Other
Scientific paper
May 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999aas...194.1310b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 194th AAS Meeting, #13.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 31, p.846
Other
Scientific paper
We describe a straightforward technique for estimating average temperatures of Be star disks from analysis of ultraviolet spectropolarimetry. The technique utilizes the fact that the spectrum of the scattered starlight is sensitive to the circumstellar opacity, and hence temperature, since the signature of the disk material is imprinted on the scattered light spectrum. Analysis of the polarization spectrum thus allows us to disentangle the relative contributions of the star and disk, and thereby obtain an estimate of the average disk opacity as a function of wavelength. Using an LTE line-blanketed model (containing about 10(6) spectral lines) for the opacity, we determine a theoretical opacity as a function of temperature. By comparing this to the opacity deduced from the spectropolarimetry, we can estimate the average disk temperature. For classical Be stars, the relative strengths of the Fe II and Fe III multiplets at around 2400 and 1900 Angstroms, respectively, are a sensitive temperature diagnostic, so that the temperature estimate can be made within +/- 1000K. We demonstrate our technique with analysis of UV spectropolarimetry (from WUPPE) of the classical Be star zeta Tau, for which we infer an isothermal disk temperature of 14000K. This work has been supported in part under NASA grants NAG5-3447 (KSB) and NAG5-3248 (JEB) to the University of Toledo. KW acknowledges support from NASA grant NAG5-6039. Spectropolarimetric observations with WUPPE and HPOL were supported under NASA contract NAS5-26777 with the University of Wisconsin.
Bjorkman Jon E.
Bjorkman Karen S.
Wood Kathleen
No associations
LandOfFree
A Simple Spectropolarimetric Temperature Diagnostic for Circumstellar Disks does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with A Simple Spectropolarimetric Temperature Diagnostic for Circumstellar Disks, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Simple Spectropolarimetric Temperature Diagnostic for Circumstellar Disks will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1119907