Resolving the SUB-AU-SCALE gas and dust distribution in FU Orionis sources

Abstract

We present Keck Interferometer observations of the three prototypical FU Orionis stars, FU Ori, V1057Cyg, and V1515Cyg. With a spatial resolution of a few milliarcseconds and a spectral resolution of λ/Δλ = 2000, our near-infrared observations spatially resolve gas and dust emission extending from stellocentric radii of 0.05AU to several AU. We fit these data with accretion disk models where each stellocentric radius of the disk is represented by a supergiant-type stellar emission spectrum at the disk temperature. A disk model is consistent with the data for FU Ori, although we require some local asymmetry in the disk. For V1057Cyg the disk model does not fit our data well, especially compared to the fit quality achieved for FU Ori. We speculate that a disk wind may be contributing substantially to the observed near-IR emission in this source. The data for V1515Cyg are noisier than the data obtained for the other two objects and do not strongly constrain the validity of an accretion disk model. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.