We report new dynamical masses for five pre-main sequence (PMS) stars in the L1495 region of the Taurus star-forming region (SFR) and six in the L1688 region of the Ophiuchus SFR. Since these regions ...have VLBA parallaxes, these are absolute measurements of the stars' masses and are independent of their effective temperatures and luminosities. Seven of the stars have masses , thus providing data in a mass range with little data, and of these, six are measured to precision . We find eight stars with masses in the range 0.09-1.1 that agree well with the current generation of PMS evolutionary models. The ages of the stars we measured in the Taurus SFR are in the range 1-3 Myr, and Myr for those in L1688. We also measured the dynamical masses of 14 stars in the ALMA archival data for Akeson & Jensen's Cycle 0 project on binaries in the Taurus SFR. We find that the masses of seven of the targets are so large that they cannot be reconciled with reported values of their luminosity and effective temperature. We suggest that these targets are themselves binaries or triples.
The accuracy of masses of pre-main-sequence stars derived from their locations on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD) can be tested by comparison with accurate and precise masses determined ...independently. We present 29 single stars in the Taurus star-forming region (SFR) and 3 in the Ophiuchus SFR with masses measured dynamically to a precision of at least 10%. Our results include 9 updated mass determinations and 3 that have not had their dynamical masses published before. This list of stars with fundamental, dynamical masses, Mdyn, is drawn from a larger list of 39 targets in the Taurus SFR and 6 in the Ophiuchus SFR. Placing the stars with accurate and precise dynamical masses on HRDs that do not include internal magnetic fields underestimates the mass compared to Mdyn by about 30%. Placing them on an HRD that does include magnetic fields yields mass estimates in much better agreement with Mdyn, with an average difference between Mdyn and the estimated track mass of 0.01 0.02 M . The ages of the stars, 3-10 MY on tracks that include magnetic fields, is older than the 1-3 MY indicated by the nonmagnetic models. The older ages of T Tauri stars predicted by the magnetic models increase the time available for evolution of their disks and formation of the giant gas exoplanets. The agreement between our Mdyn values and the masses on the magnetic field tracks provides indirect support for these older ages.
Context. The increased sensitivity of millimeter-wave facilities now makes possible the detection of low amounts of gas in debris disks. Some of the gas-rich debris disks harbor peculiar properties, ...with possible pristine gas and secondary generated dust. The origin of the gas in these hybrid disks is strongly debated and the current sample is too sparse to understand this phenomenon. Aims. More detections are necessary to increase the statistics on this population. Lying at the final stages of evolution of proto-planetary disks and at the beginning of the debris disk phase, these objects could provide new insight into the processes involved in the making of planetary systems. Methods. We carried out a deep survey of the CO J = 2 → 1 and CO J = 3 → 2 lines with the APEX and IRAM radiotelescopes in young debris disks selected according to hybrid disk properties. The survey is complemented with a bibliographic study of the ratio between the emission of the gas and the continuum (SCO/Fcont) in CTTS, Herbig Ae, WTTS, hybrid, and debris disks. Results. Our sub-mm survey comprises 25 stars, including 17 new targets, and we increase the sensitivity limit by a factor 2 on eight sources compared to similar published studies. We report a 4σ tentative detection of a double-peaked CO J = 2 → 1 line around HD 23642; an eclipsing binary located in the Pleiades. We also reveal a correlation between the emission of the CO gas and the dust continuum from CTTS, Herbig Ae and few debris disks. The observed trend of the gas to dust flux ratio suggests a concurrent dissipation of the dust and gas components. Hybrid disks systematically lie above this trend, suggesting that these systems may witness a transient phase, when the dust has evolved more rapidly than the gas, with a flux ratio SCO/Fcont enhanced by a factor of between 10 and 100 compared to standard (proto-)planetary disks.
Context. Determining the gas density and temperature structures of protoplanetary disks is a fundamental task in order to constrain planet formation theories. This is a challenging procedure and most ...determinations are based on model-dependent assumptions. Aims. We attempt a direct determination of the radial and vertical temperature structure of the Flying Saucer disk, thanks to its favorable inclination of 90 degrees. Methods. We present a method based on the tomographic study of an edge-on disk. Using ALMA, we observe at 0.5″ resolution the Flying Saucer in CO J = 2–1 and CS J = 5–4. This edge-on disk appears in silhouette against the CO J = 2–1 emission from background molecular clouds in ρ Oph. The combination of velocity gradients due to the Keplerian rotation of the disk and intensity variations in the CO background as a function of velocity provide a direct measure of the gas temperature as a function of radius and height above the disk mid-plane. Results. The overall thermal structure is consistent with model predictions, with a cold (<12−15 K) CO-depleted mid-plane and a warmer disk atmosphere. However, we find evidence for CO gas along the mid-plane beyond a radius of about 200 au, coincident with a change of grain properties. Such behavior is expected in the case of efficient rise of UV penetration re-heating the disk and thus allowing CO thermal desorption or favoring direct CO photo-desorption. CO is also detected at up to 3–4 scale heights, while CS is confined to around 1 scale height above the mid-plane. The limits of the method due to finite spatial and spectral resolutions are also discussed. Conclusions. This method appears to be a very promising way to determine the gas structure of planet-forming disks, provided that the molecular data have an angular resolution which is high enough, on the order of 0.3−0.1″ at the distance of the nearest star-forming regions.
