2015A&A...574A.140M

The spectra of protoplanetary disks contain mid- and far- infrared emission features produced by forsterite dust grains. The spectral features contain information about the forsterite temperature, chemical composition and grain size. We aim to characterize how the 23 and 69µm features can be used to constrain the physical locations of forsterite in disks. We check for consistency between two independent forsterite temperature measurements: the I₂₃/I₆₉ feature strength ratio and the shape of the 69µm band. We performed radiative transfer modeling to study the effect of disk properties to the forsterite spectral features. Temperature-dependent forsterite opacities were considered in self-consistent models to compute forsterite emission from protoplanetary disks. Modelling grids are presented to study the effects of grain size, disk gaps, radial mixing and optical depth to the forsterite features. Independent temperature estimates derived from the I₂₃/I₆₉ feature strength ratio and the 69µm band shape are most inconsistent for HD141569 and Oph IRS 48. A case study of the disk of HD141569 shows two solutions to fit the forsterite spectrum. A model with T∼40K, iron-rich (∼0-1% Fe) and 1µm forsterite grains, and a model with warmer (T∼100K), iron-free, and larger (10µm) grains. We find that for disks with low upper limits of the 69µm feature (most notably in flat, self-shadowed disks), the forsterite must be hot, and thus close to the star. We find no correlation between disk gaps and the presence or absence of forsterite features. We argue that the 69 µm feature of the evolved transitional disks HD141569 and Oph IRS 48 is most likely a tracer of larger (i.e. >10µm) forsterite grains.