Resolving the SUB-AU-SCALE gas and dust distribution in FU Orionis sources

J. A. Eisner, L. A. Hillenbrand

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present Keck Interferometer observations of the three prototypical FU Orionis stars, FU Ori, V1057Cyg, and V1515Cyg. With a spatial resolution of a few milliarcseconds and a spectral resolution of λ/Δλ = 2000, our near-infrared observations spatially resolve gas and dust emission extending from stellocentric radii of 0.05AU to several AU. We fit these data with accretion disk models where each stellocentric radius of the disk is represented by a supergiant-type stellar emission spectrum at the disk temperature. A disk model is consistent with the data for FU Ori, although we require some local asymmetry in the disk. For V1057Cyg the disk model does not fit our data well, especially compared to the fit quality achieved for FU Ori. We speculate that a disk wind may be contributing substantially to the observed near-IR emission in this source. The data for V1515Cyg are noisier than the data obtained for the other two objects and do not strongly constrain the validity of an accretion disk model.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number9
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume738
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2011

Keywords

  • circumstellar matter
  • stars: individual (FU Ori, V1057 Cyg, V1515 Cyg)
  • stars: pre-main sequence
  • techniques: interferometric
  • techniques: spectroscopic

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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