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# Chromospheric activity, lithium and radial velocities of single late-type stars possible members of young moving groups Based on observations made with the 2.2m telescope of the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre, Calar Alto (Almería, Spain), operated by the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, jointly with the Spanish National Commission for Astronomy, with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and with the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Tables 1, 4, 5 also available in electronic form

## 1 Introduction

It has long been known that in the solar vicinity there are several kinematic groups of stars that share the space motions of well-known open clusters. Eggen (1994) defined a ”supercluster” (SC) as a group of stars, gravitationally unbound, that share the same kinematics and may occupy extended regions in the Galaxy, and a ”moving group” (MG) as the part of the supercluster that enters the solar neighbourhood and can be observed all over the sky. The origin of these stellar kinematic groups (SKG) could be the evaporation of an open cluster, the remnants of a star formation region or a juxtaposition of several little star formation bursts at different epochs in adjacent cells of the velocity field. The youngest and best-documented SKG are: the Hyades supercluster (600 Myr) the Ursa Major group (Sirius supercluster) (300 Myr), the Local Association or Pleiades moving group (20 to 150 Myr), the IC 2391 supercluster (35-55 Myr), and the Castor moving group (200 Myr) (see Montes et al. 2001b, hereafter Paper I, and references therein).

Well-known members of these SKG are mainly early-type stars and few studies have been centered on late-type stars. However, the identification of a significant number of late-type population in these young SKG is extremely important for the study of the chromospheric activity and could lead to a better understanding of star formation history in the solar neighbourhood. In our previous work (Montes et al. 2000a, 2001a; Paper I) a sample of late-type stars of previously established members and possible new candidates to these five young SKG have been identified. In order to better establish the membership of these candidate stars in the different young SKG, we have started a program of high resolution echelle spectroscopic observations. The spectroscopic analysis of these stars allows us to obtain a better determination of their radial velocity, lithium ($`\lambda `$6707.8 line) equivalent width , rotational velocity and the level of chromospheric activity. We will use all these new data to study in detail the kinematics (Galactic space motions ($`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$)) of these stars, apply age-dating methods for late-type stars, and in this way analyse in more detail the membership of these stars in the different SKG.

We present here the results of our first spectroscopy studies of a sample of 14 single late-type stars selected by us in Paper I as young disk stars or possible members of some of the above mentioned young SKG. The high resolution echelle spectra analysed here were taken during three observing runs (from 1999 to 2000) and include all the optical chromospheric activity indicators from the Ca ii H & K to Ca ii IRT lines as well as the Li i $`\lambda `$6707.8 line.

In Sect. 2 we give the details of our observations and data reduction. The radial velocity and Galactic space-velocity components ($`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$) determination is described in Sect. 3. The Li i $`\lambda `$6707.8 line is analysed in Sect. 4. The different chromospheric activity indicators are analysed in Sect. 5. Individual results for each star are reported in Sect. 6. Finally, in Sect. 7 the discussion and conclusions are given.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

The spectroscopic echelle observations of the stars analysed in this paper were obtained during three observing runs:

1) 2.2m-FOCES 1999/07
This took place on 24 -29 July 1999 using the 2.2 m telescope at the German Spanish Astronomical Observatory (CAHA) (Almería, Spain). The Fibre Optics Cassegrain Echelle Spectrograph (FOCES) (Pfeiffer et al. 1998) was used with a 20482 15$`\mu `$ LORAL$`\mathrm{\#}`$11i CCD detector. The wavelength range covers from 3910 to 9075 Å in 84 orders. The reciprocal dispersion ranges from 0.03 to 0.07 Å/pixel and the spectral resolution, determined as the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the arc comparison lines, ranges from 0.09 to 0.26 Å.

2) NOT-SOFIN 1999/11
Observations taken on 26 -27 November 1999 using the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) located at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos (La Palma, Spain). The Soviet Finnish High Resolution Echelle Spectrograph (SOFIN) was used with an echelle grating (79 grooves/mm), Astromed-3200 camera and a 1152$`\times `$770 pixel EEV P88200 CCD detector. The wavelength range covers from 3525 to 10425 Å in 44 orders. The reciprocal dispersion ranges from 0.06 to 0.17 Å/pixel and the spectral resolution (FWHM) from 0.14 to 0.32 Å.

3) INT-MUSICOS 2000/01
Observations make on 18-22 January 2000 with the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos (La Palma, Spain) using the ESA-MUSICOS spectrograph. This is a fibre-fed cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph, built as a replica of the first MUSICOS spectrograph (Baudrand & Böhm 1992) and developed as part of MUlti-SIte COntinuous Spectroscopy (MUSICOS111http://www.ucm.es/info/Astrof/MUSICOS.html) project. During this observing run, a 10242 24$`\mu `$ TEK5 CCD detector was used, obtaining wavelength coverage from 4430 Å to 10225 Å in 73 orders. The reciprocal dispersion ranges from 0.07 to 0.15 Å and the spectral resolution (FWHM) from 0.16 to 0.30 Å.

The sample of late-type stars analysed in this paper as well as the the non-active stars used as reference stars in the spectral subtraction and the radial velocity standards used in the radial velocity determinations are listed in Tables 1 and 2. In Table 1 we give the observing log. For each observation we list date, UT and the signal to noise ratio ($`S/N`$) obtained in the Ca ii H & K and H$`\alpha `$ line regions. Table 2 shows the name, HD number, and other stellar parameters such as the spectral type (Tsp), color indexes $`V`$$`R`$ and $`B`$$`V`$, rotational velocity ($`v\mathrm{sin}i`$), rotational period ($`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$). The $`V`$$`R`$ and $`B`$$`V`$ color indexes are obtained from the relation with spectral type given by Landolt-Börnstein (Schmidt-Kaler 1982) when individual values are not given in the literature. Other parameters are taken from the references given in the individual results of each star. The Galactic space motions ($`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$) given in Table 2 have been determined by us as explained in the next section.

The spectra have been extracted using the standard reduction procedures in the IRAF222IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation. package (bias subtraction, flat-field division and optimal extraction of the spectra). The wavelength calibration was obtained by taking spectra of a Th-Ar lamp. Finally, the spectra were normalized by a polynomial fit to the observed continuum.

## 3 Radial Velocities and Space Motions

Heliocentric radial velocities were determined by using the cross-correlation technique. The spectra of the program stars were cross-correlated order by order, using the routine fxcor in IRAF, against spectra of radial velocity standards of similar spectral types (the stars marked with * in Tables 1 and 2) taken from Beavers et al. (1979). The velocity is derived for each order from the position of the cross-correlation peak. Radial velocity errors for each order are computed by fxcor based on the fitted peak height and the antisymmetric noise as described by Tonry & Davis (1979). In Table 3 we list, for each spectrum, the heliocentric radial velocities (Vhel) and their associated errors ($`\sigma _\mathrm{V}`$) obtained as weighted means of the individual values deduced for each order. The orders including chromospheric features and prominent telluric lines have been excluded when determining the mean velocity. Finally, we also list in Table 3 a mean value for each star, obtained as weighted mean of the individual values deduced for each spectrum.

