Imaging the dust sublimation front of a circumbinary disk
Abstract
Aims: We present the first near-IR milli-arcsecond-scale image of a post-AGB binary that is surrounded by hot circumbinary dust.
Methods: A very rich interferometric data set in six spectral channels was acquired of IRAS 08544-4431 with the new RAPID camera on the PIONIER beam combiner at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A broadband image in the H-band was reconstructed by combining the data of all spectral channels using the SPARCO method.
Results: We spatially separate all the building blocks of the IRAS 08544-4431 system in our milliarcsecond-resolution image. Our dissection reveals a dust sublimation front that is strikingly similar to that expected in early-stage protoplanetary disks, as well as an unexpected flux signal of ~4% from the secondary star. The energy output from this companion indicates the presence of a compact circum-companion accretion disk, which is likely the origin of the fast outflow detected in Hα.
Conclusions: Our image provides the most detailed view into the heart of a dusty circumstellar disk to date. Our results demonstrate that binary evolution processes and circumstellar disk evolution can be studied in detail in space and over time.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- April 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1051/0004-6361/201628125
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1603.03023
- Bibcode:
- 2016A&A...588L...1H
- Keywords:
-
- stars: AGB and post-AGB;
- binaries: spectroscopic;
- techniques: high angular resolution;
- infrared: stars;
- techniques: interferometric;
- circumstellar matter;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- PR @ http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1608/