The outer disk of the classical Be star ψ Per
Abstract
To this date ψ Per is the only classical Be star that was angularly resolved in radio (by the VLA at λ = 2 cm). Gaussian fit to the azimuthally averaged visibility data indicates a disk size (FWHM) of ~500 stellar radii (Dougherty & Taylor 1992). Recently, we obtained new multi-band cm flux density measurements of ψ Per from the enhanced VLA. We modeled the observed spectral energy distribution (SED) covering the interval from ultraviolet to radio using the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code HDUST (Carciofi & Bjorkman 2006). An SED turndown, that occurs between far-IR and radio wavelengths, is explained by a truncated viscous decretion disk (VDD), although the shallow slope of the radio SED suggests that the disk is not simply cut off, as is assumed in our model. The best-fit size of a truncated disk derived from the modeling of the radio SED is 100+5 -15 stellar radii, which is in striking contrast with the result of Dougherty & Taylor (1992). The reasons for this discrepancy are under investigation.
- Publication:
-
The Lives and Death-Throes of Massive Stars
- Pub Date:
- November 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921317003064
- Bibcode:
- 2017IAUS..329..414K
- Keywords:
-
- stars: individual (ψ Per);
- stars: emission-line;
- Be;
- radio continuum: stars