We have used these radial velocities together with precise measurements of proper motions and parallaxes taken from Hipparcos (ESA 1997) and Tycho-2 (H$`ø`$g et al. 2000) Catalogues, to calculate the Galactic space-velocity components ($`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$) in a right-handed coordinated system (positive in the directions of the Galactic center, Galactic rotation, and the North Galactic Pole, respectively). We have modified the procedures in Johnson & Soderblom (1987) to calculate $`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$, and their associated errors. The original algorithm (which requires epoch 1950 coordinates) is adapted here to epoch J2000 coordinates in the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS). The uncertainties of the velocity components have been obtained using the full covariance matrix in order to take into account the possible correlation between the astrometric parameters. We have used the correlation coefficients provided by Hipparcos (ESA 1997). The obtained values are given in Table 2 and the ($`U`$, $`V`$) and ($`W`$, $`V`$) planes (Boettlinger Diagram) are plotted in Fig. 1. In this figure we have also plotted (big crosses) the central position given in the literature (see Paper I) of the five young SKG analysed in this work.

As in Paper I we have used as membership criteria the position of the stars in the velocity space ($`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$) and the Eggen’s kinematic criteria of deviation of the space motion of the star from the convergent point (peculiar velocity, $`PV`$) and comparison between the observed and calculated ($`\rho _c`$) radial velocities. Using these criteria we have considered PW And, V368 Cep, V383 Lac, EP Eri, DX Leo, GJ 211, HD 77407, and EK Dra as possible members of the Local Association (LA); V834 Tau, $`\pi ^1`$ UMa, and GJ 503.2 as possible members of the Ursa Major group (UMa); GJ 577 as a possible member of the Hyades supercluster (HS); GJ 3706 as a possible member of IC 2391 supercluster; and LQ Hya as another young disk (YD) star. More details about the membership of these stars are given in the individual results of each star.

## 4 The Li i $`\lambda `$6707.8 line

The resonance doublet of Li i at $`\lambda `$6707.8 Å is an important diagnostic of age in late-type stars since it is destroyed easily by thermonuclear reactions in the stellar interior. This line is included in our echelle spectra in all the observing runs. At this spectral resolution and with the rotational velocity ($`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ $`>`$ 8 km s-1) of the observed stars the Li i line is blended with the nearby Fe i $`\lambda `$6707.41 Å line. We have corrected the total measured equivalent width, $`EW`$(Li i+Fe i), by subtracting the $`EW`$ of Fe i calculated from the empirical relationship with ($`B`$$`V`$) given by Soderblom et al. (1990). The obtained values are given in Table 3 and plotted in Fig. 2 versus their spectral type.

In order to obtain an estimate of the ages of our stars we compare their $`EW`$(Li i) with those of stars in well-known young open clusters of different ages. In the $`EW`$(Li i) versus spectral type diagram (Fig. 2) we have overplotted the upper envelope of the Li i $`EW`$ of IC 2602 (10-35 Myr), the Pleiades (78-125 Myr), and the Hyades (600 Myr), open clusters which cover the range of ages of the MGs studied here. For the Pleiades we adopt the upper envelope determined by Neuhäuser et al. (1997) with data from Soderblom et al. (1993b) and García López et al. (1994) and the lower envelope given by Soderblom et al. (1993b). In the case of IC 2602 we have not adopted the upper envelope given by Neuhäuser et al. (1997) with data from Randich et al. (1997) and Stauffer et al. (1997) because they have used $`EW`$(Li i) not corrected for the $`EW`$(Fe i) and we have determined a new upper envelope with corrected $`EW`$(Li i) and using, in addition, new data provided by Randich et al. (2001). Finally for the Hyades (600 Myr) we have used the upper envelope adopted by Soderblom et al. (1993b).

Representative spectra in the Li i line region of the star sample are plotted in Fig. 3. As can be seen in this figure a prominent Li i absorption line is observed in the stars classified as possible members of the LA except GJ 211. The other LA stars have $`EW`$(Li i) between the lower and upper envelope of the Pleiades (see Fig. 2), except EK Dra and HD 77407 which seem to be younger ($`EW`$(Li i) between the upper envelopes of the Pleiades and IC 2602). The possible members of the UMa have a lower Li i absorption line corresponding to the greater age of the UMa group ($`EW`$(Li i) between the upper envelope of the Hyades and the lower envelope of the Pleiades). The YD stars LQ Hya have a $`EW`$(Li i) similar to the upper envelope of the Pleiades. The $`EW`$(Li i) of GJ 577 is well above the upper envelope of the Hyades, and no Li i line is detected in GJ 3706.

## 5 Chromospheric activity indicators

The echelle spectra analysed in this paper allow us to study the behaviour of the different optical chromospheric activity indicators from the Ca ii H & K to the Ca ii IRT lines, formed at different atmospheric heights. As shown in our previous work (Montes et el. 2000b, and references therein) with the simultaneous analysis of the different optical chromospheric activity indicators and using the spectral subtraction technique, it is possible to study in detail the chromosphere, discriminating between the different structures: plages, prominences, flares and microflares.

The chromospheric contribution in these features has been determined using the spectral subtraction technique described in detail by Montes et al. (1995; 1997; 1998, 2000b). The synthesized spectrum was constructed using the program STARMOD developed at Penn State University (Barden 1985) and modified by us. The inactive stars used as reference stars in the spectral subtraction were observed during the same observing run as the active stars. Spectra of representative reference stars in the Ca ii H & K, H$`\beta `$, H$`\alpha `$, and Ca ii IRT line regions are plotted in Fig. 4. In Table 4 we give the excess emission equivalent width ($`EW`$) (measured in the subtracted spectra) for the Ca ii H & K, H$`ϵ`$, H$`\delta `$, H$`\gamma `$, H$`\beta `$, H$`\alpha `$, and Ca ii IRT ($`\lambda `$8498, $`\lambda `$8542, $`\lambda `$8662) lines, as well as the reference star used in the subtraction technique for each observation. We have estimated the errors in the measured $`EW`$ taking into account the typical internal precisions of STARMOD (0.5 - 2 km s-1 in velocity shifts, and $`\pm `$5 km s-1 in $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$), the rms obtained in the fit between observed and synthesized spectra in the regions outside the chromospheric features (typically in the range 0.01-0.03) and the standard deviations resulting in the $`EW`$ measurements. The estimated errors are in the range of 10-20%. For low active stars errors are larger and we have considered as a clear detection of excess emission or absorption in the chromospheric lines only when these features in the difference spectrum are larger than 3$`\sigma `$. Errors in the chromospheric features of the blue spectral region are larger due to the lower S/N of the spectra in this region. As an indication of the accuracy of the data, we give in Table 1 the S/N in the Ca ii H & K, and H$`\alpha `$ line regions. The excess emission EW have been converted to absolute chromospheric flux at the stellar surface by using the calibration of Hall (1996) as a function of (B–V). In Table 5 we give the absolute flux at the stellar surface (log$`F_\mathrm{S}`$) for the lines listed in Table 4.

Representative spectra in the H$`\alpha `$ and Ca ii IRT ($`\lambda `$8498, $`\lambda `$8542) line regions of the star sample have been plotted in Figs. 5 & 6. For each star we have plotted the observed spectrum (solid-line) and the synthesized spectrum (dashed-line) in the left panel and the subtracted spectrum in the right panel. H$`\alpha `$ emission above the continuum is detected in PW And, V834 Tau, and LQ Hya; in the rest of the stars excess H$`\alpha `$ emission is detected in the subtracted spectra except GJ 3706. Filled-in absorption in other Balmer lines is also detected in many of the stars. Ca ii H & K emission is observed in all the stars in which these lines are included in our spectra. Emission reversal in the Ca ii IRT lines is observed in PW And, V368 Cep, V383 Lac, DX Leo, EK Dra, V834 Tau, and LQ Hya, in the rest of the stars a filled-in absorption line profile is observed.

