ISO LWS Spectra of T Tauri and Herbig AeBe stars

Abstract

We present an analysis of ISO-LWS spectra of eight T Tauri and Herbig AeBe young stellar objects. Some of the objects are in the embedded phase of star-formation, whereas others have cleared their environs but are still surrounded by a circumstellar disk. Fine-structure lines of [OI] and [CII] are most likely excited by far-ultraviolet photons in the circumstellar environment rather than high-velocity outflows, based on comparisons of observed line strengths with predictions of photon-dominated and shock chemistry models. A subset of our stars and their ISO spectra are adequately explained by models constructed by Chiang & Goldreich (\cite{cg97}) and Chiang et al. (\cite{c01}) of isolated, passively heated, flared circumstellar disks. For these sources, the bulk of the LWS flux at wavelengths longward of 55 mum arises from the disk interior which is heated diffusively by reprocessed radiation from the disk surface. At 45 mum , water ice emission bands appear in spectra of two of the coolest stars, and are thought to arise from icy grains irradiated by central starlight in optically thin disk surface layers. Based in part on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) and with participation of ISAS and NASA.