VLTI-MATISSE L- and N-band aperture-synthesis imaging of the unclassified B[e] star FS Canis Majoris

TL;DR

This study uses VLTI-MATISSE aperture-synthesis imaging to reveal detailed mid-infrared disk structures around the unclassified B[e] star FS Canis Majoris, providing new insights into its circumstellar environment.

Contribution

First mid-infrared aperture-synthesis images of FS CMa's disk, revealing its inner rim and cavity, combined with radiative transfer models to constrain disk geometry.

Findings

Resolved the inner disk cavity with 6x12mas diameter.

Identified bright NW disk region and faint SE region.

Constrained the disk inclination and inner radius.

Abstract

Context: FS Canis Majoris (FS CMa, HD 45677) is an unclassified B[e] star surrounded by an inclined dust disk. The evolutionary stage of FS CMa is still debated. Perpendicular to the circumstellar disk, a bipolar outflow was detected. Infrared aperture-synthesis imaging provides us with a unique opportunity to study the disk structure. Aims: Our aim is to study the intensity distribution of the disk of FS CMa in the mid-infrared L and N bands. Methods: We performed aperture-synthesis imaging of FS CMa with the MATISSE instrument (Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment) in the low spectral resolution mode to obtain images in the L and N bands. We computed radiative transfer models that reproduce the L- and N-band intensity distributions of the resolved disks. Results: We present L- and N-band aperture-synthesis images of FS CMa reconstructed in the wavelength bands of 3.4-3.8 and 8.6-9.0 micrometer. In the L-band image, the inner rim region of an inclined circumstellar disk and the central object can be seen with a spatial resolution of 2.7 milliarcsec (mas). An inner disk cavity with an angular diameter of 6x12mas is resolved. The L-band disk consists of a bright northwestern (NW) disk region and a much fainter southeastern (SE) region. The images suggest that we are looking at the bright inner wall of the NW disk rim, which is on the far side of the disk. In the N band, only the bright NW disk region is seen. In addition to deriving the inclination and the inner disk radius, fitting the reconstructed brightness distributions via radiative transfer modeling allows one to constrain the innermost disk structure, in particular the shape of the inner disk rim.