No Arabic abstract
Using NASA IRTF SpeX data from 0.8 to 4.5 $mu$m, we determine self-consistently the stellar properties and excess emission above the photosphere for a sample of classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) in the Taurus molecular cloud with varying degrees of accretion. This process uses a combination of techniques from the recent literature as well as observations of weak-line T Tauri stars (WTTS) to account for the differences in surface gravity and chromospheric activity between the TTS and dwarfs, which are typically used as photospheric templates for CTTS. Our improved veiling and extinction estimates for our targets allow us to extract flux-calibrated spectra of the excess in the near-infrared. We find that we are able to produce an acceptable parametric fit to the near-infrared excesses using a combination of up to three blackbodies. In half of our sample, two blackbodies at temperatures of 8000 K and 1600 K suffice. These temperatures and the corresponding solid angles are consistent with emission from the accretion shock on the stellar surface and the inner dust sublimation rim of the disk, respectively. In contrast, the other half requires three blackbodies at 8000, 1800, and 800 K, to describe the excess. We interpret the combined two cooler blackbodies as the dust sublimation wall with either a contribution from the disk surface beyond the wall or curvature of the wall itself, neither of which should have single-temperature blackbody emission. In these fits, we find no evidence of a contribution from optically thick gas inside the inner dust rim.
With the launch of the {em Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer} ({em WISE}), a new era of detecting planetary debris and brown dwarfs around white dwarfs (WDs) has begun with the {em WISE} InfraRed Excesses around Degenerates (WIRED) Survey. The WIRED Survey is sensitive to substellar objects and dusty debris around WDs out to distances exceeding 100 pc, well beyond the completeness level of local WDs. In this paper, we present a cross-correlation of the preliminary Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) WD Catalog between the {em WISE}, Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), and SDSS DR7 photometric catalogs. From $sim18,000$ input targets, there are {em WISE} detections comprising 344 naked WDs (detection of the WD photosphere only), 1020 candidate WD+M dwarf binaries, 42 candidate WD+brown dwarf (BD) systems, 52 candidate WD+dust disk systems, and 69 targets with indeterminate infrared excess. We classified all of the detected targets through spectral energy distribution model fitting of the merged optical, near-IR, and {em WISE} photometry. Some of these detections could be the result of contaminating sources within the large ($approx6arcsec$) {em WISE} point spread function; we make a preliminary estimate for the rates of contamination for our WD+BD and WD+disk candidates, and provide notes for each target-of-interest. Each candidate presented here should be confirmed with higher angular resolution infrared imaging or infrared spectroscopy. We also present an overview of the observational characteristics of the detected WDs in the {em WISE} photometric bands, including the relative frequencies of candidate WD+M, WD+BD, and WD+disk systems.
Infrared excesses around white dwarf stars indicate the presence of various astrophysical objects of interest, including companions and debris disks. In this second paper of a series, we present follow-up observations of infrared excess candidates from Gaia and unWISE discussed in the first paper, Paper I. We report space-based infrared photometry at 3.6 and 4.5 micron for 174 white dwarfs from the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based near-infrared J, H, and K photometry of 235 white dwarfs from Gemini Observatory with significant overlap between Spitzer and Gemini observations. This data is used to confirm or rule-out the observed unWISE infrared excess. From the unWISE-selected candidate sample, the most promising infrared excess sample comes from both colour and flux excess, which has a Spitzer confirmation rate of 95%. We also discuss a method to distinguish infrared excess caused by stellar or sub-stellar companions from potential dust disks. In total, we confirm the infrared excess around 61 white dwarfs, 10 of which are likely to be stellar companions. The remaining 51 bright white dwarf with infrared excess beyond two microns has the potential to double the known sample of white dwarfs with dusty exoplanetary debris disks. Follow-up high-resolution spectroscopic studies of a fraction of confirmed excess white dwarfs in this sample have discovered emission from gaseous dust disks. Additional investigations will be able to expand the parameter space from which dust disks around white dwarfs are found.
Core-accretion planet formation begins in protoplanetary disks with the growth of small, ISM dust grains into larger particles. The progress of grain growth, which can be quantified using 10 micron silicate spectroscopy, has broad implications for the final products of planet formation. Previous studies have attempted to correlate stellar and disk properties with the 10 micron silicate feature in an effort to determine which stars are efficient at grain growth. Thus far there does not appear to be a dominant correlated parameter. In this paper, we use spatially resolved adaptive optics spectroscopy of 9 T Tauri binaries as tight as 0.25 to determine if basic properties shared between binary stars, such as age, composition, and formation history, have an effect on dust grain evolution. We find with 90-95% confidence that the silicate feature equivalent widths of binaries are more similar than those of randomly paired single stars, implying that shared properties do play an important role in dust grain evolution. At lower statistical significance, we find with 82% confidence that the secondary has a more prominent silicate emission feature (i.e., smaller grains) than the primary. If confirmed by larger surveys, this would imply that spectral type and/or binarity are important factors in dust grain evolution.
Optical/IR images of transition disks (TDs) have revealed deep intensity decrements in the rings of HAeBes HD142527 and HD100453, that can be interpreted as shadowing from sharply tilted inner disks, such that the outer disks are directly exposed to stellar light. Here we report similar dips in SPHERE+IRDIS differential polarized imaging (DPI) of TTauri DoAr44. With a fairly axially symmetric ring in the submm radio continuum, DoAr44 is likely also a warped system. We constrain the warp geometry by comparing radiative transfer predictions with the DPI data in H band (Q_phi(H)) and with a re-processing of archival 336GHz ALMA observations. The observed DPI shadows have coincident radio counterparts, but the intensity drops are much deeper in Q_phi(H) (~88%), compared to the shallow drops at 336GHz (~24%). Radiative transfer predictions with an inner disk tilt of ~30+-5deg approximately account for the observations. ALMA long-baseline observations should allow the observation of the warped gas kinematics inside the cavity of DoAr44.
We present the discovery of two extended $sim$0.12 mag dimming events of the weak-lined T-Tauri star V1334. The start of the first event was missed but came to an end in late 2003, and the second began in February 2009, and continues as of November 2016. Since the egress of the current event has not yet been observed, it suggests a period of $>$13 years if this event is periodic. Spectroscopic observations suggest the presence of a small inner disk, although the spectral energy distribution shows no infrared excess. We explore the possibility that the dimming events are caused by an orbiting body (e.g. a disk warp or dust trap), enhanced disk winds, hydrodynamical fluctuations of the inner disk, or a significant increase in the magnetic field flux at the surface of the star. We also find a $sim$0.32 day periodic photometric signal that persists throughout the 2009 dimming which appears to not be due to ellipsoidal variations from a close stellar companion. High precision photometric observations of V1334 Tau during K2 campaign 13, combined with simultaneous photometric and spectroscopic observations from the ground, will provide crucial information about the photometric variability and its origin.