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Published November 20, 2004 | Published
Journal Article Open

Imaging the Disk around TW Hydrae with the Submillimeter Array

Abstract

We present ~2"-4" aperture synthesis observations of the circumstellar disk surrounding the nearby young star TW Hya in the CO J = 2-1 and J = 3-2 lines and associated dust continuum obtained with the partially completed Submillimeter Array. The extent and peak flux of the 230 and 345 GHz dust emission follow closely the predictions of the irradiated accretion disk model of Calvet et al. The resolved molecular line emission extends to a radius of at least 200 AU, the full extent of the disk visible in scattered light, and shows a clear pattern of Keplerian rotation. Comparison of the images with two-dimensional Monte Carlo models constrains the disk inclination angle to 7° ± 1°. The CO emission is optically thick in both lines, and the kinetic temperature in the line formation region is ~20 K. Substantial CO depletion, by an order of magnitude or more from canonical dark cloud values, is required to explain the characteristics of the line emission.

Additional Information

© 2004 American Astronomical Society. Received 2004 January 13; accepted 2004 March 17; published 2004 October 28. We thank all the SMA staff members for their diligent work in completing the SMA. We also thank P. D'Alessio and N. Calvet for providing the disk model of TW Hya and J. E. Kessler-Silacci for helpful discussions concerning the radiative transfer model. And we are grateful to J. H. Kastner for useful comments.

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