Constraints on the circumstellar disk masses in the IC 348 cluster

A 5.'2 x 5.'2 region toward the young cluster IC 348 has been imaged in the millimeter continuum at 4."0 x 4."9 resolution with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory interferometer to a rms noise level of 0.75 mJy beam(-1) at 98 GHz. The data are used to constrain the circumstellar disk masses in a cluster environment at an age of similar to2 Myr. The mosaic encompasses 95 known members of the IC 348 cluster, with a stellar mass distribution that peaks at 0.2-0.5 M. None of the stars are detected in the millimeter continuum at an intensity level of 3 sigma or greater. The mean observed flux for the ensemble of 95 stars is 0.22 +/- 0.08 mJy. Assuming a dust temperature of 20 K, a mass opacity coefficient of kappa(o) = 0.02 cm(2) g(-1) at 1300 mum, and a power-law index of beta = 1 for the particle emissivity, these observations imply that the 3 sigma upper limit to the disk mass around any individual star is 0.025 M. and that the average disk mass is 0.002 +/- 0.001 M. . The absence of disks with masses in excess of 0.025 M. in IC 348 is different at the similar to3 sigma confidence level from Taurus, where similar to14% of the stars in an optically selected sample have such disk masses. Compared with the minimum mass needed to form the planets in our solar system (similar to0.01 M.), the lack of massive disks and the low mean disk mass in IC 348 suggest either that planets more massive than a few Jupiter masses will form infrequently around 0.2-0.5 M. stars in IC 348 or that the process to form such planets has significantly depleted the disk of small dust grains on timescales less than the cluster age of similar to2 Myr.