Letter to the Editor

Evidence for grain growth in T Tauri disks^*

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
² Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
³ Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1525 Budapest, PO Box 67, Hungary
⁴ Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, Astronomical str. 33, Tashkent 700051, Uzbekistan
⁵ Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium

Corresponding author: F. Przygodda, przygodda@mpia.de

Received: 9 September 2003
Accepted: 5 November 2003

Abstract

In this article we present the results from mid-infrared spectroscopy of a sample of 14 T Tauri stars with silicate emission. The qualitative analysis of the spectra reveals a correlation between the strength of the silicate feature and its shape similar to the one which was found recently for the more massive Herbig Ae/Be stars by van Boekel et al. (2003). The comparison with theoretical spectra of amorphous olivine ([Mg,Fe]₂SiO₄) with different grain sizes suggests that this correlation is indicating grain growth in the disks of T Tauri stars. Similar mechanisms of grain processing appear to be effective in both groups of young stars.