Context. With its high complexity, large size, and close distance, the ringworld around GG Tau A is an appealing case to study the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks around multiple star ...systems. However, investigations with radiative transfer models usually neglect the influence of the circumstellar dust around the individual stars. Aims. We investigate how circumstellar disks around the stars of GG Tau A influence the emission that is scattered at the circumbinary disk and if constraints on these circumstellar disks can be derived. Methods. We performed radiative transfer simulations with the POLArized RadIation Simulator (POLARIS) to obtain spectral energy distributions and emission maps in the H-Band (near-infrared). Subsequently, we compared them with observations to achieve our aims. Results. We studied the ratio of polarized intensity at different locations in the circumbinary disk. We conclude that the observed scattered-light near-infrared emission is best reproduced if the circumbinary disk lies in the shadow of at least two coplanar circumstellar disks surrounding the central stars. This implies that the inner wall of the circumbinary disk is strongly obscured around the midplane, while the observed emission is actually dominated by the upper-most disk layers. In addition, the inclined dark lane (“gap”) on the western side of the circumbinary disk, which has been a stable, nonrotating, feature for approximately 20 yr, can only be explained by the self-shadowing of a misaligned circumstellar disk surrounding one of the two components of the secondary close-binary star GG Tau Ab.
Chemistry in disks Guilloteau, S; Reboussin, L; Dutrey, A ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
8/2016, Volume:
592
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Aims. We attempt to determine the molecular composition of disks around young low-mass stars. Methods. We used the IRAM 30 m radio telescope to perform a sensitive wideband survey of 30 stars in the ...Taurus Auriga region known to be surrounded by gaseous circumstellar disks. We simultaneously observed HCO super(+)(3-2), HCN(3-2), C sub(2) H(3-2), CS(5-4), and two transitions of SO. We combined the results with a previous survey that observed super(13) CO (2-1), CN(2-1), two o-H sub(2) CO lines, and another transition of SO. We used available interferometric data to derive excitation temperatures of CN and C sub(2) H in several sources. We determined characteristic sizes of the gas disks and column densities of all molecules using a parametric power-law disk model. Our study is mostly sensitive to molecules at 200-400 au from the stars. We compared the derived column densities to the predictions of an extensive gas-grain chemical disk model under conditions representative of T Tauri disks. Results. This survey provides 20 new detections of HCO super(+) in disks, 18 in HCN, 11 in C sub(2) H, 8 in CS, and 4 in SO. HCO super(+) is detected in almost all sources and its J= 3-2 line is essentially optically thick, providing good estimates of the disk radii. The other transitions are (at least partially) optically thin. Large variations of the column density ratios are observed, but do not correlate with any specific property of the star or disk. Disks around Herbig Ae stars appear less rich in molecules than those around T Tauri stars, although the sample remains small. SO is only found in the (presumably younger) embedded objects, perhaps reflecting an evolution of the S chemistry due to increasing depletion with time. Overall, the molecular column densities, and in particular the CN/HCN and CN/C sub(2) H ratios, are well reproduced by gas-grain chemistry in cold disks. Conclusions. This study provides a comprehensive census of simple molecules in disks of radii >200-300 au. Extending that to smaller disks, or searching for less abundant or more complex molecules requires a much more sensitive facility, i.e., NOEMA and ALMA.
