No Arabic abstract
We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS) observations of the reflection nebulosity associated with the T Tauri star HH 30. The images show the scattered light pattern characteristic of a highly inclined, optically thick disk with a prominent dustlane whose width decreases with increasing wavelength. The reflected nebulosity exhibits a lateral asymmetry in the upper lobe on the opposite side to that reported in previously published Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images. The radiation transfer model which most closely reproduces the data has a flared accretion disk with dust grains larger than standard interstellar medium grains by a factor of approximately 2.1. A single hotspot on the stellar surface provides the necessary asymmetry to fit the images and is consistent with previous modeling of the light curve and images. Photometric analysis results in an estimated extinction of Av>~80; however, since the photometry measures only scattered light rather than direct stellar flux, this a lower limit. The radiative transfer models require an extinction of Av = 7,900.
We present H-band polarimetric imagery of UX Tau A taken with HiCIAO/AO188 on the Subaru Telescope. UX Tau A has been classified as a pre-transitional disk object, with a gap structure separating its inner and outer disks. Our imagery taken with the 0.15 (21 AU) radius coronagraphic mask has revealed a strongly polarized circumstellar disk surrounding UX Tau A which extends to 120 AU, at a spatial resolution of 0.1 (14 AU). It is inclined by 46 pm 2 degree as the west side is nearest. Although SED modeling and sub-millimeter imagery suggested the presence of a gap in the disk, with the inner edge of the outer disk estimated to be located at 25 - 30 AU, we detect no evidence of a gap at the limit of our inner working angle (23 AU) at the near-infrared wavelength. We attribute the observed strong polarization (up to 66 %) to light scattering by dust grains in the disk. However, neither polarization models of the circumstellar disk based on Rayleigh scattering nor Mie scattering approximations were consistent with the observed azimuthal profile of the polarization degrees of the disk. Instead, a geometric optics model of the disk with nonspherical grains with the radii of 30 micron meter is consistent with the observed profile. We suggest that the dust grains have experienced frequent collisional coagulations and have grown in the circumstellar disk of UX Tau A.
We present the first high-resolution near-infrared images of the edge-on silhouette circumstellar disk, Orion 114-426, made using NICMOS on the Hubble Space Telescope. Images taken against the bright nebular background of the ionized hydrogen Pa$alpha$ line at 1.87 micron show the major axis of the disk to be approximately 20% smaller than at 0.6 micron, from which we deduce the structure of the edge of the disk. Continuum images of diffuse polar lobes above and below the plane of the disk show a morphology and evolution with wavelength consistent with predictions for reflection nebulae in a diffuse envelope with large polar cavities, surrounding a thin, massless, Keplerian disk, centered on an otherwise hidden central star. We make use of our observations and reasonable assumptions about the underlying disk structure to show that the disk mass is at least 10 earth masses and plausibly $geq 5times 10^{-4}$ solar masses.
To reveal the structures of a transition disk around a young stellar object in Lupus, Sz 91, we have performed aperture synthesis 345 GHz continuum and CO(3--2) observations with the Submillimeter Array ($sim1arcsec$--3$arcsec$ resolution), and high-resolution imaging of polarized intensity at the $K_s$-band by using the HiCIAO instrument on the Subaru Telescope ($0farcs25$ resolution). Our observations successfully resolved the inner and outer radii of the dust disk to be 65 AU and 170 AU, respectively, which indicates that Sz 91 is a transition disk source with one of the largest known inner holes. The model fitting analysis of the spectral energy distribution reveals an H$_2$ mass of $2.4times10^{-3}$ $M_sun$ in the cold ($T<$30 K) outer part at $65<r<170$ AU by assuming a canonical gas-to-dust mass ratio of 100, although a small amount ($>3times10^{-9}$ $M_sun$) of hot ($Tsim$180 K) dust possibly remains inside the inner hole of the disk. The structure of the hot component could be interpreted as either an unresolved self-luminous companion body (not directly detected in our observations) or a narrow ring inside the inner hole. Significant CO(3--2) emission with a velocity gradient along the major axis of the dust disk is concentrated on the Sz 91 position, suggesting a rotating gas disk with a radius of 420 AU. The Sz 91 disk is possibly a rare disk in an evolutionary stage immediately after the formation of protoplanets because of the large inner hole and the lower disk mass than other transition disks studied thus far.
High resolution FUV echelle spectra showing absorption features arising from CI and CO gas in the Beta Pictoris circumstellar (CS) disk were obtained on 1997 December 6 and 19 using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). An unsaturated spin-forbidden line of CI at 1613.376 A not previously seen in spectra of Beta Pictoris was detected, allowing for an improved determination of the column density of CI at zero velocity relative to the star (the stable component), N = (2-4) x 10^{16} cm^{-2}. Variable components with multiple velocities, which are the signatures of infalling bodies in the Beta Pictoris CS disk, are observed in the CI 1561 A and 1657 A multiplets. Also seen for the first time were two lines arising from the metastable singlet D level of carbon, at 1931 A and 1463 A The results of analysis of the CO A-X (0-0), (1-0), and (2-0) bands are presented, including the bands arising from {13}^CO, with much better precision than has previously been possible, due to the very high resolution provided by the STIS echelle gratings. Only stable CO gas is observed, with a column density N(CO) = (6.3 +/- 0.3) x 10^{14} cm{-2}. An unusual ratio of the column densities of {12}^CO to {13}^CO is found (R = 15 +/- 2). The large difference between the column densities of CI and CO indicates that photodissociation of CO is not the primary source of CI gas in the disk, contrary to previous suggestion.
We report on results of near-infrared and optical observations of the mm disk embedded in the Bok globule CB 26 (Launhardt & Sargent 2001). The near-infrared images show a bipolar reflection nebula with a central extinction lane which coincides with the mm disk. Imaging polarimetry of this object yielded a polarization pattern which is typical for a young stellar object surrounded by a large circumstellar disk and an envelope, seen almost edge-on. The strong linear polarization in the bipolar lobes is caused by single scattering at dust grains and allowed to locate the illuminating source which coincides with the center of the mm disk. The spectral energy distribution of the YSO embedded in CB 26 resembles that of a ClassI source with a luminosity of 0.5 L_sun.Using the pre-main-sequence evolutionary tracks and the stellar mass inferred from the rotation curve of the disk, we derive an age of the system of <10^6 yr. H_alpha and [SII] narrow-band imaging as well as optical spectroscopy revealed an Herbig-Haro object 6.15 arcmin northwest of CB 26 YSO 1, perfectly aligned with the symmetry axis of the bipolar nebula. This Herbig-Haro object (HH 494) indicates ongoing accretion and outflow activity in CB 26 YSO 1. Its excitation characteristics indicate that the Herbig-Haro flow is propagating into a low-density environment. We suggest that CB 26 YSO 1 represents the transition stage between embedded protostellar accretion disks and more evolved protoplanetary disks around T Tauri stars in an undisturbed environment.