POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON (PAH) MOLECULES IN THE DISKS AROUND LOW MASS STARS

  • Published : 2015.10.15

Abstract

We present $5-14{\mu}m$ Infrared Spectrograph spectra of 14 T Tauri stars which show Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) features and reside in 0.7 pc from ${\Theta}_1$ Ori C. The spectral types of nine out of 11 stars have spectral type information, with types ranging from K7-M5. These stars do not supply strong enough UV photons to excite PAH emission in their disks. Therefore, we consider the detection of PAH emission in disks around low mass stars illuminated by an external source of UV photons, namely, from Trapezium OB association, including ${\Theta}_1$ Ori C. The morphological features of PAH emission from most disks around K-M type host stars are unique, not belonging to any known classes of PAH features. We found that the PAH emission strengths decrease as the projected distance of the objects from ${\Theta}_1$ Ori C increase. We suggest future far-IR and submm/mm observations for better understanding of the characteristics and distribution of PAHs in these disks.

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