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Imaging the Disk around TW Hydrae with the Submillimeter Array

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Chunhua Qi1, Paul T. P. Ho1, David J. Wilner1, Shigehisa Takakuwa2, Naomi Hirano3, Nagayoshi Ohashi2,3, Tyler L. Bourke2, Qizhou Zhang1, Geoffrey A. Blake4, Michiel Hogerheijde5, Masao Saito2,6, Minho Choi3,7 and Ji Yang8

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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.


Subject headings

circumstellar matter; ISM: molecules; planetary systems: protoplanetary disks; radio lines: stars; stars: individual (TW Hydrae)


Dates

Issue 1 (2004 November 20)

Received 2004 January 13, accepted for publication 2004 March 17

Published 2004 October 28



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