Probing the gaseous disk of T Tau N with CN 5-4 lines

Podio, L.; Kamp, I.; Codella, C.; Nisini, B.; Aresu, G.; Brittain, S.; Cabrit, S.; Dougados, C.; Grady, C.; Meijerink, R.; Sandell, G.; Spaans, M.; Thi, W.-F.; White, G. J. and Woitke, P. (2014). Probing the gaseous disk of T Tau N with CN 5-4 lines. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 783(2), article no. L26.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/783/2/L26

Abstract

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.

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