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Widespread atomic gas emission reveals the rotation of the beta Pictoris disk

Goran Olofsson·Rene Liseau·Alexis Brandeker
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Abstract

We present high resolution Na I D spectroscopy of the beta Pic disk, and the resonantly scattered sodium emission can be traced from less than 30 AU to at least 140 AU from the central star. This atomic gas is co-existent with the dust particles, suggestive of a common origin or source. The disk rotates towards us in the south-west and away from us in the north-east. The velocity pattern of the gas finally provides direct evidence that the faint linear feature seen in images of the star is a circumstellar disk in Keplerian rotation. From modelling the spatial distribution of the Na I line profiles we determine the effective dynamical mass to be 1.40 +/- 0.05 M_sun, which is smaller than the stellar mass, 1.75 M_sun. We ascribe this difference to the gravity opposing radiation pressure in the Na I lines. We argue that this is consistent with the fact that Na is nearly completely ionised throughout the disk (Na I/Na < 10^-4). The total column density of sodium gas is N(Na) = 10^15 cm^-2.

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Goran Olofsson, Rene Liseau, Alexis Brandeker. 2001-11-10. Widespread atomic gas emission reveals the rotation of the beta Pictoris disk. https://doi.org/10.1086/338354

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