Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.1307s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #13.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.506
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Observations of the inner regions of circumstellar disks are essential for obtaining a complete understanding of star and planet formation. High-resolution infrared molecular spectroscopy, primarily of the abundant CO molecule, has emerged as one of the key techniques for studying these enigmatic regions, which are too small to be resolved with imaging techniques. High-resolution molecular spectroscopy simultaneously provides information about the radial and vertical temperature and density profiles of the molecular components of disks.
Our dataset consists of 4.7-5.1 μm spectra of an array of young stars acquired with the NIRSPEC echelle spectrometer at the Keck II telescope. In this study, we are focusing in particular on sources with CO rovibrational emission lines, and are using line profile shapes and widths to extract the innermost radius of CO emission. The location of the CO inner radius provides insight into the structure and photochemistry of inner disks. CO is only dissociated by vacuum-UV photons, so this inner radius should depend on the VUV flux impinging on the inner disk and by the amount of small dust grains lying between the star and the CO molecules. We therefore expect the CO inner radius to lie just outside the dust sublimation radius for optically thick disks, and this appears to be roughly correct. However, we are also investigating correlations between CO inner radii and such factors as dust radii derived from interferometry, stellar types, accretion rates and ages. We will present the intriguing trends that are emerging from this study.
The authors acknowledge support from the NASA Spitzer and Origins programs.
Blake Geoffrey A.
Boogert Abraham C. A.
Brown Jonathan M.
Salyk Colette
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