting that the 12CO J = 1-0 transition, widely used to trace H2 gas, significantly underestimates its mass in metal-poor regions. In spiral disks such regions are found in large galactocentric distances where we show that any unaccounted H2 gas phase is likely to be diffuse (~5-20 cm^-3) and warmer (T(kin) ~ 50-100 K) than the cool (T(kin) ~ 15-20 K) CO-luminous one. Moreover we find that a high value of the H2 formation rate on grains, suggested by recent observational work, can compensate for the reduction of the available grain surface in the metal-poor part of typical galactic disks and thus enhance this CO-poor H2 component which may be contributing significantly to the mass and pressure of spiral disks beyond their optical radius., Comment: In press at ApJ. 14 pages, 1 b&w figure

The first results from a VLT-ISAAC program on L- and M-band infrared spectroscopy of deeply-embedded young stellar objects are presented. The advent of 8-m class telescopes allows high S/N spectra of low-luminosity sources to be obtained. In our first observing run, low- and medium-resolution spectra have been measured toward a dozen objects, mostly in the Vela and Chamaeleon molecular clouds. The spectra show strong absorption of H2O and CO ice, as well as weak features at `3.47' and 4.62 mu. No significant solid CH3OH feature at 3.54 mu is found, indicating that the CH3OH/H2O ice abundance is lower than toward some massive protostars. Various evolutionary diagnostics are investigated for a set of sources in Vela., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, to appear in The Origins of Stars and Planets: the VLT View, eds. J. Alves, M. McCaughrean (Springer Verlag)

We present ISO-SWS observations of H2 pure-rotational line emission from the disks around low and intermediate mass pre-main-sequence stars as well as from young stars thought to be surrounded by debris disks. We detect `warm' (T ~ 100-200 K) H2 gas around many sources, including tentatively the debris-disk objects. The mass of this warm gas ranges from ~1E-4 Solar mass up to 8E-3 Solar mass, and can constitute a non-negligible fraction of the total disk mass. Complementary single-dish 12CO 3-2, 13CO 3-2 and 12CO 6-5 observations have been obtained as well. These transitions probe cooler gas at T ~ 20-80 K. Most objects show a double-peaked CO emission profile characteristic of a disk in Keplerian rotation, consistent with interferometer data on the lower-J lines. The ratios of the 12CO 3-2/ 13CO 3-2 integrated fluxes indicate that 12CO 3-2 is optically thick but that 13CO 3-2 is optically thin or at most moderately thick. The 13CO 3-2 lines have been used to estimate the cold gas mass. If a H2/CO conversion factor of 1E4 is adopted, the derived cold gas masses are factors of 10-200 lower than those deduced from 1.3 millimeter dust emission assuming a gas/dust ratio of 100,in accordance with previous studies. The warm gas is typically 1-10 % of the total mass deduced from millimeter continuum emission, but can increase up to 100% or more for the debris-disk objects. Thus, residual molecular gas may persist into the debris-disk phase. No significant evolution in the H2, CO or dust masses is found for stars with ages in the range of 1E6-1E7 years, although a decrease is found for the older debris-disk star beta Pictoris. Existing models fail to explain the amount of warm gas quantitatively., Comment: 49 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ main journal

We present spectrally resolved observations of the young multiple system T Tau in atomic and molecular lines obtained with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared on board Herschel. While CO, H2O, [C ii], and SO lines trace the envelope and the outflowing gas up to velocities of 33 km s(exp −1) with respect to systemic, the CN 5-4 hyperfine structure lines at 566.7, 566.9 GHz show a narrow double-peaked profile centered at systemic velocity, consistent with an origin in the outer region of the compact disk of T Tau N. Disk modeling of the T Tau N disk with the thermo-chemical code ProDiMo produces CN line fluxes and profiles consistent with the observed ones and constrain the size of the gaseous disk (R(sub out) = 110(+10/−20) AU) and its inclination (i = 25 deg +/- 5 deg). The model indicates that the CN lines originate in a disk upper layer at 40-110 AU from the star, which is irradiated by the stellar UV field and heated up to temperatures of 50-700 K. With respect to previously observed CN 2-1 millimeter lines, the CN 5-4 lines appear to be less affected by envelope emission, due to their larger critical density and excitation temperature. Hence, high-J CN lines are a unique confusion-free tracer of embedded disks, such as the disk of T Tau N.

