On the Diversity of the Taurus Transitional Disks: UX Tau A & Lk Ca 15
C. Espaillat, N. Calvet, P. D'Alessio, J. Hernandez, C. Qi, L., Hartmann, E. Furlan, D. M. Watson

TL;DR
This paper investigates the diversity of pre-transitional disks around young stars, analyzing their spectral energy distributions and dust compositions to understand disk gap formation and dust processing.
Contribution
It introduces the class of pre-transitional disks, analyzes two examples with Spitzer IRS spectra, and discusses dust composition and disk gap sizes, expanding knowledge of disk evolution.
Findings
UX Tau A has a ~56 AU gap with crystalline silicates beyond it.
LkCa 15 has a ~46 AU gap with amorphous silicates.
Dust processing varies significantly among pre-transitional disks.
Abstract
The recently recognized class of "transitional disk" systems consists of young starswith optically-thick outer disks but inner disks which are mostly devoid of small dust. Here we introduce a further class of "pre-transitional disks" with significant near-infrared excesses which indicate the presence of an optically thick inner disk separated from an optically thick outer disk; thus, the spectral energy distributions of pre-transitional disks suggest the incipient development of disk gaps rather than inner holes. In UX Tau A, our analysis of the Spitzer IRS spectrum finds that the near-infrared excess is produced by an inner optically thick disk and a gap of ~56 AU is present. The Spitzer IRS spectrum of LkCa 15 is suggestive of a gap of ~46 AU, confirming previous millimeter imaging. In addition, UX Tau A contains crystalline silicates in its disk at radii >~ 56 AU which poses a…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