## 6 Individual Results

In this section we describe the individual results about stellar parameters, kinematic, lithium, chromospheric activity, and membership of the different SKG for each star of the sample.

### 6.1 PW And (HD 1405)

This solar neighborhood Pleiades-age K2 dwarf (Ambruster et al. 1998) is a fast rotator with a photometric period $`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$ = 1.745 days (Hooten & Hall 1990) and $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 23.4 km s-1 (Fekel 1997). Strassmeier et al. (1988) listed this star as a chromospherically active binary candidate, however, Griffin (1992) found no evidence of variability in their radial velocities, indicating it is a single star. The mean radial velocity determined by us ($`v_\mathrm{r}=10.99`$ km s-1) is very similar to the values given by Fehrenbach & Burnage (1982) ($`v_\mathrm{r}=11.5`$ km s-1) and Griffin (1992) ($`v_\mathrm{r}=10.4`$ km s-1) supporting the single nature of this star. We have found, however, small amplitude radial velocity variations which follow the rotational period (1.75 days) of the star. These variations can be associated with photospheric spots that disturb the line profile of this rapidly rotating star. Bidelman (1985) and Christian et al. (2001) reported moderate Ca ii H & K emission and the H$`\alpha `$ line in emission in this star. Chromospheric and transition region UV emission fluxes have been reported by Ambruster et al. (1998) and Wood et al. (2000). In addition, it has been detected by the ROSAT-satellite as the 2RE J001820+305 source (Pye et al. 1995; Kreysing et al. 1995; Thomas et al. 1998; Rutledge et al. 2000), and by the EUVE-satellite as the EUVE J0018+309 source (Malina et al. 1994; Christian et al. 2001). In the eight spectra of this star that we have analysed, we have found intense emission in the Ca ii H & K and H$`ϵ`$ lines, strong H$`\alpha `$ emission above the continuum (see Fig. 5), excess chromospheric emissions in the other Balmer lines, and emission reversal in the Ca ii IRT lines (Fig. 6). We have detected variations in the excess emission of the different chromospheric lines, specially in the Balmer lines. High Li i abundance indicative of a Pleiades-age star is reported by Ambruster et al. (1998). The $`EW`$(Li i) = 271 mÅ we have determined confirms it is a young star. The space motions and all the other spectroscopic properties we have analysed prove its LA membership.

### 6.2 V368 Cep (HD 220140, HIP 115147)

This star is the optical counterpart of the X-ray source H 2311+77 (Pravdo et al. 1985) and has been identified as member of the LA and classified as a post T Tauri star (Chugainov et al. 1991a, 1993; Ambruster et al. 1998; Kahanpää et al. 1999). The spectral type of this star in the literature ranges from G5 to K2V, but the recent photometric observations of Kahanpää et al. (1999) support a K1V spectral type. It is a rapidly rotating and spotted star with a photometric period $`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$ = 2.74 d (Kahanpää et al. 1999). and $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 16.1 km s-1 (Fekel 1997). From our six spectra taken in July 1999 and another one taken in November 1999 we have determined a constant radial velocity with a mean value of -16.67 km s-1, which is within the range given in the literature (15–17 km s-1, Chugainov et al. 1991a), supporting its classification as a constant-velocity star. Evidence of magnetic activity including strong Ca ii H & K emission, IUE-, EUVE- and ROSAT-satellite detections have been reported for this star (Bianchi et al. 1991; Malina et al. 1994; Pye et al. 1995). In our spectra we observe intense emission in the Ca ii H & K and H$`ϵ`$ lines, strong and variable excess chromospheric emissions in the Balmer lines, specially in H$`\alpha `$ (Fig. 5), and the Ca ii IRT lines in emission superimposed on the corresponding absorption (Fig. 6). Chugainov et al. (1991a) report a Li i $`\lambda `$6707.8 Å line stronger than the Ca i $`\lambda `$ 6717 Å line with a $`EW`$(Li i) = 288 mÅ. In our spectra the Li i absorption feature is also stronger than the Ca i line but the mean $`EW`$ we have obtained after the correction of the Fe i line is $`EW`$(Li i) = 207 mÅ which is similar to $`EW`$(Li i) observed in Pleiades stars of this spectral type (Fig. 2). However, this $`EW`$(Li i) is not high enough to consider the star as a post T Tauri star (see the $`EW`$(Li i) vs. spectral type diagram by Martín 1997). Both kinematic and spectroscopic criteria indicate V368 Cep is a bona fide member of the LA.

### 6.3 V383 Lac (BD+48 3686)

Recent spectroscopic and photometric studies of V383 Lac (Mulliss & Bopp 1994; Jeffries 1995; Henry et al. 1995; Fekel 1997; Osten & Saar 1998) concluded it is a single active K1V star with an age less than of the Pleiades and with a rapid rotation. These authors report a photometric period $`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$ = 2.42 days and $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ ranging from 14 to 20 km s-1. The mean radial velocity determined from our seven spectra ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -20.19 km s-1) shows no evidence of variability and it is in agreement with the range of values (from -19.4 to -22.1 km s-1) given in the literature, supporting the conclusion that it is a single star. Mulliss & Bopp (1994) found the H$`\alpha `$ and Ca ii IRT lines filled by emission. It has been detected as an extreme ultraviolet source (Pye et al. 1995; Lampton et al. 1997). In our spectra, which cover more than one stellar rotation, we have found notable emission in the Ca ii H & K and H$`ϵ`$ lines, excess chromospheric emission in the Balmer lines and emission reversal in the Ca ii IRT lines. During one of the nights a noticeable increase in the excess emission is detected, showing the H$`\alpha `$ line large emission wings. This variation could be due to a small-scale flare or to the transit of an active region. We have determined a $`EW`$(Li i) = 257 mÅ, similar to the values of 250 and 277 mÅ given by Mulliss & Bopp (1994) and Jeffries (1995) respectively. This high $`EW`$(Li i) (close to the upper envelope of the Pleiades) indicates it is a young star. The space motions and all the other spectroscopic characteristic we have analysed in this star confirm it is a member of the LA.

