Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: CoKu Tau/4 has been labeled as one of the very few known transition disk objects—disks around young stars that have their inner disks cleared of dust, arguably as a result of planetary formation. We report aperture-masking interferometry and adaptive optics imaging observations showing that CoKu Tau/4 is in fact a near-equal binary star of projected separation ~53 mas (~8 AU). The spectral energy distribution of the disk is then naturally explained by the inner truncation of the disk through gravitational interactions with the binary star system. We discuss the possibility that such "unseen" binary companions could cause other circumbinary disks to be labeled as transitional.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
DOI: 10.1086/588216
Authors: M. J. Ireland, A. L. Kraus
Institution: California Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2077892809