NACO polarimetric differential imaging of TW Hya^*

A sharp look at the closest T Tauri disk

¹ Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany
² Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
³ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Observatoire de Grenoble, 414 rue de la piscine, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
⁴ ONERA, BP 72, 29 avenue de la Division Leclerc, 92322 Châtillon Cedex, France

Corresponding author: D. Apai, apai@mpia.de

Received: 12 September 2003
Accepted: 31 October 2003

Abstract

We present high-contrast imaging data on the disk of the classical T Tauri star TW Hya. The images were obtained through the polarimetric differential imaging technique with the adaptive optics system NACO. Our commissioning data show the presence of polarized disk emission between 0.1´´ and 1.4´´ from the star. We derive the first Ks-band radial polarized intensity distribution. We show that the polarized intensity compares well to shorter wavelengths surface brightness observations and confirm the previously reported gradual slope change around 0.8´´. These results show the potential of the new polarimetric differential imaging technique at 8 m-class telescopes to map the inner regions of protoplanetary disks.