Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1997-08-28
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press: 13 pages, latex, 2 figures
Scientific paper
10.1086/316780
We report mid--IR observations of two young stars found in the Taurus dark cloud spatially resolving for the first time their 10 $\mu$m emission. The weak-emission T Tauri star DI Tau, tentatively identified by Skrutskie et al. (1990) on the basis of 12 $\mu$m IRAS data as an object in the process of dissipating its circumstellar disk, is found to have no infrared excess at a wavelength of 10 $\mu$m. The nearby classical T Tauri star DH Tau exhibits excess emission at 10 $\mu$m consistent with predictions based on circumstellar disk models. While both objects appear to have the same stellar mass, age, and rotation rate, they differ in two fundamental respects: DH Tau is a single star with an active accretion disk and DI Tau is a binary system lacking such a disk. The companion to DI Tau has a very low luminosity and is located at a projected distance of $\sim 20$ A.U. from the primary. Assuming the system to be co-eval, we derive a mass below the hydrogen burning limit for the companion. We speculate that the formation of a sub-stellar mass companion has led to the rapid evolution of the circumstellar disk that may have surrounded DI Tau.
Beckwith Steven V. W.
Herbst Thomas M.
Meyer Michael R.
Robberto Massimo
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