Modeling WL 17: An Unusual and Complex Protostellar Disk
Abstract
WL 17 is a protostar located in the Ophiuchus L1688 molecular cloud complex and has a known disk with a diameter of order 50 AU. We fit three models, a Gaussian disk with a cavity, an asymmetric disk with a cavity, and a Nuker profile to the observed disk visibilities in 0.25" resolution ALMA data of WL 17 at 1.3 mm or 233 GHz. A Gaussian disk with cavity function is the best constrained model. We recover the central cavity with a diameter of 0.2" and identify previously undetected substructures within the disk. We also fit archival WL 17 data at 100 GHz and measure the spectral index for the best-fit model at 100 GHz and 233 GHz, and determine that the WL 17 observations are consistent with optically thick dust emission with a spectral index of ~ 2.0. The SAO REU program is funded in part by the National Science Foundation REU and Department of Defense ASSURE programs under NSF Grant no. AST-1852268, and by the Smithsonian Institution.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23530824G