### 6.4 EP Eri (HD 17925, GJ 117, HIP 13402)

This is a very nearby (8 pc), very young (high Li i abundance) active K2-type dwarf with a rotation period of 6.85 days (Cutispoto 1992; Henry et al. 1995). The presence of an unresolved companion in this star has been suggested by Henry et al. (1995) based on the variable widths of the photospheric absorption lines reported in the literature ($`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ range from 3 to 8; see Fekel (1997)). Wood et al. (2000) also suggest that an unresolved secondary can be contributing to the emission Mg ii h and k lines. However, no evidence or velocity variability is reported in the literature (Halbwachs et al. 2000) and the radial velocity we have determined (17.5 km s-1) is in good agreement with that of Beavers & Eitter (1986) 18.8 km s-1, and Henry et al. (1995) 18.1 km s-1. Cutispoto et al. (2001) also indicate that the binary hypothesis does not seem to be consistent with the Hipparcos photometric data. Strong Ca ii H & K emission and a filled-in H$`\alpha `$ line have been found by Pasquini et al. (1988) and Henry et al. (1995). Chromospheric and transition region UV emission fluxes have been reported by Ambruster et al. (1998) and Wood et al. (2000). It is also an X-ray and EUV source (Favata et al. 1995; Jeffries 1995; Lampton et al. 1997). In our spectra we have found Ca ii K emission and excess chromospheric emission in the H$`\alpha `$ and the Ca ii IRT lines. EP Eri is a young star as indicates the strong lithium line detected by Cayrel de Strobel & Cayrel (1989). We have measured a $`EW`$(Li i) = 208 mÅ, similar to the 197 mÅ given by Favata et al. (1995) and the 205 mÅ obtained by Jeffries (1995). Recently, additional evidence of youth has been reported. An age of 80 Myr has been estimated by Lachaume et al. (1999) and a IR excess (ISO 60 $`\mu `$m) has been detected in this star and attributed by Habing et al. (2001) to a circumstellar disk (Vega-like). Ambruster et al. (1998) identified it as member of the LA, and the kinematic data analysed by Cayrel de Strobel & Cayrel (1989) show that the birth-place of this star is associated with the Scorpio-Centaurus complex. The position in the (U, V) ad (U, W) planes we have determined as well as the spectroscopic criteria are in agreement with its LA membership.

### 6.5 DX Leo (HD 82443, GJ 354.1, HIP 46843)

This is a nearby, young and active K0 dwarf with space motion very similar to the LA (Soderblom & Clements 1987; Ambruster et al. 1998; Gaidos et al. 2000). Optical flux modulation with a period of 5.4 days attributed to cool photospheric spots have been found by Henry et al. (1995), Messina et al. (1999b), and Gaidos et al. (2000). A projected rotational velocity $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 6.2 is given by Fekel (1997). DX Leo is a single star as indicates the constant radial velocity we have determined in our spectra, $`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = 8.13 km s-1, and the values of $`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = 8.2, 8.9, and 8.25 km s-1 given by Duquennoy et al. (1991), Griffin (1994), and Henry et al. (1995) respectively. Strong chromospheric and transition region line emissions have been reported by Soderblom & Clements (1987), Basri et al. (1989), Ambruster et al. 1998; Strassmeier et al. (2000), and Wood et al. (2000). It is also a X-ray and EUV source (Pye et al. 1995; Hünsch et al. 1999). In our spectra, taken in two different epochs, we have found noticeable emission in the Ca ii H & K and Ca ii IRT lines, and excess chromospheric emission in the H$`\alpha `$ line. We have obtained a $`EW`$(Li i) = 198 mÅ which is within the range observed in the Pleiades and similar to the value of $`EW`$(Li i) = 187 mÅ given by Strassmeier et al. (2000). The space motion we have determined and all the spectroscopic criteria we have analysed indicate DX Leo is a young star member of the LA.

### 6.6 GJ 211 (HD 37394, HR 1925)

This is a nearby star classified as a possible member of the LA (Jeffries & Jewell 1993; Gaidos et al. 2000). It is a K1V slowly rotating star ($`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$ = 10.86 d, and $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 4.0 km s-1, Gaidos et al. 2000) but with evidence of chromospheric activity (emission in the Ca ii H & K and Mg ii h & k lines, Soderblom & Clements 1987) and coronal activity (EUV and X-ray emission Hünsch et al. 1999). It has even been classified by some authors (Gershberg et al. 1999) as a flare star. Unlike EP Eri, Habing et al. (2001) have not detected evidence of circumstellar disk in the IR (ISO 60 $`\mu `$m) flux of this star. Constant radial velocity has been reported for this star with values ranging from -0.2 to 2 km s-1, which are in agreement with the $`v_\mathrm{r}=0.26`$ km s-1 we have determined. In our spectrum we observe small excess chromospheric emission in the Balmer lines and Ca ii IRT lines and a very small $`EW`$(Li i) (2.0 mÅ) in agreement with the $`EW`$(Li i) = 1.3$`\pm `$3.2 mÅ reported by Gaidos et al. (2000). The space motions calculated by us are consistent with the LA but the low level of chromospheric emission and very small $`EW`$(Li i) indicate it is not a young star and probably it is not a member of the LA.

### 6.7 HD 77407 (BD+38 1993, HIP 44458)

This G0 star was included in the study of the Hyades and Sirius MGs by Eggen (1986), but not identified as a member of any of these MGs. It is an X-ray/EUV source detected by ROSAT and EUVE (Lampton et al. 1997) and also detected as a stellar radio source by Helfand et al. (1999). However, it is a very little-studied star, and no previous determinations of radial velocity, rotation, chromospheric activity and lithium have been reported in the literature. Using our two spectra of this star we have determined a mean radial velocity of 4.43 km s-1, which together with the astrometric data results in a Galactic space motion ($`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$) similar to the LA. Eggen’s kinematic criteria also confirm their membership of the LA. Our spectra show that it is a slow rotating star ($`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ $``$ 7 km s-1) with a notable chromospheric excess emission in the $`H\beta `$, $`H\alpha `$, and Ca ii IRT lines. The $`EW`$(Li i) = 162 mÅ we have determined lies above the upper $`EW`$(Li i) envelope of the Pleiades (as also reported by Wichmann & Schmitt 2001), indicating that it is a very young star and therefore a probable member of the LA.

### 6.8 EK Dra (HD 129333, GJ 559.1A, HIP 71631)

This nearby G1.5V spotted and very active star (Strassmeier & Rice 1998; Strassmeier et al. 2000) was previously identified as a member of the LA (Chugainov 1991; Chugainov et al. 1991b; Soderblom & Clements 1987) and considered as a young solar analog (Dorren & Guinan 1994). It is a rapidly-rotating star with $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ 17.3 km s-1 and with a photometric period ranging in the literature from 2.6 to 2.8 days (Chugainov et al. 1991b; Dorren & Guinan 1994; Strassmeier & Rice 1998; Messina et al. 2001; DePasquale et al. 2001). EK Dra can be treated essentially as a single star, although Duquennoy & Mayor (1991) have suggested that it may be a member of a long-period ($``$ 12.5 yr) binary system with radial velocity variations between -21 and -32 km s-1 and $`v_0`$ = -23.1 km s-1. Dorren & Guinan (1994) found a mean radial velocity of -24 km s-1, Fehrenbach et al. (1997) give -18 km s-1 and we have obtained in our spectra a mean value of -20.6 km s-1. High levels of magnetic activity have been detected in this star: strong Ca ii H & K emission (Soderblom 1985); variable UV chromospheric emission lines (Dorren & Guinan 1994; Saar & Bookbinder 1998); and X-ray and EUV emission (Güdel et al. 1997; Audard et al. 2000). In our spectra we observe a small emission reversal in the Ca ii IRT lines and a notable excess emission in the $`H\alpha `$ and $`H\beta `$ lines. Strong Li i absorption has been reported previously in the literature for this star (see Wichmann & Schmitt 2001). In our spectra we have determined a $`EW`$(Li i) of 198 mÅ, which is between the upper envelopes of the Pleiades and IC 2602, indicating that this star is significantly younger than the Pleiades open cluster. The space motion, high level of magnetic activity, and strong Li i absorption observed in this star confirm that it is a member of the LA.

