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M. G. Berthoud (Cornell University), L. D. Keller (Ithaca College), T. L. Herter (Cornell University), M. J. Richter (UC Davis)
We present CO overtone emission spectra from the inner regions of the disk around Herbig AeBe (HAeBe) stars. These are massive (2-8 Msun) stars characterized by infrared excess emission. They are young heavy stars with a substantial circumstellar disk.
In an ongoing effort to develop a better understanding of the evolution of the inner disk of HAeBe stars we are conducting a survey to look for CO overtone emission from such stars. Such emission is generated by hot gas in the inner regions of the disk. These inner regions play a significant role for accretion of mass onto the star as well as for planet formation.
We have taken medium resolution (R=1000) K-band spectra of 24 such stars. Follow-up high resolution observations are then done on all stars that show CO overtone emission. These observations allow us to determine the mass of CO in the inner regions of the disk, the temperature and the kinematics of the gas.
We will present the results from the CO overtone emission from three HAeBe stars. In all the stars the CO overtone emission seems to originate from gas in a keplerian disk with a temperature of several 1000K. One interesting target is 51 Oph, which, judging by the small amount of circumstellar dust, seems be have fairly evolved disk. Nevertheless this star has strong emission lines from CO and other gasses in a circumstellar disk.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: mgb11@cornell.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.