Etude des parties internes des disques protoplanétaires observés par interférométrie

Observing gas and dusty disks around young stars are of utmost importance for our knowledge about planetary formation. Observations of these disks bring unprecedented details about their structure and composition, and provide stronger and stronger constrains on planetary formation models. However, the inner parts of these disk are still barely known. indeed, a 100 m diameter telescope would be required in order to resolve these inner region, for the closest young stars; nowaday, the construction of such telescope is impossible technologically and financially. By combining the light of pairs of telescopes, the interferometry technique is able to reach the sufficient resolving power, and permits us to observe the inner parts of circumstellar disks. My thesis has been focused on the observation and study of the inner part of TTauri's circumstellar disks. I present in this manuscript a statistical study on the environment around these stars, along with its modeling by taking into account thermal emission and light scattering of the disk. Finally, I present a more complete modelling for some of these stars, done by constraining spectroscopic, interferometric and photometric datasets with a radiative transfer code.Les disques de gaz et de poussières entourant les étoiles jeunes sont d'une importance capitale pour notre compréhension de la formation planétaire. Les observations de ces disques permettent d'avoir un niveau de détails sans précédent sur ces derniers et apportent des contraintes toujours plus fortes sur leur structure et sur les modèles de formation planétaire. Les parties de ces disques les plus proches de l'étoile sont néanmois encore assez mal connues; en effet, pour pouvoir résoudre ces parties internes pour les étoiles jeunes les plus proches de la Terre, un télescope de 100 mètres de diamètre serait nécessaire, ce qui est technologiquement et financièrement impossible actuellement. L'interférométrie permet de contourner ce problème en combinant la lumière de paires de télescopes, permettant ainsi un plus grand pouvoir de résolution. Ma thèse à portée sur l'observation et l'étude des parties internes des disques circumstellaire d'étoiles de type T Tauri. Une étude statistique sur l'environnement de ces étoiles y est présentée, ainsi que leur modélisation par un modèle prenant en compte les mécanisme d'émission et de diffusion de la lumiere par la poussière. La modélisation de disque circumstellaires par un code de transfert radiatif et en combinant des données interférométriques, photométriques et spectroscopiques est aussi abordée

The VLTI / PIONIER near-infrared interferometric survey of southern T Tauri stars. I. First results

Context : The properties of the inner disks of bright Herbig AeBe stars have been studied with near infrared (NIR) interferometry and high resolution spectroscopy. The continuum and a few molecular gas species have been studied close to the central star; however, sensitivity problems limit direct information about the inner disks of the fainter T Tauri stars. Aims : Our aim is to measure some of the properties of the inner regions of disks surrounding southern T Tauri stars. Methods : We performed a survey with the PIONIER recombiner instrument at H-band of 21 T Tauri stars. The baselines used ranged from 11 m to 129 m, corresponding to a maximum resolution of 3mas (0.45 au at 150 pc). Results : Thirteen disks are resolved well and the visibility curves are fully sampled as a function of baseline in the range 45-130 m for these 13 objects. A simple qualitative examination of visibility profiles allows us to identify a rapid drop-off in the visibilities at short baselines in 8 resolved disks. This is indicative of a significant contribution from an extended contribution of light from the disk. We demonstrate that this component is compatible with scattered light, providing strong support to a prediction made by Pinte et al. (2008). The amplitude of the drop-off and the amount of dust thermal emission changes from source to source suggesting that each disk is different. A by-product of the survey is the identification of a new milli-arcsec separation binary: WW Cha. Spectroscopic and interferometric data of AK Sco have also been fitted with a binary and disk model. Conclusions : Visibility data are reproduced well when thermal emission and scattering form dust are fully considered. The inner radii measured are consistent with the expected dust sublimation radii. Modelling of AK Sco suggests a likely coplanarity between the disk and the binary's orbital planeComment: 19 pages, 11 figure

A study of the inner parts of protoplanetary disks observed by interferometry

Les disques de gaz et de poussières entourant les étoiles jeunes sont d'une importance capitale pour notre compréhension de la formation planétaire. Les observations de ces disques permettent d'avoir un niveau de détails sans précédent sur ces derniers et apportent des contraintes toujours plus fortes sur leur structure et sur les modèles de formation planétaire. Les parties de ces disques les plus proches de l'étoile sont néanmois encore assez mal connues; en effet, pour pouvoir résoudre ces parties internes pour les étoiles jeunes les plus proches de la Terre, un télescope de 100 mètres de diamètre serait nécessaire, ce qui est technologiquement et financièrement impossible actuellement. L'interférométrie permet de contourner ce problème en combinant la lumière de paires de télescopes, permettant ainsi un plus grand pouvoir de résolution. Ma thèse à portée sur l'observation et l'étude des parties internes des disques circumstellaire d'étoiles de type T Tauri. Une étude statistique sur l'environnement de ces étoiles y est présentée, ainsi que leur modélisation par un modèle prenant en compte les mécanisme d'émission et de diffusion de la lumiere par la poussière. La modélisation de disque circumstellaires par un code de transfert radiatif et en combinant des données interférométriques, photométriques et spectroscopiques est aussi abordée.Observing gas and dusty disks around young stars are of utmost importance for our knowledge about planetary formation. Observations of these disks bring unprecedented details about their structure and composition, and provide stronger and stronger constrains on planetary formation models. However, the inner parts of these disk are still barely known. indeed, a 100 m diameter telescope would be required in order to resolve these inner region, for the closest young stars; nowaday, the construction of such telescope is impossible technologically and financially. By combining the light of pairs of telescopes, the interferometry technique is able to reach the sufficient resolving power, and permits us to observe the inner parts of circumstellar disks. My thesis has been focused on the observation and study of the inner part of TTauri's circumstellar disks. I present in this manuscript a statistical study on the environment around these stars, along with its modeling by taking into account thermal emission and light scattering of the disk. Finally, I present a more complete modelling for some of these stars, done by constraining spectroscopic, interferometric and photometric datasets with a radiative transfer code

The VLTi/PIONIER survey of southern TTauri disks

Studying the inner regions of protoplanetary disks (1-10 AU) is of importance to understand the formation of planets and the accretion process feeding the forming central star. Herbig AeBe stars are bright enough to be routinely observed by Near IR interferometers. The data for the fainter T Tauri stars is much more sparse. In this contribution we present the results of our ongoing survey at the VLTI. We used the PIONIER combiner that allows the simultaneous use of 4 telescopes, yielding 6 baselines and 3 independent closure phases at once. PIONIER's integrated optics technology makes it a sensitive instrument. We have observed 22 T Tauri stars so far, the largest survey for T Tauri stars to this date. Our results demonstrate the very significant contribution of an extended component to the interferometric signal. The extended component is different from source to source and the data, with several baselines, offer a way to improve our knowledge of the disk geometry and/or composition. These results validate an earlier study by Pinte et al. 2008 and show that the dust inner radii of T Tauri disks now appear to be in better agreement with the expected position of the dust sublimation radius, contrary to previous claims