We describe a large-scale far-infrared line and continuum survey of protoplanetary disk through to young debris disk systems carried out using the ACS instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory. This Open Time Key program, known as GASPS (Gas Survey of Protoplanetary Systems), targeted approx. 250 young stars in narrow wavelength regions covering the [OI] fine structure line at 63 micron the brightest far-infrared line in such objects. A subset of the brightest targets were also surveyed in [OI]145 micron, [CII] at 157 μm, as well as several transitions of H2O and high-excitation CO lines at selected wavelengths between 78 and 180 micron. Additionally, GASPS included continuum photometry at 70, 100 and 160 micron, around the peak of the dust emission. The targets were SED Class II– III T Tauri stars and debris disks from seven nearby young associations, along with a comparable sample of isolated Herbig AeBe stars. The aim was to study the global gas and dust content in a wide sample of circumstellar disks, combining the results with models in a systematic way. In this overview paper we review the scientific aims, target selection and observing strategy of the program. We summarize some of the initial results, showing line identifications, listing the detections, and giving a first statistical study of line detectability. The [OI] line at 63 micron was the brightest line seen in almost all objects, by a factor of ∼10. Overall [OI] 63 micron detection rates were 49%, with 100% of HAeBe stars and 43% of T Tauri stars detected. A comparison with published disk dust masses (derived mainly from sub-mm continuum, assuming standard values of the mm mass opacity) shows a dust mass threshold for [OI] 63 μm detection of approx.10(exp -5) Solar M.. Normalizing to a distance of 140 pc, 84% of objects with dust masses ≥10 (exp -5) Solar M can be detected in this line in the present survey; 32% of those of mass 10(exp -6) – 10 (exp -5) Solar M, and only a very small number of unusual objects with lower masses can be detected. This is consistent with models with a moderate UV excess and disk flaring. For a given disk mass, [OI] detectability is lower for M stars compared with earlier spectral types. Both the continuum and line emission was, in most systems, spatially and spectrally unresolved and centered on the star, suggesting that emission in most cases was from the disk. Approximately 10 objects showed resolved emission, most likely from outflows. In the GASPS sample, [OI] detection rates in T Tauri associations in the 0.3–4 Myr age range were approx. 50%. For each association in the 5–20 Myr age range, approx. 2 stars remain detectable in [OI] 63 micron, and no systems were detected in associations with age >20 Myr. Comparing with the total number of young stars in each association, and assuming a ISM-like gas/dust ratio, this indicates that approx. 18% of stars retain a gas-rich disk of total mass approx. Jupiter- M for 1–4 Myr, 1–7% keep such disks for 5–10 Myr, but none are detected beyond 10–20 Myr. The brightest [OI] objects from GASPS were also observed in [OI]145 micron, [CII]157 micron and CO J = 18- 17, with detection rates of 20–40%. Detection of the [CII] line was not correlated with disk mass, suggesting it arises more commonly from a compact remnant envelope.

Context. HD 172555 is a young A7 star belonging to the Beta Pictoris Moving Group that harbours a debris disc. The Spitzer IRS spectrum of the source showed mid-IR features such as silicates and glassy silica species, indicating the presence of a warm dust component with small grains, which places HD 172555 among the small group of debris discs with such properties. The IRS spectrum also shows a possible emission of SiO gas. Aims. We aim to study the dust distribution in the circumstellar disc of HD 172555 and to asses the presence of gas in the debris disc. Methods. As part of the GASPS Open Time Key Programme, we obtained Herschel-PACS photometric and spectroscopic observations of the source. We analysed PACS observations of HD 172555 and modelled the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) with a modified blackbody and the gas emission with a two-level population model with no collisional de-excitation. Results. We report for the first time the detection of [OI] atomic gas emission at 63.18 micrometers in the HD 172555 circumstellar disc.We detect excesses due to circumstellar dust toward HD 172555 in the three photometric bands of PACS (70, 100, and 160 m). We derive a large dust particle mass of (4.8 plus-minus 0.6)x10(exp -4) Mass compared to Earth and an atomic oxygen mass of 2.5x10(exp -2)R(exp 2) Mass compared to Earth, where R in AU is the separation between the star and the inner disc. Thus, most of the detected mass of the disc is in the gaseous phase.