No Arabic abstract
We report on a sensitive search for H2 1-0 S(1), 1-0 S(0) and 2-1 S(1) ro-vibrational emission at 2.12, 2.22 and 2.25 micron in a sample of 15 Herbig Ae/Be stars employing CRIRES, the ESO-VLT near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, at R~90,000. We detect the H2 1-0 S(1) line toward HD 100546 and HD 97048. In the other 13 targets, the line is not detected. The H2 1-0 S(0) and 2-1 S(1) lines are undetected in all sources. This is the first detection of near-IR H2 emission in HD 100546. The H2 1-0 S(1) lines observed in HD 100546 and HD 97048 are observed at a velocity consistent with the rest velocity of both stars, suggesting that they are produced in the circumstellar disk. In HD 97048, the emission is spatially resolved and it is observed to extend at least up to 200 AU. We report an increase of one order of magnitude in the H2 1-0 S(1) line flux with respect to previous measurements taken in 2003 for this star, which suggests line variability. In HD 100546 the emission is tentatively spatially resolved and may extend at least up to 50 AU. Modeling of the H2 1-0 S(1) line profiles and their spatial extent with flat keplerian disks shows that most of the emission is produced at a radius >5 AU. Upper limits to the H2 1-0 S(0)/ 1-0 S(1) and H2 2-1 S(1)/1-0 S(1) line ratios in HD 97048 are consistent with H2 gas at T>2000 K and suggest that the emission observed may be produced by X-ray excitation. The upper limits for the line ratios for HD 100546 are inconclusive. Because the H2 emission is located at large radii, for both sources a thermal emission scenario (i.e., gas heated by collisions with dust) is implausible. We argue that the observation of H2 emission at large radii may be indicative of an extended disk atmosphere at radii >5 AU. This may be explained by a hydrostatic disk in which gas and dust are thermally decoupled or by a disk wind caused by photoevaporation.
Mid-IR emission lines of H2 are useful probes to determine the mass of warm gas present in the surface layers of disks. Numerous observations of Herbig Ae/Be stars (HAeBes) have been performed, but only 2 detections of mid-IR H2 toward HD97048 and AB Aur have been reported. We aim at tracing the warm gas in the disks of 5 HAeBes with gas-rich environments and physical characteristics close to those of AB Aur and HD97048, to discuss whether the detections toward these 2 objects are suggestive of peculiar conditions for the gas. We search for the H2 S(1) emission line at 17.035 mum with VISIR, and complemented by CH molecule observations with UVES. We gather the H2 measurements from the literature to put the new results in context and search for a correlation with some disk properties. None of the 5 VISIR targets shows evidence for H2 emission. From the 3sigma upper limits on the integrated line fluxes we constrain the amount of optically thin warm gas to be less than 1.4 M_Jup in the disk surface layers. There are now 20 HAeBes observed with VISIR and TEXES instruments to search for warm H2, but only two detections (HD97048 and AB Aur) were made so far. We find that the two stars with detected warm H2 show at the same time high 30/13 mum flux ratios and large PAH line fluxes at 8.6 and 11.3 mum compared to the bulk of observed HAeBes and have emission CO lines detected at 4.7 mum. We detect the CH 4300.3A absorption line toward both HD97048 and AB Aur with UVES. The CH to H2 abundance ratios that this would imply if it were to arise from the same component as well as the radial velocity of the CH lines both suggest that CH arises from a surrounding envelope, while the detected H2 would reside in the disk. The two detections of the S(1) line in the disks of HD97048 and AB Aur suggest either peculiar physical conditions or a particular stage of evolution.
The physical processes occurring within the inner few astronomical units of proto-planetary disks surrounding Herbig Ae stars are crucial to setting the environment in which the outer planet-forming disk evolves and put critical constraints on the processes of accretion and planet migration. We present the most complete published sample of high angular resolution H- and K-band observations of the stars HD 163296 and HD 190073, including 30 previously unpublished nights of observations of the former and 45 nights of the latter with the CHARA long-baseline interferometer, in addition to archival VLTI data. We confirm previous observations suggesting significant near-infrared emission originates within the putative dust evaporation front of HD 163296 and show this is the case for HD 190073 as well. The H- and K-band sizes are the same within $(3 pm 3)%$ for HD 163296 and within $(6 pm 10)%$ for HD 190073. The radial surface brightness profiles for both disks are remarkably Gaussian-like with little or no sign of the sharp edge expected for a dust evaporation front. Coupled with spectral energy distribution analysis, our direct measurements of the stellar flux component at H and K bands suggest that HD 190073 is much younger (<400 kyr) and more massive (~5.6 M$_odot$) than previously thought, mainly as a consequence of the new Gaia distance (891 pc).
In order to look for signs of on-going planet formation in young disks, we carried out the first J-band polarized emission imaging of the Herbig Ae/Be stars HD 150193, HD 163296, and HD 169142 using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), along with new H band observations of HD 144432. We confirm the complex double ring structure for the nearly face-on system HD 169142 first seen in H-band, finding the outer ring to be substantially redder than the inner one in polarized intensity. Using radiative transfer modeling, we developed a physical model that explains the full spectral energy distribution (SED) and J- and H-band surface brightness profiles, suggesting that the differential color of the two rings could come from reddened starlight traversing the inner wall and may not require differences in grain properties. In addition, we clearly detect an elongated, off-center ring in HD 163296 (MWC 275), locating the scattering surface to be 18 AU above the midplane at a radial distance of 77 AU, co-spatial with a ring seen at 1.3mm by ALMA linked to the CO snow line. Lastly, we report a weak tentative detection of scattered light for HD 150193 (MWC 863) and a non-detection for HD 144432; the stellar companion known for each of these targets has likely disrupted the material in the outer disk of the primary star. For HD 163296 and HD 169142, the prominent outer rings we detect could be evidence for giant planet formation in the outer disk or a manifestation of large-scale dust growth processes possibly related to snow-line chemistry.
We report near-infrared photometric measurements of 35 Herbig Ae/Be candidate stars obtained with direct imaging and aperture photometry. Observations were made through the broadband J, H, and K filters, with each source imaged in at least one of the wavebands. We achieved subarcsecond angular resolution for all observations, providing us with the opportunity to search for close binary candidates and extended structure. The imaging revealed five newly identified binary candidates and one previously resolved T Tauri binary among the target sources with separations of <~2.5. Separate photometry is provided for each of the binary candidate stars. We detect one extended source that has been identified as a protoplanetary nebula. Comparing our magnitudes to past measurements yields significant differences for some sources, possibly indicating photometric variability. H-band finding charts for all of our sources are provided to aid follow-up high-resolution imaging.
We present mid IR spectro-photometric imaging of a sample of eight nearby ($D leq 240$pc) Herbig Ae/Be stars. The spectra are dominated by photospheric emission (HR6000), featureless infrared excess emission (T~Cha), broad silicate emission feature (HR5999) and the infrared emission bands (HD 97048, HD 97300, TY~CrA, HD 176386). The spectrum of HD179218 shows both silicate emission and infrared emission bands (IEB). All stars of our sample where the spectrum is entirely dominated by IEB have an extended emission on scales of a few thousand AU ($sim 10$). We verify the derived source extension found with ISOCAM by multi--aperture photometry with ISOPHT and compare our ISOCAM spectral photometry with ISOSWS spectra.