### 6.9 V834 Tau (HD 29697, GJ 174, HIP 21818)

This very active K4V star was considered for some time (Strassmeier et al. 1993) as candidate to chromospherically active binary. However, the constant radial velocities measured by several authors (Fouts & Sandage 1986; Henry et al. 1995; Halbwachs et al. 2000) and our radial velocity determination ($`v_r=0.27`$ km s-1) indicate that it is a single star. Light variations were first discovered in this star by Chugainov (1981), later, Henry et al. (1995) determined a photometric period of 3.936 days and Fekel (1997) measured a rotational velocity, $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 9.5 km s-1. Exceptional strong Ca ii H & K emission lines (Young et al. 1989), modest H$`\alpha `$ emission above the continuum (Rutten et al. 1989; Henry et al. 1995) and Radio, X-ray and EUV emission (Güdel 1992; Pye et al. 1995; Hünsch et al. 1999) have been detected in this star. In our spectra taken at two different epochs we have found strong emission in the Ca ii K line, the H$`\alpha `$ line in emission above the continuum with a central self-absorption, a filled-in absorption $`H\beta `$ line, and the Ca ii IRT lines in emission. Chugainov (1991) and Eggen (1996) listed V834 Tau as a young disk star and Chugainov (1991) suggested it as a possible member of the LA. However, the Galactic velocity components we have determined indicate it is a possible member of the UMa. The lithium line has been detected in this star; Henry et al. (1995) give a $`EW`$(Li i) = 79 mÅ, and we have determined in our spectra a $`EW`$(Li i) = 60 mÅ. This notable $`EW`$(Li i) (see Fig. 2) indicates it is a young star and confirms its membership of the UMa.

### 6.10 $`\pi ^1`$ UMa (HD 72905, GJ 311, HIP 42438)

This nearby G1.5V active star, considered as proxy of the young Sun (Bochanski et al. 2001), has been classified as a possible member of the UMa moving group by Soderblom & Clements (1987); Soderblom & Mayor (1993a); Gaidos (1998); and Gaidos et al. (2000). It has a $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 9.5 km s-1 (Fekel 1997) and a short rotation period (P $``$ 4.8 days) as measured by periodic light variations due to starspots by Gaidos et al. (2000) and Bochanski et al. (2001). The mean radial velocity we have determined ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -14.45 km s-1) is similar to the value reported by Duquennoy et al. (1991) ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -12.66 km s-1). $`\pi ^1`$ UMa has high levels of chromospheric and coronal activity (Soderblom & Mayor 1993a, b; Dorren & Guinan 1994). A superflare (Schaefer et al. 2000) was detected in this star in the X-ray band by the EXOSAT satellite (Landini et al. 1986). In our observations we have found small excess chromospheric emissions in the H$`\alpha `$, and the Ca ii IRT lines. We have determined a $`EW`$(Li i) = 106 mÅ, very close to the value of 96 mÅ given by Soderblom et al. (1993a). This $`EW`$(Li i) is intermediate between the Hyades upper envelope and Pleiades lower envelope, corresponding to the age of the UMa. Our new calculation of the galactic velocity components and the spectroscopic criteria above-described are in agreement with the membership of this star to the UMa.

### 6.11 GJ 503.2 (HD 115043, BD+57 1425, HIP 64532)

This nearby G2V star is classified as a member of the UMa group by Eggen (1992) and Soderblom & Mayor (1993a). It is a slow rotating star with $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 7.5 km s-1 (Soderblom & Mayor 1993b). Duquennoy et al. (1991) reported a constant radial velocity ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -8.86 km s-1) for this star, which is very similar to the value determined in our spectrum ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -9.26 km s-1) confirming it is a single star. Evidence of magnetic activity has been found in the X-ray by the ROSAT (Hünsch et al. 1999) and in the ultraviolet by the IUE (Soderblom & Clement 1987) and the HST (Lamzin 2000). Moderate Ca ii H & K chromospheric emission is reported by Soderblom (1985). In our spectra we have found a very small fill-in in the H$`\alpha `$ and Ca ii IRT lines. The Galactic velocity components we have determined and the kinematic criteria are compatible with the star being a member of the UMa. In addition, the $`EW`$(Li i) of 92 mÅ determined in our spectrum, which is similar to the value of 77 mÅ given by Soderblom et al. (1993a), indicates an age intermediate between the Hyades and Pleiades corresponding to the UMa. All this supports that GJ 503.2 is a bona fide member of the UMa.

### 6.12 LQ Hya (HD 82558, GJ 355, HIP 46816)

This star is a young single K2 dwarf classified as a BY Dra variable (Fekel et al. 1986). It is a rapidly rotating star with v sini = 26.5 km s-1 (Donati 1999) and with a photometric rotational period of 1.600881 days (Strassmeier et al. 1997). It is a very active star, as indicated by emission in several chromospheric and transition region lines, even with occasional flares (see Montes et al. 1999 and references therein). EUV and X-ray emission and X-ray flares have been detected in this star (see Covino et al. 2001 and references therein). In our four spectra taken at two different epochs we observed strong emission in the Ca ii K line, the H$`\alpha `$ line in emission above the continuum with an intensity similar to that observed in the quiescent spectra by Montes et al. (1999), a filled-in absorption $`H\beta `$ line, and the Ca ii IRT lines in emission. We have determined a mean radial velocity, $`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = 8.26 km s-1, very close to the mean value of 7.3 km s-1 reported by Fekel et al. (1986), 7.5 km s-1 given by Vilhu et al. (1991), and 9.0 km s-1 by Donati et al. (1997), confirming it is a constant radial velocity star. Eggen (1984b) suggested that LQ Hya may be a member of the HS, Fekel et al. (1986), using their new radial velocity, found it should be considered only as a YD star, however, Chugainov (1991) and Ambruster et al. (1998) listed this star as a member of the LA. The U, V and W velocity components we have calculated using the astrometric data from Tycho-2 Catalogue and the radial velocity determined by us indicate that this star is a YD star but not a member of the LA. It is, however, a young star as pointed out by the strong lithium absorption line ($`EW`$(Li i = 234 mÅ) reported by Fekel et al. (1986). In our spectra we have obtained a similar mean $`EW`$(Li i of 243 mÅ, which is close to the upper envelope of the Pleiades cluster.

### 6.13 GJ 577 (IU Dra, HD 134319, HIP 73869)

Messina & Guinan (1998) and Messina et al. (1999a) considered this G5V star as a proxy for the young Sun and classified it as a probable member of the HS according with its $`U`$, $`V`$, $`W`$ components and parallax. These authors found high levels of photospheric magnetic activity in this star and reported a photometric rotation period of 4.448 days. The mean radial velocity we have determined with our three spectra ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -6.48 km s-1) is very close to the constant radial velocity ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -6.38 km s-1) given by Duquennoy et al. (1991), confirming it is likely a single star. Soderblom (1985) found moderate chromospheric emission in this star. Moderate Ca ii H & K emission is observed in our spectra, however, the H$`ϵ`$ line is not in emission. In addition, a notable filling-in is detected in the H$`\alpha `$ and Ca ii IRT lines. The behaviour of the lithium ($`\lambda `$6707.8 line) in this star has not been previously reported in the literature. We have determined in our spectra a $`EW`$(Li i) of 145 mÅ which is well above the upper envelope of the Hyades and close to the lower envelope of the Pleiades (see Fig 2). Even though this star could be considered as member of the HS based on its position in the (U, V) plane and the kinematic criteria, the $`EW`$(Li i) indicates it is too young to be a member of the HS.

