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Paper: Observations of the Herbig Ae Star AB Aur using the Submillimeter Array
Volume: 344, The Cool Universe: Observing Cosmic Dawn
Page: 168
Authors: Ohashi, N.; Lin, S.
Abstract: We present recent observations of the circumstellar disk around the Herbig Ae star ABAur carried out in 12CO (J = 3—2) and in the dust continuum at 850 μm using the Submillimeter Array. The disk is spatially resolved in both the 12CO (J = 3—2) and the 850 μm images at an angular resolution of ∼ 1″. The SMA 850 μm dust continuum image of the circumstellar disk reveals a central cavity in the disk with an estimated size of ∼100AU. Remarkably, debris disks often show similar kinds of central cavities with sizes of 50-100AU. The 12CO (J = 3—2) image of the disk shows a significant peak at the root of the most prominent spiral arm seen in the Subaru image, as well as another peak at the disk center, making the geometry of the 12CO disk very non-axisymmetric with respect to the disk center. The position-velocity diagram of the 12CO emission shows velocity structures that are significantly non-axisymmetric with respect to the disk center, as well as a velocity gradient along the disk major axis. These results show that the circumstellar disk around ABAur is remarkably different from Keplerian disks often observed around T Tauri stars and Herbig Ae stars. Such differences could be due to the spiral arms in the disk, whereas it might be difficult for gravitational instabilities to create the non-axisymmetric structures seen in the SMA images.
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