English

High resolution observations of the outer disk around T Cha: the view from ALMA

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2015-02-18 v1

Abstract

T Cha is a young star surrounded by a transitional disk with signatures of planet formation. We have obtained high-resolution and high-sensitivity ALMA observations of T Cha in the CO(3{\rm CO}(3--2)2), 13CO(3{\rm ^{13}CO}(3--2)2), and CS(7{\rm CS}(7--6)6) emission lines to reveal the spatial distribution of the gaseous disk around the star. In order to study the dust within the disk we have also obtained continuum images at 850μ\mum from the line-free channels. We have spatially resolved the outer disk around T Cha. Using the CO(3-2) emission we derive a radius of \sim230 AU. We also report the detection of the 13^{13}CO(3-2) and the CS(7-8) molecular emissions, which show smaller radii than the CO(3-2) detection. The continuum observations at 850μ\mum allow the spatial resolution of the dusty disk, which shows two emission bumps separated by \sim40AU, consistent with the presence of a dust gap in the inner regions of the disk, and an outer radius of \sim80AU. Therefore, T Cha is surrounded by a compact dusty disk and a larger and more diffuse gaseous disk, as previously observed in other young stars. The continuum intensity profiles are different at both sides of the disk suggesting possible dust asymmetries. We derive an inclination of i(deg)=67±\pm5, and a position angle of PA (deg)= 113±\pm6, for both the gas and dust disks. The comparison of the ALMA data with radiative transfer models shows that the gas and dust components can only be simultaneously reproduced when we include a tapered edge prescription for the surface density profile. The best model suggests that most of the disk mass is placed within a radius of R<R< 50AU. Finally, we derive a dynamical mass for the central object of MM_{*}=1.5±\pm0.2M_{\odot}, comparable to the one estimated with evolutionary models for an age of \sim10Myr.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1501.06483,
  title  = {High resolution observations of the outer disk around T Cha: the view from ALMA},
  author = {N. Huelamo and I. de Gregorio-Monsalvo and E. Macias and C. Pinte and M. Ireland and P. Tuthill and S. Lacour},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.06483},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letters