Context. Most Class II sources (of nearby star-forming regions) are surrounded by disks with weak millimeter continuum emission. These “faint” disks may hold clues to the disk dissipation mechanism. ...However, the physical properties of protoplanetary disks have been directly constrained by imaging only the brightest sources. Aims. We attempt to determine the characteristics of such faint disks around classical T Tauri stars and to explore the link between disk faintness and the proposed disk dispersal mechanisms (accretion, viscous spreading, photo-evaporation, planetary system formation). Methods. We performed high angular resolution (0.3′′) imaging of a small sample of disks (9 sources) with low 1.3 mm continuum flux (mostly <30 mJy) with the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer and simultaneously searched for 13CO (or CO) J = 2−1 line emission. Using a simple parametric disk model, we determined characteristic sizes for the disks in dust and gas, and we constrained surface densities in the central 50 AU. Results. All disks are much smaller than the bright disks imaged so far, both in continuum and 13CO lines (5 detections). In continuum, half of the disks are very small, with characteristic radii less than 10 AU, but still have high surface density values. Small sizes appear to be the main cause of the low disk luminosity. Direct evidence for grain growth is found for the three disks that are sufficiently resolved. Low continuum opacity is attested in only two systems, but we cannot firmly distinguish between a low gas surface density and a lower dust emissivity resulting from grain growth. Finally, we report a tentative discovery of a ~20 AU radius cavity in DS Tau, which with the (unresolved) “transition” disk of CX Tau, brings the proportion of “transitional” disks to a similar value to that of brighter sources. The existence of cavities cannot by itself explain their observed low mm flux. Conclusions. This study highlights a category of very compact dust disks that still exhibit high surface densities, which may represent up to 25% of the whole disk population. While its origin is unclear with the current data alone, it may be related to the compact planetary systems found by the Kepler mission.
On the Nature of the T Tauri Triple System Beck, Tracy L.; Schaefer, G. H.; Guilloteau, S. ...
Astrophysical journal/The Astrophysical journal,
10/2020, Volume:
902, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We present a multiwavelength analysis to reveal the nature of the enigmatic T Tauri triple star system. New optical and infrared measurements are coupled with archival X-ray, UV, and millimeter data ...sets to show the morphologies of disk material and outflow kinematics. A dark lane of obscuring material is seen in silhouette in several emission lines and in model-subtracted ALMA millimeter continuum dust residuals near the position of T Tau Sa+Sb, revealing the attenuating circumbinary ring around T Tau S. The flux variability of T Tau S is linked in part to the binary orbit; T Tau Sb brightens near orbital apastron as it emerges from behind circumbinary material. Outflow diagnostics confirm that T Tau N powers the blueshifted western outflow, and the T Tau S binary drives the northwest-southeastern flow. Analysis of the southern outflow shows periodic arcs ejected from the T Tau system. Correlation of these arc locations and tangential kinematics with the orbit timing suggests that launch of the last four southern outflow ejections is contemporaneous with, and perhaps triggered by, the T Tau Sa+Sb binary periastron passage. We present a geometry of the T Tau triple that has the southern components foreground to T Tau N, obscured by a circumbinary ring, with misaligned disks and interacting outflows. Particularly, a wind from T Tauri Sa that is perpendicular to its circumstellar disk might interact with the circumbinary material, which may explain conflicting high-contrast measurements of the system outflows in the literature. T Tauri is an important laboratory for understanding early dynamical processes in young multiple systems. We discuss the historical and future characteristics of the system in this context.
The availability of a number of new interferometric measurements of Main Sequence and subgiant stars makes it possible to calibrate the surface brightness relations of these stars using exclusively ...direct angular diameter measurements. These empirical laws make it possible to predict the limb darkened angular diameters theta sub(LD) of dwarfs and subgiants using their dereddened Johnson magnitudes, or their effective temperature. The smallest intrinsic dispersions of sigma less than or equal to 1% in theta sub(LD) are obtained for the relations based on the K and L magnitudes, for instance log theta sub(LD) = 0.0502 (B - L) + 0.5133 - 0.2L or log theta sub(LD) = 0.0755 (V - K) + 0.5170 - 0.2K. Our calibrations are valid between the spectral types A0 and M2 for dwarf stars (with a possible extension to later types when using the effective temperature), and between A0 and K0 for subgiants. Such relations are particularly useful for estimating the angular sizes of calibrators for long-baseline interferometry from readily available broadband photometry.
Context. Dust determines the temperature structure of protoplanetary disks, however, dust temperature determinations almost invariably rely on a complex modeling of the Spectral Energy Distribution. ...Aims. We attempt a direct determination of the temperature of large grains emitting at mm wavelengths. Methods. We observe the edge-on dust disk of the Flying Saucer, which appears in silhouette against the CO J = 2−1 emission from a background molecular cloud in ρ Oph. The combination of velocity gradients due to the Keplerian rotation of the disk and intensity variations in the CO background as a function of velocity allows us to directly measure the dust temperature. The dust opacity can then be derived from the emitted continuum radiation. Results. The dust disk absorbs the radiation from the CO clouds at several velocities. We derive very low dust temperatures, 5 to 7 K at radii around 100 au, which is much lower than most model predictions. The dust optical depth is >0.2 at 230 GHz, and the scale height at 100 au is at least 8 au (best fit 13 au). However, the dust disk is very flat (flaring index −0.35), which is indicative of dust settling in the outer parts.
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