High Resolution Observations of Dust Continuum Emission at 340 GHz from the Low-mass T Tauri Star FN Tauri

TL;DR

This study uses 340 GHz dust continuum observations to characterize the circumstellar disk of the low-mass T Tauri star FN Tauri, revealing a compact disk and an extended halo component, and discussing their possible origins.

Contribution

First direct measurement of the disk parameters around FN Tauri using high-resolution submillimeter observations, and analysis of the extended halo component beyond the disk.

Findings

Disk radius estimated at <= 41 AU.

Detected a larger halo component between 174 and 574 AU.

Discrepancy between SMA and IRAM fluxes suggests additional extended material.

Abstract

FN Tau is a rare example of very low-mass T Tauri stars that exhibits a spatially resolved nebulosity in near-infrared scattering light. To directly derive the parameters of a circumstellar disk around FN Tau, observations of dust continuum emission at 340 GHz are carried out with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). A point-like dust continuum emission was detected with a synthesized beam of ~ 0.7" in FWHM. From the analysis of the visibility plot, the radius of the emission is estimated to be <= 0.29", corresponding to 41 AU. This is much smaller than the radius of the nebulosity, 1.85" for its brighter part at 1.6 micron. The 340 GHz continuum emission observed with the SMA and the photometric data at lambda <= 70 micron are explained by a power-law disk model whose outer radius and mass are 41 AU and (0.24 - 5.9) x 10^{-3} M_{sun}, respectively, if the exponent of dust mass opacity (beta) is assumed to be 0-2. The disk model cannot fully reproduce the flux density at 230 GHz obtained with the IRAM 30-meter telescope, suggesting that there is another extended "halo" component that is missed in the SMA observations. By requiring the halo not to be detected with the SMA, the lower limit to the size of the halo is evaluated to be between 174 AU and 574 AU, depending on the assumed beta value. The physical nature of the halo is unclear, but it may be the periphery of a flared circumstellar disk that is not described well in terms of a power-law disk model, or a remnant of a protostellar envelope having flattened structure.