### 6.14 GJ 3706 (HD 105631, BD+41 2276, HIP 59280)

This K0V star was classified as a member of the IC 2391 supercluster by Eggen (1991). The radial velocity we have determined for this star ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -2.6 km s-1) is in agreement with the previous value ($`v_\mathrm{r}`$ = -3.1 km s-1) reported by Duflot et al. (1995). This star is listed by Hünsch et al. (1999) as source of X-ray detected by the ROSAT-satellite and Strassmeier et al. (2000) found slight Ca ii H&K emission. In our spectrum we have found a very low level of chromospheric activity (no filled-in is detected in H$`\alpha `$ and a very slight filled-in is observed in the Ca ii IRT lines). The Li i absorption line is practically not detected in our spectrum ($`EW`$(Li i)= 1.4 mÅ) indicating it is not a young star and probably not a member of the IC 2391 SC, in spite of the fact that the kinematic criteria point out that it is a member of this SC.

## 7 Discussion and conclusions

In this paper we have used high resolution echelle spectroscopic observations to test the membership of 14 single late-type stars to young stellar kinematic groups such as the Local Association (20 - 150 Myr), Ursa Major group (300 Myr), Hyades supercluster (600 Myr), and IC 2391 supercluster (35 Myr). We have determined accurate heliocentric radial velocities, equivalent width of the Li i doublet at $`\lambda `$6707.8 Å, and the level of chromospheric activity using different indicators from the Ca ii H & K to the Ca ii IRT lines. All these data allow us to apply both kinematic (position in the (U, V) and (W, V) planes and Eggen’s criteria, see Paper I) and spectroscopic (chromospheric activity, and $`EW`$(Li i)) criteria.

Using the kinematic criteria we have classified PW And, V368 Cep, V383 Lac, EP Eri, DX Leo, GJ 211, HD 77407, and EK Dra as possible members of the LA. The $`EW`$(Li i) and level of chromospheric activity of all these stars, except GJ 211, indicate ages similar to the Pleiades or even younger than the Pleiades (HD 77407 and EK Dra) confirming their membership to the LA. However, the low level of activity and the Li i line close to the limit of detection we have found in GJ 211 indicate an age older than the range of ages assigned to this SKG and that this star should be rejected as a possible member.

V834 Tau, $`\pi ^1`$ UMa, and GJ 503.2 turn out to be possible members of the UMa according to the kinematic criteria. The spectroscopic criteria also confirm their membership. We have found for these three stars a moderate level of chromospheric activity, and a $`EW`$(Li i) between the upper envelope of the Hyades and the lower envelope of the Pleiades, that corresponds to the age of 300 Myr of the UMa group, which is intermediate between the Pleiades and Hyades.

The previously identified member of the LA, LQ Hya, turns out to be a YD star (i.e. space-velocity components inside the boundaries that determine the young disk population) but with no clear membership of any of the young SKG studied here. However, the spectroscopic criteria confirm it is a young star with $`EW`$(Li i) similar to the upper envelope of the Pleiades and the H$`\alpha `$ line in emission above the continuum.

GJ 577 was previously classified as a member of the HS, and the kinematic criteria we have applied confirm this classification. However, the $`EW`$(Li i) well above the upper envelope of the Hyades that we have determined for this star indicates that it is younger than the age assigned to the HS.

Even though GJ 3706 could be considered as a member of IC 2391 according to the kinematic criteria, the very small $`EW`$(Li i) we have determined in our spectrum indicates an age too old to be a member of the very young IC 2391 SKG.

An additional age estimation of these stars and those for the possible late-type stars members of young SKG we have selected in Paper I can be obtained by isochrone fitting on the color-magnitude diagram. We are carrying out this kind of study in our ongoing project dedicated to the detailed study of each young SKG and the results will be addressed in forthcoming papers.

Some stars have been observed at different nights and at different epochs, covering several rotational periods. The radial velocities we have determined in these spectra show no evidence of variability and are in good agreement with the range of values previously reported by other authors, supporting the single nature of these stars. For some of these stars (with several spectra available) we have also found low level variability of the chromospheric emission, which can be attributed to low level flaring (V383 Lac) or the rotational modulation of chromospheric active regions (PW And, V368 Cep).

The stars with the highest levels of chromospheric activity (LQ Hya, V834 Tau, PW And) have the H$`\alpha `$ line in emission above the continuum and also have the highest excess emissions in the Ca ii H & K and Ca ii IRT lines. These three stars are also the most rapidly-rotating stars of the sample with rotation period, $`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$ $`<`$ 2 days. When we analyse in detail the behaviour of the chromospheric excess emissions with the star rotation (characterized by their photometric period, $`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$ or their projected rotational velocity, $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$, given in Table 2) a clear trend of increasing activity with increasing rotation is revealed. This can be seen in Fig. 7, where we have plotted the absolute flux at the stellar surface (log$`F_\mathrm{S}`$) in the H$`\alpha `$, and Ca ii IRT lines versus the photometric period (log$`P_{\mathrm{phot}}`$).

This behaviour confirms that this group of young stars also follows a rotation-activity relation similar to that observed in other kinds of active stars (see Montes et al. 1995), and in stars members of young open clusters (see Simon 2001, and references therein). Chromospheric and transition region (using UV emission lines) rotation-activity relations have been previously reported by Ambruster et al. (1998) for five of the stars of our sample.

A more detailed analysis of the relative behaviour of the different diagnostics between themselves and with respect to the main stellar parameters of some of these stars including additional spectroscopic observations will be addressed in forthcoming papers.

We have already started a program of high resolution echelle spectroscopic observations of a large sample of late-type stars (selected by us in Paper I as possible members of young SKGs) in order to carry out a spectroscopic analysis similar to that described in this paper, and in this way better establish their membership of different SKGs (for preliminary results of this spectroscopic survey see Montes et al. 2001c).

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank Dr. B.H. Foing for allow us to use the ESA-MUSICOS spectrograph at Isaac Newton Telescope. This research has made use the of the SIMBAD data base, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France, and the ARI Database for Nearby Stars, Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Heidelberg. We would also like to thank the referee S. Catalano for suggesting several improvements and clarifications. This work was supported by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Spanish Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior e Investigación Científica (DGESIC) under grant PB97-0259.


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# Infrared Views of the TW Hya Disk

## 1 Introduction

TW Hya (= CD–34 7151, H = 7.6 mag) is a star with a large H$`\alpha `$ emission equivalent width, visual variability and location at 23 galactic latitude, and it was thus labeled as “peculiar” by Henize (1976). Rucinski & Krautter (1983) identified it as a spectral type K7Ve T Tauri star far from any molecular cloud (i.e. “isolated”). TW Hya displays classical signs of being surrounded by an accretion disk, including variable H$`\alpha `$ emission (Muzerolle et al., 2000) and excess flux over photospheric in the ultraviolet and near-infrared. In addition it has disk signatures in the form of far-infrared (Rucinski, 1985), submillimeter continuum (Weintraub et al., 1989) and CO line emission (Zuckerman, Forveille, & Kastner, 1995). All of these disk indicators are large for a star as old as TW Hya, which has an age of $``$8 Myr determined from pre-main sequence evolutionary tracks (Webb et al., 1999). Zuckerman et al. inferred a face-on viewing geometry for the disk based on the small CO line widths they observed. Recent imaging observations do indeed reveal a circular disk. Scattered radiation from the disk has been imaged at visible and near-infrared wavelengths (Krist et al., 2000; Trilling et al., 2001), and circumstellar dust emission has been imaged at a wavelength of 7 mm using the VLA (Wilner et al., 2000).

