Issue |
A&A
Volume 574, February 2015
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A41 | |
Number of page(s) | 18 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201424520 | |
Published online | 22 January 2015 |
The VLTI/PIONIER near-infrared interferometric survey of southern T Tauri stars
I. First results⋆,⋆⋆
1
UJF-Grenoble 1/CNRS-INSU, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de
Grenoble (IPAG) UMR 5274,
38041
Grenoble,
France
e-mail:
anthonioz.fabien@gmail.com
2
UMI-FCA (UMI 3386), CNRS/INSU France and Universidad de Chile,
1058
Santiago,
Chile
3
European Southern Observatory, 85748, Garching by München, Germany
4
Département d’Astrophysique, Géophysique et Océanographie,
Université de Liège, 17 Allée du
Six Août, 4000
Liège,
Belgium
5 Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA
94720-3411 USA
6
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
91125,
USA
7
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena,
CA, 91109, USA
8
Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile,
Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile
9
Departamento de Fisica y Astronomía, Universidad de
Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
Received: 2 July 2014
Accepted: 12 November 2014
Context. The properties of the inner disks of bright Herbig AeBe stars have been studied with near-infrared (NIR) interferometry and high resolution spectroscopy. The continuum (dust) and a few molecular gas species have been studied close to the central star; however, sensitivity problems limit direct information about the inner disks of the fainter T Tauri stars.
Aims. Our aim is to measure some of the properties (inner radius, brightness profile, shape) of the inner regions of circumstellar disk surrounding southern T Tauri stars.
Methods. We performed a survey with the VLTI/PIONIER recombiner instrument at H-band of 21 T Tauri stars. The baselines used ranged from 11 m to 129 m, corresponding to a maximum resolution of ~3 mas (~0.45 au at 150 pc).
Results. Thirteen disks are resolved well and the visibility curves are fully sampled as a function of baseline in the range 45–130 m for these 13 objects. A simple qualitative examination of visibility profiles allows us to identify a rapid drop-off in the visibilities at short baselines(<10 Mλ) in 8 resolved disks. This is indicative of a significant contribution from an extended (R> 3 au, at 150 pc) contribution of light from the disk. We demonstrate that this component is compatible with scattered light, providing strong support to an earlier prediction. The amplitude of the drop-off and the amount of dust thermal emission changes from source to source suggesting that each disk is different. A by-product of the survey is the identification of a new milli-arcsec separation binary: WW Cha. Spectroscopic and interferometric data of AK Sco have also been fitted with a binary + disk model.
Conclusions. The visibility data are reproduced well when thermal emission and scattering from dust are fully considered. The inner radii measured are consistent with the expected dust sublimation radii. The modelling of AK Sco suggests a likely coplanarity between the disk and the binary’s orbital plane.
Key words: techniques: interferometric / protoplanetary disks / binaries: general / stars: variables: T Tauri, Herbig Ae/Be
Data obtained at the ESO VLTI as part of programmes 086. C-0433, 087. C-0703, 088. C-0670, and 089. C-0769.
Appendices A and B are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
© ESO, 2015
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.