107 research outputs found
Candidate Main-Sequence Stars with Debris Disks: A New Sample of Vega-like Sources
Vega-like sources are main-sequence stars that exhibit IR fluxes in excess of expectations for stellar photospheres, most likely due to reradiation of stellar emission intercepted by orbiting dust grains. We have identified a large sample of main-sequence stars with possible excess IR radiation by cross-correlating the Michigan Catalog of Two-dimensional Spectral Types for the HD Stars with the IRAS Faint Source Survey Catalog. Some 60 of these Vega-like sources were not found during previous surveys of the IRAS database, the majority of which employed the lower sensitivity Point Source Catalog. Here, we provide details of our search strategy, together with a preliminary examination of the full sample of Vega-like sources
An Extinction Study of the Taurus Dark Cloud Complex
We present a study of the detailed distribution of extinction in a region of
the Taurus dark cloud complex. Our study uses new BVR images of the region,
spectral classification data for 95 stars, and IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA) 60
and 100 micron images. We study the extinction of the region in four different
ways, and we present the first inter-comparison of all these methods, which
are: 1) using the color excess of background stars for which spectral types are
known; 2) using the ISSA 60 and 100 micron images; 3) using star counts; and 4)
using an optical (V and R) version of the average color excess method used by
Lada et al. (1994). We find that all four methods give generally similar
results, with important exceptions. To study the structure in the dust
distribution, we compare the ISSA extinction and the extinction measured for
individual stars. From the comparison, we conclude that in the relatively low
extinction regions studied, with 0.9 < A_V < 3.0 mag (away from filamentary
dark clouds and IRAS cores), there are no fluctuations in the dust column
density greater than 45% (at the 99.7% confidence level), on scales smaller
than 0.2 pc. We also report the discovery of a previously unknown stellar
cluster behind the Taurus dark cloud near R.A 4h19m00s, Dec. 27:30:00 (B1950)Comment: 49 pages (which include 6 pages of tables and 6 pages of figures
Accretion Disks Around Young Objects. III. Grain Growth
We present detailed models of irradiated T Tauri disks including dust grain
growth with power-law size distributions. The models assume complete mixing
between dust and gas and solve for the vertical disk structure
self-consistentlyincluding the heating effects of stellar irradiation as well
as local viscous heating. For a given total dust mass, grain growth is found to
decrease the vertical height of the surface where the optical depth to the
stellar radiation becomes unit and thus the local irradiation heating, while
increasing the disk emission at mm and sub-mm wavelengths. The resulting disk
models are less geometrically thick than our previous models assuming
interstellar medium dust, and agree better with observed spectral energy
distributions and images of edge-on disks, like HK Tau/c and HH 30. The
implications of models with grain growth for determining disk masses from
long-wavelength emission are considered.Comment: 29 pages, including 11 figures and 1 table, APJ accepte
A reconsideration of disk properties in Herbig Ae stars
This paper presents state-of-the-art spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of four Herbig Ae stars, based in part on new data in the mid and far-infrared and at millimeter wavelengths. The SEDs are discussed in the context of circumstellar disk models. We show that models of irradiated disks provide a good fit to the observations over the whole range of wavelengths. We offer a possible solution to the long-standing puzzle caused by the excess emission of Herbig Ae stars, where a large fraction of the stellar luminosity is re-radiated between ~1.25 and 7 μm, with a peak at about 3 μm. We suggest that this general behaviour can be caused by dust evaporation in disks where the gas component is optically thin to the stellar radiation, as expected if the accretion rate is very low. The creation of a puffed-up inner wall of optically thick dust at the dust sublimation radius can account for the near-infrared characteristics of the SEDs. It can also naturally explain the H and K band interferometric observations of AB Aur (Millan-Gabet et al. [CITE]), which reveal a ring of emission of radius ~0.3 AU. Finally, irradiated disk models can easily explain the observed intensity of the 10 μm silicate features and their variation from star to star
Sub-arcsec imaging of the AB Aur molecular disk and envelope at millimeter wavelengths: a non Keplerian disk
