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[16.04] Mid-IR Observations of T Tauri stars: Probing the Star-Disk Connection

P. Kundurthy, M. R. Meyer (Steward Obs., UofA), M. Robberto (STScI), T. Herbst (MPIA)

We present mid-IR N-band (\lambda(eff) = 10.16 \mum) observations of a carefully selected sample of single young stars found in the Taurus-Auriga molecular cloud. To understand early circumstellar disk evolution, we must distinguish between evolutionary effects of star+disk systems and dynamical effects of any possible companions. Combining observations at 10.16 \mum with those at 2.2 \mum (K-band), we probe a region in the disks between 0.05-2.0 AU. Analyzing the relationship between the K-N color index and the rotation period of the central star, we can investigate the role circumstellar disks play in regulating the angular momentum of the star in the pre-main sequence stage. Previous work in the Taurus cloud (Edwards et al. 1993; Bouvier et al. 1993) suggests that slowly rotating T Tauri stars possess optically-thick inner accretion disks, while rapidly rotating stars lack such disks. We extend these results with 10 micron observations of weak-emission T Tauri stars in Taurus and compare our results to those of Stassun et al. (2001) for youngstars in the Orion Nebula Cluster.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.