TY - JOUR
T1 - Probing the gaseous disk of T Tau N with CN 5-4 lines
AU - Podio, L.
AU - Kamp, I.
AU - Codella, C.
AU - Nisini, B.
AU - Aresu, G.
AU - Brittain, S.
AU - Cabrit, S.
AU - Dougados, C.
AU - Grady, C.
AU - Meijerink, R.
AU - Sandell, G.
AU - Spaans, M.
AU - Thi, W.-F.
AU - White, G.J.
AU - Woitke, P.
N1 - L.P. and S.D.B. acknowledge funding from the European FP7 (PIEF-GA-2009-253896) and the National Science Foundation (AST-0954811).
PY - 2014/3/10
Y1 - 2014/3/10
N2 - We present spectrally resolved observations of the young multiple system T Tau in atomic and molecular lines obtained with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared on board Herschel. While CO, H2O, [C II], and SO lines trace the envelope and the outflowing gas up to velocities of 33 km s-1 with respect to systemic, the CN 5-4 hyperfine structure lines at 566.7, 566.9 GHz show a narrow double-peaked profile centered at systemic velocity, consistent with an origin in the outer region of the compact disk of T Tau N. Disk modeling of the T Tau N disk with the thermo-chemical code ProDiMo produces CN line fluxes and profiles consistent with the observed ones and constrain the size of the gaseous disk (Rout 110+10-20 AU) and its inclination (i = 25°± 5°). The model indicates that the CN lines originate in a disk upper layer at 40-110 AU from the star, which is irradiated by the stellar UV field and heated up to temperatures of 50-700 K. With respect to previously observed CN 2-1 millimeter lines, the CN 5-4 lines appear to be less affected by envelope emission, due to their larger critical density and excitation temperature. Hence, high-J CN lines are a unique confusion-free tracer of embedded disks, such as the disk of T Tau N.
AB - We present spectrally resolved observations of the young multiple system T Tau in atomic and molecular lines obtained with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared on board Herschel. While CO, H2O, [C II], and SO lines trace the envelope and the outflowing gas up to velocities of 33 km s-1 with respect to systemic, the CN 5-4 hyperfine structure lines at 566.7, 566.9 GHz show a narrow double-peaked profile centered at systemic velocity, consistent with an origin in the outer region of the compact disk of T Tau N. Disk modeling of the T Tau N disk with the thermo-chemical code ProDiMo produces CN line fluxes and profiles consistent with the observed ones and constrain the size of the gaseous disk (Rout 110+10-20 AU) and its inclination (i = 25°± 5°). The model indicates that the CN lines originate in a disk upper layer at 40-110 AU from the star, which is irradiated by the stellar UV field and heated up to temperatures of 50-700 K. With respect to previously observed CN 2-1 millimeter lines, the CN 5-4 lines appear to be less affected by envelope emission, due to their larger critical density and excitation temperature. Hence, high-J CN lines are a unique confusion-free tracer of embedded disks, such as the disk of T Tau N.
KW - Astrochemistry
KW - ISM: molecules
KW - Protoplanetary disks
KW - Stars: individual (T Tau)
U2 - 10.1088/2041-8205/783/2/L26
DO - 10.1088/2041-8205/783/2/L26
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84895161016
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 783
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 2
M1 - L26
ER -