The Hipparcos mission measured the distance to TW Hya as 56$`\pm `$7 pc (Wichmann et al., 1998). An eponymous association of $``$20 star systems has been identified from x-ray and proper motion surveys within 10 and 10 pc of TW Hya (de la Reza et al., 1989; Webb et al., 1999; Sterzik et al., 1999; Zuckerman et al., 2001). The approximately coeval members of the TW Hya Association are amongst the products of recent star formation closest to the Sun. However, only three other members have measurable far-infrared excesses from IRAS: HR 4796A, HD 98800, and Hen3-600 (LIR/L=0.01, 0.19, and 0.21, respectively). The optical depth around TW Hya (LIR/L=0.25) is the largest and corresponds to the reprocessing expected for a optically thick disk (Adams, Lada, & Shu, 1987).

The state of disks of intermediate age ($``$107 yr) has not been well studied. The structure of the youngest disks ($`<`$106 yr), hundreds to thousands of AU in radius around embedded protostars have been copiously studied with millimeter interferometry (Beckwith & Sargent, 1996, e.g.) and visual and infrared imaging (Burrows et al., 1996; Padgett et al., 1999, e.g.). There are only a few examples of older late-type stars surrounded by disks which have been spatially resolved in the near-infrared, most of which are in binary systems (Roddier et al., 1996; Koresko, 1998, e.g.). At ages $``$107 yr, most known disks orbit early type stars because only in these systems do the disks scatter enough photons to be detectable (e.g. $`\beta `$ Pic (Smith & Terrile, 1984)). TW Hya, thanks to its proximity to the Sun and its age, is thus an excellent laboratory for studying a disk of intermediate age around a low mass star. This age range is thought to be critical in the evolution of the planetesimals that form the cores of gas giant and terrestrial planets (Weidenschilling & Cuzzi, 1993).

## 2 Observations and Data Analysis

### 2.1 NICMOS

TW Hya was observed at two different wavelength bands with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The star was placed in the coronagraphic hole in camera 2 ($``$0.076 ″ pixel-1, $``$19″ square field of view). The observational strategy was the same for both – a total of 1216 s of integration taken in three non-destructive multiple-readout (MULTIACCUM) sequences at each of two telescope orientations, rolled 7 with respect to each other about the target axis. To minimize time-dependent point spread function (PSF) variations, the rolled image sets were obtained within $``$40 minutes in a single target visibility period. The first observation was made with the F160W filter ($`\lambda _{central}`$=1.59µm, FWHM=0.40µm) on 1998 August 16 and the second was made with the F110W filter ($`\lambda _{central}`$=1.10µm, FWHM=0.59µm) on 1998 November 25. A summary of the observations is presented in Table 1.

Prior to each set of coronagraphic observations, two 0.86 s target acquisition frames were obtained with the F171M ($`\lambda _{central}`$=1.72 µm, FWHM=0.07 µm) filter. Contemporaneous lamp flats and backgrounds were obtained at F160W for the purpose of locating the coronagraphic hole and enabling good flat-fielding near the hole. Special coronagraphic flat fields at each band were created by modifying a standard high signal to noise ratio on-orbit reference flat field. In a 16$`\times `$16 pixel region around and including the coronagraphic hole, the pixel sensitivities were measured in the F160W internal flat field (hole-finding) image, scaled to F110W if necessary, and replaced in the reference flat.

The MULTIACCUM data sets were processed with “nicred” (MacLeod, 1997). Dark frames prepared by the NICMOS instrument definition team were used to subtract the dark current and correct the detector shading. After bias subtraction, linearization and flat fielding, known bad pixels were replaced with a Gaussian weighted average of neighboring pixels, and the three MULTIACCUM images from each spacecraft orientation were medianed. The best available photometric calibration was applied to the final images (F110W: 1 ADU s-1 = 2.031$`\times `$10-6 Jy and, referenced to Vega, 0 mag = 1775 Jy; F160W: 1 ADU s-1 = 2.190$`\times `$10-6 Jy and 0 mag = 1083 Jy). The uncertainty in this absolute photometric calibration is $``$2% (M. Rieke, private communication).

In the reduced and calibrated NICMOS images, scattered and diffracted light from the star can be much higher than the disk flux, so the instrumental PSF from an unresolved source must be subtracted. The same observing strategy, including the telescope roll, was used in our GTO program for 14 other stars at F110W and 77 at F160W. These were all processed in the same way as the TW Hya images, and we use targets which do not show extended disk emission as a library of possible PSF stars. The detailed character of the NICMOS PSF changes with time primarily due to thermal variations in the HST optical assembly (Kulkarni et al., 2000) and small shifts of the camera cold mask (Krist et al., 1998); hence some PSF star subtractions produce much lower residuals than others (Schneider et al., 2001). The software IDP3 (Lytle et al., 1999) utilizing cubic convolution interpolation was used to register coronagraphic PSFs to both orientations of the TW Hya observations. Only stars brighter than TW Hya were considered, so the signal to noise ratio in the PSFs were greater than that of TW Hya at every radius, and the PSF subtraction residuals were dominated by systematic uncertainties. To minimize the effect of the cold mask shift, we considered PSFs taken within one month of TW Hya. Five F160W PSFs and one F110W PSF met all criteria.

The fine structure of the broad band PSF is affected by the spectral energy distribution of the source. When subtracting a reference point source, therefore, mismatches in effective temperature can result in increases in the subtraction residuals. At F160W, where several possible PSF observations existed, the chosen PSF is the K4V star HR 8721 (=GL 879) which is quite close to TW Hya (K7) in spectral type. At F110W, however, where many fewer PSFs were taken, the spectral type of the chosen PSF, $`\tau ^1`$ Eridani, is F4V. We tested that the effect of the color mismatch is small in two ways. First, we subtracted coronagraphic PSFs of different colors and examined the residuals; two examples are plotted in Figure 1. Although color mismatch does increase the residuals, it does not introduce a false excess that could mimic a disk, nor does it significantly affect the shape of the observed TW Hya disk. Second, we created synthetic PSFs of different spectral types with Tiny Tim (Krist & Hook, 1997). Since Tiny Tim models diffraction and not scattering from the coronagraph or other elements in the optical path, its PSFs isolate the effects of color alone. The Tiny Tim subtraction residuals were significant only within 0.6″ of the star and were smaller than those from real PSF subtractions.

The dominant source of photometric uncertainty in the PSF-subtracted images results from uncertainty in how to appropriately scale the PSF to the brightness of TW Hya. There are two possible methods to determine the scaling factor: a) the use of a priori photometry of the two stars and b) the use of measurements made on the subtracted image, including nulling the flux in the diffraction spikes and demanding that the flux approach zero at large radii from the star. The former suffers from the fact that no images of the stars are taken in the broad-band filters used for the coronagraphic imaging, because the stars saturate the detector in the minimum integration time, so stellar models must be employed for the color transformations from the acquisition filters. The latter suffers from the fact that the disk contaminates the measurements.

