Laser guide star adaptive optics imaging polarimetry of Herbig Ae/Be stars
Abstract
Current and future large telescopes depend critically on laser guide star adaptive optics (LGS AO) to achieve their scientific goals. However, there are still relatively few scientific results reported from existing LGS AO systems. We present some of the first science results from the Lick Observatory sodium beacon LGS AO system. We achieve high sensitivity to light scattered in the circumstellar enviroment of Herbig Ae/Be stars on scales of 100-200 AU by coupling the LGS AO system to a near-infrared (J,H,Ks bands) dual channel imaging polarimeter. We describe the design, implementation, and performance of this instrument. The dominant noise source near bright stars in AO images is a "seeing halo" of uncorrected speckles, and since these speckles are unpolarized, dual-channel polarimetry achieves a significant contrast gain. Our observations reveal a wide range of morphologies, including bipolar nebulosities with and without outflow-evacuated cavities and disk-mediated interaction among members of a binary. These data suggest that the evolutionary picture developed for the lower-mass T Tauri stars is also relevant to the Herbig Ae/Be stars, and demonstrate the ability of LGS AO systems to enhance the scientific capabilities of even modest sized telescopes.
Additional Information
© 2004 Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). We are indebted to the Lock Observatory staff who assisted in these observations, including Tony Misch, Kostas Chloros, and John Morey, and also to the many individuals who have contributed to making the laser guide star system a reality. Onyx Optics in Dublin, California fabricated our YLF Wollaston prisms. This work has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Adaptive Optics, managed by the University of California at Santa Cruz under cooperative agreement No. AST-9876783; and also under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration by the University of California, Lawrence National Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48. PK received additional support from the NASA Origins Program under grant NAG5-11769. MDP is supported by a NASA Michelson Graduate Fellowship, under contract to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology.Attached Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 92307
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190116-075933236
- AST-9876783
- NSF
- W-7405-ENG-48
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- NAG5-11769
- NASA
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- Created
-
2019-01-16Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Series Name
- Proceedings of SPIE
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 5490