Unveiling the Inner Disk Structure of T Tauri Stars

Details Unveiling the Inner Disk Structure of T Tauri Stars Unveiling the Inner Disk Structure of T Tauri Stars

2003-10-02

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0310067v1

Astrophys.J.597:L149-L152,2003

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

accepted by ApJ letters

Scientific paper

10.1086/379921

We present near-infrared spectra of the excess continuum emission from the innermost regions of classical T Tauri disks. In almost all cases, the shape of the excess is consistent with that of a single-temperature blackbody with T ~ 1400 K, similar to the expected dust sublimation temperature for typical dust compositions. The amount of excess flux roughly correlates with the accretion luminosity in objects with similar stellar properties. We compare our observations with the predictions of simple disk models having an inner rim located at the dust sublimation radius, including irradiation heating of the dust from both the stellar and accretion luminosities. The models yield inner rim radii in the range 0.07-0.54 AU, increasing with higher stellar and accretion luminosities. Using typical parameters which fit our observed sample, we predict a rim radius ~ 0.2 AU for the T Tauri star DG Tau, which agrees with recent Keck near-infrared interferometric measurements. For large mass accretion rates, the inner rim lies beyond the corotation radius at (or within) which magnetospheric accretion flows are launched, which implies that pure gaseous disks must extend inside the dust rim. Thus, for a significant fraction of young stars, dust cannot exist in the innermost disk, calling into question theories in which solid particles are ejected by a wind originating at the magnetospheric radius.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Unveiling the Inner Disk Structure of T Tauri Stars 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 Unveiling the Inner Disk Structure of T Tauri Stars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Unveiling the Inner Disk Structure of T Tauri Stars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-211759