DETECTION OF CH{sub 4} IN THE GV TAU N PROTOPLANETARY DISK
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri -St Louis, 503 Benton Hall, One University Blvd, St Louis, MO 63121 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Marietta College, Marietta, OH 45750 (United States)
T Tauri stars are low mass young stars that may serve as analogs to the early solar system. Observations of organic molecules in the protoplanetary disks surrounding T Tauri stars are important for characterizing the chemical and physical processes that lead to planet formation. Searches for undetected molecules, particularly in the inner, planet forming regions of these disks are important for testing protoplanetary disk chemical models and for understanding the evolution of volatiles through the star and planet formation process. We used NIRSPEC on Keck 2 to perform a high resolution (λ/Δλ ∼ 25,000) L-band survey of T Tauri star GV Tau N. This object is one of two in which the simple organic molecules HCN and C{sub 2}H{sub 2} have been reported in absorption in the warm molecular layer of the protoplanetary disk. In this Letter, we report the first detection of methane, CH{sub 4}, in a protoplanetary disk. Specifically, we detected the ν{sub 3} band in absorption. We determined a rotational temperature of 750 ± 50 K and column density of (2.8 ± 0.2) × 10{sup 17} cm{sup –2}. Our results imply that CH{sub 4} originates in the warm molecular layer of the inner protoplanetary disk.
- OSTI ID:
- 22215423
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 776, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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