RESOLVING THE GAP AND AU-SCALE ASYMMETRIES IN THE PRE-TRANSITIONAL DISK OF V1247 ORIONIS

Journal Article · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/768/1/80· OSTI ID:22126779

Kraus, Stefan; Espaillat, Catherine; Wilner, David J. ^[1]; Ireland, Michael J. ^[2]; Sitko, Michael L.; Swearingen, Jeremy R.; Werren, Chelsea ^[3]; Monnier, John D.; Calvet, Nuria ^[4]; Grady, Carol A. ^[5]; Harries, Tim J. ^[6]; Hoenig, Sebastian F. ^[7]; Russell, Ray W. ^[8]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-78, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109 (Australia)
3. Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 (United States)
4. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 918 Dennison Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
5. Eureka Scientific Inc., Oakland, CA 94602 (United States)
6. School of Physics, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QL (United Kingdom)
7. Department of Physics, University of California Santa Barbara, Broida Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States)
8. The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, CA 90009 (United States)

Pre-transitional disks are protoplanetary disks with a gapped disk structure, potentially indicating the presence of young planets in these systems. In order to explore the structure of these objects and their gap-opening mechanism, we observed the pre-transitional disk V1247 Orionis using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, the Keck Interferometer, Keck-II, Gemini South, and IRTF. This allows us to spatially resolve the AU-scale disk structure from near- to mid-infrared wavelengths (1.5-13 {mu}m), tracing material at different temperatures and over a wide range of stellocentric radii. Our observations reveal a narrow, optically thick inner-disk component (located at 0.18 AU from the star) that is separated from the optically thick outer disk (radii {approx}> 46 AU), providing unambiguous evidence for the existence of a gap in this pre-transitional disk. Surprisingly, we find that the gap region is filled with significant amounts of optically thin material with a carbon-dominated dust mineralogy. The presence of this optically thin gap material cannot be deduced solely from the spectral energy distribution, yet it is the dominant contributor at mid-infrared wavelengths. Furthermore, using Keck/NIRC2 aperture masking observations in the H, K', and L' bands, we detect asymmetries in the brightness distribution on scales of {approx}15-40 AU, i.e., within the gap region. The detected asymmetries are highly significant, yet their amplitude and direction changes with wavelength, which is not consistent with a companion interpretation but indicates an inhomogeneous distribution of the gap material. We interpret this as strong evidence for the presence of complex density structures, possibly reflecting the dynamical interaction of the disk material with sub-stellar mass bodies that are responsible for the gap clearing.

• OSTI ID: 22126779
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 768, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCRETION DISKS
APERTURES
ASYMMETRY
DENSITY
DISTRIBUTION
ENERGY SPECTRA
INTERACTIONS
INTERFEROMETERS
MASS
PLANETS
PROTOPLANETS
STARS
TELESCOPES
WAVELENGTHS