Spitzer observations of NGC 2362:: Primordial disks at 5 Myr

We present results from a mid-infrared imaging survey of the similar to 5 Myr old cluster NGC 2362 carried out with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The archival mid-infrared data were merged with extant H alpha emission data, optical and near-infrared photometry, and moderate-resolution optical spectroscopy to identify the remnant disk-bearing population of the cluster and to estimate the fraction of stars that still retain primordial circumstellar disks. The principal sample of 232 suspected cluster members with masses ranging from similar to 10 to 0.3 M-circle dot (B2-M5 spectral types) was drawn from known H alpha emission stars, X-ray-detected stars from a single 100 ks archival Chandra observation, and established lithium-rich stars. A second sample of 153 stars over a similar mass range whose membership status was based on optical photometry alone was also examined. Measured fluxes in the optical and infrared passbands were fitted with synthetic, low-resolution spectra created using the NextGen atmospheric models, permitting the detection of infrared excesses relative to predicted stellar photospheric fluxes. Using the measured slope of the stellar spectral energy distribution through the four IRAC channels to characterize disk emission for the 195 out of 232 activity/lithium-selected stars and the 105 out of 153 photometric membership candidates having complete IRAC photometry, we derive an upper limit for the primordial, optically thick disk fraction of NGC 2362 of similar to 7% +/- 2%, with another similar to 12% +/- 3% of suspected members exhibiting infrared excesses indicative of weak or optically thin disk emission. The presence of circumstellar disks among candidate members of NGC 2362 is strongly mass-dependent, such that no stars more massive than similar to 1.2M(circle dot) exhibit significant infrared excess shortward of 8 mu m. An upper limit for the fraction of stars hosting primordial, optically thick disks peaks near 10.7% +/- 4% for stars with masses between 1.05 and 0.6 M-circle dot, but the Spitzer IRAC survey is sensitivity-limited below similar to 0.3 M-circle dot. From H alpha emission-line strengths, an upper limit for the accretion fraction of the cluster is estimated at similar to 5%, with most suspected accretors associated with primordial, optically thick disks identified with Spitzer. The presence of primordial disk-bearing stars in NGC 2362, some of which are suspected of still experiencing gaseous accretion, may imply that even within dense cluster environments, sufficient numbers of inner disks survive to ages consistent with core accretion models of giant planet formation to account for the observed frequency of exoplanets within 5 AU of all FGKM-type stars.