We present sub-arcsecond images of AB Auriga obtained with the IRAM Plateau
de Bure interferometer in the isotopologues of CO, and in continuum at 3 and
1.3 mm. Instead of being centrally peaked, the continuum emission is dominated
by a bright, asymmetric (spiral-like) feature at about 140 AU from the central
star. The large scale molecular structure suggests the AB Aur disk is inclined
between 23 and 43 degrees, but the strong asymmetry of the continuum and
molecular emission prevents an accurate determination of the inclination of the
inner parts. We find significant non-Keplerian motion, with a best fit exponent
for the rotation velocity law of 0.41 +/- 0.01, but no evidence for radial
motions. The disk has an inner hole about 70 AU in radius. The disk is warm and
shows no evidence of depletion of CO. The dust properties suggest the dust is
less evolved than in typical T Tauri disks. Both the spiral-like feature and
the departure from purely Keplerian motions indicates the AB Aur disk is not in
quasi-equilibrium. Disk self-gravity is insufficient to create the
perturbation. This behavior may be related either to an early phase of star
formation in which the Keplerian regime is not yet fully established and/or to
a disturbance of yet unknown origin. An alternate, but unproven, possibility is
that of a low mass companion located about 40 AU from AB Aur.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Dust Stratification in Young Circumstellar Disks
We present high-resolution infrared spectra of four YSOs (T Tau N, T Tau S,
RNO 91, and HL Tau). The spectra exhibit narrow absorption lines of 12CO, 13CO,
and C18O as well as broad emission lines of gas phase12CO. The narrow
absorption lines of CO are shown to originate from the colder circumstellar
gas. We find that the line of sight gas column densities resulting from the CO
absorption lines are much higher than expected for the measured extinction for
each source and suggest the gas to dust ratio is measuring the dust settling
and/or grain coagulation in these extended disks. We provide a model of
turbulence, dust settling and grain growth to explain the results. The
techniques presented here allow us to provide some observationally-motivated
bounds on accretion disk alpha in protostellar systems
A Keplerian disk around the Herbig Ae star HD 34282
We report new millimeter observations of the circumstellar material
surrounding the Herbig Ae A0.5 star HD 34282 performed with the IRAM array in
CO J=2-1 and in continuum at 1.3 mm. These observations have revealed the
existence of a large Keplerian disk around the star. We have analysed
simultaneously the line and continuum emissions to derive the physical
properties of both the gas and the dust. The analysis of our observations also
shows that the Hipparcos distance to the star is somewhat underestimated ; the
actual distance is probably about 400 pc. With this distance the disk around HD
34282 appears more massive and somewhat hotter than the observed disks around
less massive T Tauri stars, but shares the general behaviour of passive disks.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, to appear in A&
Continuum and CO/HCO+ Emission from the Disk Around the T Tauri Star LkCa 15
We present OVRO Millimeter Array lambda = 3.4 - 1.2 mm dust continuum and
spectral line observations of the accretion disk encircling the T Tauri star
LkCa 15. The 1.2 mm dust continuum emission is resolved, and gives a minimum
diameter of 190 AU and an inclination angle of 57+/-5 degrees. There is a
noticeable, but at present poorly constrained, decrease in the continuum
spectral slope with frequency that may result from the coupled processes of
grain growth and dust settling. Imaging of the fairly intense emission from the
lowest rotational transitions of CO, 13CO and HCO+ reveals a rotating disk and
emission extends to 750 AU and the characteristic radius of the disk is
determined to be around 425 AU (HWHM) based on model fits to the CO velocity
field. The disk mass derived from the CO isotopologues with ``typical'' dense
cloud abundances is still nearly two orders of magnitude less than that
inferred from the dust emission, which is probably due to extensive molecular
depletion in the cold, dense disk midplane. N2H+ 1-0 emission has also been
detected which, along with HCO+, sets a lower limit to the fractional
ionization of 10^{-8} in the near-surface regions of protoplanetary disks. This
first detection of N2H+ in circumstellar disks has also made possible a
determination of the N2/CO ratio (~2) that is at least an order of magnitude
larger than those in the envelopes of young stellar objects and dense clouds.
