Strong Near-Infrared Emission Interior to the Dust Sublimation Radius of Young Stellar Objects MWC 275 and AB Aurigae

Abstract

Using the longest optical-interferometeric baselines currently available, we have detected strong near-infrared (NIR) emission from inside the dust destruction radius of Herbig Ae stars MWC 275 and AB Aur. Our sub-milliarcsecond resolution observations unambiguously place the emission between the dust destruction radius and the magnetospheric corotation radius. We argue that this new component corresponds to hot gas inside the dust sublimation radius, confirming recent claims based on spectrally resolved interferometry and dust evaporation front modeling.