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Register a new userA circumstellar dust disk around T Tau N: Sub-arcsecond imaging at 3 mm
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We present high-resolution imaging of the young binary T Tauri in 3 mm continuum emission. Compact dust emission with integrated flux density 50 +/- 6 mJy is resolved in an aperture synthesis map at 0.5 resolution and is centered at the position of the optically visible component, T Tau N. No emission above a 3 sigma level of 9 mJy is detected 0.7 south of T Tau N at the position of the infrared companion, T Tau S. We interpret the continuum detection as arising from a circumstellar disk around T Tau N and estimate its properties by fitting a flat-disk model to visibilities at wavelengths of 1 and 3 mm and to the flux density at 7 mm. Given the data, probability distributions are calculated for values of the free parameters, including the temperature, density, dust opacity, and the disk outer radius. The radial variation in temperature and density is not narrowly constrained by the data. The most likely value of the frequency dependence of the dust opacity, beta = 0.53^{+0.27}_{-0.17}, is consistent with that of disks around other T Tauri stars in which grain growth is believed to have taken place. The outer radius, R = 41^{+26}_{-14} AU, is smaller than the projected binary separation, and may indicate truncation of the disk. The total mass estimated for the disk, log(M/M_sun) = {-2.4}^{+0.7}_{-0.6}, is similar to masses observed around many young single sources and to the minimum nebular mass required to form a planetary system like our own. This observation strongly suggests that the presence of a binary companion does not rule out the formation of a sizeable planetary system.
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We have detected the T~Tauri star, DO Tauri, in a 0.6$$-resolution VLA map of 43.3 GHz ($lambda$ = 7 mm) continuum emission. The 43 GHz flux density lies on the same power-law slope defined by 89 to 232 GHz measurements, F$_ u$ $propto u^{alpha}$ with index $alpha$ = 2.39$pm$0.23, confirming that the 43.3 GHz emission is thermal radiation from circumstellar dust. Upper limits to the flux densities at 8.4 and 22.5 GHz constrain the contribution of free-free emission from a compact ionized wind to less than 49%. The dust emissivity index, $beta$, is $0.39pm$0.23, if the emission is optically thin. Fitting a model of a thin circumstellar disk to the observed spectral energy distribution gives $beta = 0.6pm0.3$, consistent with the power-law derivation. Both values are substantially lower than is generally accepted for the interstellar medium, suggesting grain growth. Given the youth of DO Tau and the early evolutionary state of its circumstellar disk, this result implies that mm-size grains have already formed by the early T-Tauri phase.
We present the first high angular resolution 1.4mm and 2.7mm continuum maps of the T Tauri binary system HK Tau obtained with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer. The contributions of both components are well disentangled at 1.4mm and the star previously known to host an edge-on circumstellar disk, HK Tau B, is elongated along the disks major axis. The optically bright primary dominates the thermal emission from the system at both wavelengths, confirming that it also has its own circumstellar disk. Its non-detection in scattered light images indicates that the two disks in this binary system are not parallel. Our data further indicate that the circumprimary disk is probably significantly smaller than the circumsecondary disk. We model the millimeter thermal emission from the circumstellar disk surrounding HK Tau B. We show that the disk mass derived from scattered light images cannot reproduce the 1.4mm emission using opacities of the same population of submicron dust grains. However, grain growth alone cannot match all the observed properties of this disk. We propose that this disk contains three separate layers: two thin outer surfaces which contain dust grains that are very similar to those of the ISM, and a disk interior which is relatively massive and/or has experienced limited grain growth with the largest grains significantly smaller than 1mm. Such a structure could naturally result from dust settling in a protoplanetary disk.
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 submillimeter observations of the young brown dwarfs KPNO Tau 1, KPNO Tau 3, and KPNO Tau 6 at 450 micron and 850 micron taken with the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array on the James Clerke Maxwell Telescope. KPNO Tau 3 and KPNO Tau 6 have been previously identified as Class II objects hosting accretion disks, whereas KPNO Tau 1 has been identified as a Class III object and shows no evidence of circumsubstellar material. Our 3 sigma detection of cold dust around KPNO Tau 3 implies a total disk mass of (4.0 +/- 1.1) x 10^{-4} Msolar (assuming a gas to dust ratio of 100:1). We place tight constraints on any disks around KPNO Tau 1 or KPNO Tau 6 of <2.1 x 10^{-4} Msolar and <2.7 x 10^{-4} Msolar, respectively. Modeling the spectral energy distribution of KPNO Tau 3 and its disk suggests the disk properties (geometry, dust mass, and grain size distribution) are consistent with observations of other brown dwarf disks and low-mass T-Tauri stars. In particular, the disk-to-host mass ratio for KPNO Tau 3 is congruent with the scenario that at least some brown dwarfs form via the same mechanism as low-mass stars.
We have detected circumstellar molecular gas around a small sample of T Tauri stars through aperture synthesis imaging of CO(2-1) emission at ~2-3 resolution. RY Tauri, DL Tauri, DO Tauri, and AS 209 show resolved and elongated gaseous emission. For RY Tau, the deconvolved, half-maximum radius along the direction of elongation, PA~48deg, is 110 AU. Corresponding radii and orientations for the other sources are: DL Tau -- 250 AU at PA~84deg; DO Tau -- 350 AU at PA~160deg; AS 209 -- 290 AU at PA~138deg. RY Tau, DL Tau, and AS 209 show velocity gradients parallel to the elongation, suggesting that the circumstellar material is rotating. RY Tau and AS 209 also exhibit double-peaked spectra characteristic of a rotating disk. Line emission from DO Tau is dominated by high-velocity blue-shifted gas which complicates the interpretation. Nevertheless, there is in each case sufficient evidence to speculate that the circumstellar emission may arise from a protoplanetary disk similar to that from which our solar system formed.
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