The large N2/CO ratio indicates that our observations probe disk layers in
which CO is depleted but some N2 remains in the gas phase. Such differential
depletion can lead to large variations in the fractional ionization with height
in the outer reaches of circumstellar disks, and may help to explain the
relative nitrogen deficiency observed in comets.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 28 pages, 7 figure
An evolved disk surrounding the massive main sequence star MWC 297?
We present the results of the interferometric observations of the
circumstellar disk surrounding MWC 297 in the continuum at 230 GHz (1.3 mm) and
in the (J=2-1) rotational transitions of CO,CO and CO
using the Submillimeter Array. At a distance of 250 pc, MWC 297 is one of the
closest, young massive stars (M 10 M) to us. Compact
continuum emission is detected towards MWC 297 from which we estimate a disk
mass (gas+dust) of 0.07 M and a disk radius of 80 AU. Our
result demonstrates that circumstellar disks can survive around massive stars
well into their main sequence phase even after they have become optically
visible. Complementing our observations with the data compiled from the
literature, we find the submm dust opacity index to be between 0.1 and
0.3. If the emission is optically thin, the low value of indicates the
presence of relatively large grains in the disk, possibly because of grain
growth. We do not detect any CO emission associated with the continuum source.
We argue that the CO emission from the disk is likely optically thin, in
which case, we derive an upper limit to the gas mass which implies significant
depletion of molecular gas in the disk. The mass of this disk and the
evolutionary trends observed are similar to those found for intermediate mass
Herbig Ae stars and low mass T Tauri stars.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
H_2 and CO Emission from Disks around T Tauri and Herbig Ae Pre-Main-Sequence Stars and from Debris Disks around Young Stars: Warm and Cold Circumstellar Gas
We present ISO Short-Wavelength Spectrometer observations of H_2 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. The pre-main-sequence sources have been selected to be isolated from molecular clouds and to have circumstellar disks revealed by millimeter interferometry. We detect "warm" (T ≈100-200 K) H_2 gas around many sources, including tentatively the debris-disk objects. The mass of this warm gas ranges from ~ 10^(-4) M_☉ up to 8 x 10^(-3) and can constitute a nonnegligible fraction of the total disk mass. Complementary single-dish ^(12)CO 3-2/^(13)CO 3-2, and ^(12)CO 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 ^(12)CO 3-2/^(13)CO 3-2 integrated fluxes indicate that ^(12)CO 3-2 is optically thick but that ^(13)CO 3-2 is optically thin or at most moderately thick. The ^(13)CO 3-2 lines have been used to estimate the cold gas mass. If a H_2/CO conversion factor of 1 x 10^(-4) 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. These findings confirm that CO is not a good tracer of the total gas content in disks since it can be photodissociated in the outer layers and frozen onto grains in the cold dense part of disks, but that it is a robust tracer of the disk velocity field. In contrast, H_2 can shield itself from photodissociation even in low-mass "optically thin" debris disks and can therefore survive longer. The warm gas is typically 1%-10% of the total mass deduced from millimeter continuum emission, but it 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 H_2 CO, or dust masses is found for stars with ages in the range of 10^6-10^7 yr, although a decrease is found for the older debris-disk star β Pictoris. The large amount of warm gas derived from H_2 raises the question of the heating mechanism(s). Radiation from the central star as well as the general interstellar radiation field heat an extended surface layer of the disk, but existing models fail to explain the amount of warm gas quantitatively. The existence of a gap in the disk can increase the area of material influenced by radiation. Prospects for future observations with ground- and space-borne observations are discussed
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