Our PSF scalings were determined by minimizing the flux in the subtracted diffraction spikes outside the region of apparent disk flux. We scale the PSF images in ADU s-1 for $`\tau ^1`$ Eri (F110W) by 0.0099 and Gl 879 (F160W) by 0.031. The uncertainty in this scaling is 3% based on the variation between the four diffraction spikes. This uncertainty in the scaling results in approximately a 10% uncertainty in the disk photometry in each band.

### 2.2 Keck

Images and spectra of TW Hya were taken with the facility Long Wavelength Spectrograph (LWS) (Jones & Puetter, 1993) on the 10 m Keck I telescope on UT 11 December 2000 and 4–5 February 2001. During all three nights, the weather was photometric with low water vapor optical depth. The images were limited by seeing with FWHM =0.′′57 and 0.′′50 at 11.7 µm and 17.9 µm respectively. LWS uses a $`128\times 128`$ pixel Boeing Si:As detector, and has a plate scale of 0.08 arcsec pixel-1, resulting in a focal- plane field of view of $`10.24\mathrm{}`$ square. It also provides a dispersion of 0.037 $`\mu `$m pixel-1; when combined with a 6 pixel (0.′′48) slit, the resolution is R $``$ 120. When viewed through the long slit, vignetting limits the field of view to 8.5″. Observational details are found in Table 2.

In spectroscopic mode, data were taken with the telescope secondary chopped in the same direction as the nod with a frequency of 5 Hz and amplitude of 10′′. Only the on-source chop fell on the detector. In preliminary data analysis, the images were double differenced to subtract the thermal background and bad pixels were corrected by interpolation. The infrared bright star HR 4532 (11.7 $`\mu `$m flux density = 53.6 Jy) was observed just after TW Hya to provide atmospheric calibration.

In imaging mode, data were obtained by chopping the secondary at 5 Hz and nodding after $``$20 s. In some cases, the data were taken by chopping and nodding 5”, so four images appear on the detector; in others the throw was 10” so one image appears on the detector. In either case, every double differenced (i.e. fully background subtracted) image was centroided and recentered to remove telescope drift.

The spectra of TW Hya and of the atmospheric calibrator were extracted by fitting Gaussians in the spatial direction to the flux at every spectral pixel. The uncertainty in the flux at every wavelength was estimated from the noise in the sky on either spatial side of the long slit image. The location of the Telluric O3 line at $``$9.6µm was measured in the sky spectra associated with both TW Hya and the standard, from which it was determined that small unrepeatabilities in the grating locator mechanism introduced a small shift in the central wavelength between the two. Before division of the TW Hya spectrum by the standard spectrum, the standard spectrum was shifted in wavelength by 2.5 pixels to match that of TW Hya. After division, the resultant spectrum was multiplied by a blackbody at the temperature of the standard star (3100 K) in order to recover the intrinsic flux distribution. The location of the Telluric ozone line was measured from a cross correlation with atmospheric data from the National Solar Observatory sunspot atlas (Wallace, Livingston & Bernath, 1994) and used for wavelength calibration.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Reflected Light

The NICMOS PSF subtracted images of TW Hya at F110W (1.1µm) and F160W (1.6µm) are shown on a natural logarithmic stretch in Figure 2. The disk becomes visible just outside the coronagraph and continues out to a radius of 4′′ ($``$230 AU). The noise computed in the background of the images is 21.1 and 21.2 mag arcsec-2 at F160W and F110W respectively. In the disk, the noise is dominated by subtraction residuals. The spatial resolution of these images is 0.′′15 at F160W and 0.′′12 at F110W.

The diffraction spikes from the stellar cores are particularly sensitive to time-dependent instrument and telescope variations and never subtract out perfectly. Where possible, the pixels corrupted by the spikes in images from one telescope orientation were replaced by uncorrupted pixels from the other orientation. This results in the tapered appearance of the spikes in the final images. The spikes were not masked in the central 0.′′9, because even though they are quite noisy, the very bright inner disk of TW Hya can still be significantly detected above them in the region from 0.′′38 (just outside the edge of the coronagraphic hole) to 0.′′9.

The total disk flux densities were measured in an annulus between radii of 0.′′38 and 4′′ (22$``$228 AU) to be 17.4$`\pm `$1.8 mJy (12.5 $`\pm `$ 0.1 mag) at F110W and 21.6$`\pm `$ 2.2 mJy (11.7 $`\pm `$ 0.1 mag) at F160W. At both wavelengths, the pixels masked by the diffraction spikes were replaced by the average value of the flux density at their radii and included in the photometry reported above. The quoted uncertainties are not dominated by photon counting statistics but rather by the systematic uncertainty in how to scale the PSF stars to TW Hya. The measured ratios of scattered to stellar light are 0.024 and 0.021 at F110W and F160W respectively. The surface brightness peaks at a radius of 0.′′5 (29 AU) at 4.5$`\pm `$1.2 mJy arcsec-2 at F110W and 5.7$`\pm `$1.4 mJy arcsec-2 at F160W and declines smoothly with radius.

To measure any ellipticity in the disk, the radii of seven independent isophotal contours were calculated as a function of azimuthal angle in the F160W image. For a more significant result, the contours were normalized to a radius of one and averaged in sixteen azimuthal bins. The average isophote was fit with an ellipse using eccentricity (i.e. inclination) and position angle as two free parameters. The resulting best fit had e=0.025$`\pm `$ 0.014. If this ellipticity is interpreted as due to the inclination of an intrinsically circular disk, the measured inclination is of marginal significance, but a robust 3$`\sigma `$ upper limit to the inclination is 4 from face-on.

The azimuthally averaged disk surface brightnesses at both wavelengths are shown in Figure 3. Between radii of 40 AU and 150 AU, the disk at both wavelengths is well fit by a single power law, r-2.6±0.1 (the solid lines in Figure 3). However, also seen at F160W is a “wiggle” in the surface brightness centered at 1.′′5 (85 AU). Beyond 150 AU, the disk falls off more sharply. Within 40 AU, it appears to flatten.

To obtain the color of the disk, the images at F110W and F160W were ratioed. Since the images in the two filters were taken at quite different telescope orientations, the diffraction spikes corrupt 50% of the ratioed image. There are no significant gradients in the color as a function of radius. The F110W - F160W color averaged over the pixels free from diffraction spike contamination is 0.77 $`\pm `$0.10 mag.

Since TW Hya was never observed with the NICMOS F110W and F160W filters without the coronagraph, the color of the star at these two NICMOS bands was estimated based on a stellar photosphere model by Kurucz (1993). The F171M magnitude of the star was measured from the acquisition images to be 7.39 $`\pm `$ 0.04 mag from both the August and November 1998 data. The UBVRI variability of TW Hya, which amounts to $``$0.5 mag at V and decreases toward the red, has been examined in detail and shown to have an overall period of 1–2 days with much shorter episodes of rapid change (Rucinski & Krautter, 1983; Mekkaden, 1998; Herbst & Koret, 1988). The star becomes bluer by up to 20% as it brightens. The near-infrared variability has not been thoroughly studied, but its level is expected to be low if the underlying cause of the variation is from hot-spots. The high level of consistency in the photometry of our acquisition images from the two dates implies that the star did not vary at 1.7 $`\mu `$m between August and November. We assume the star was similarly stable at 1.1 and 1.6µm.

A Kurucz stellar atmosphere model with Teff=3925 K, log(g)=4, and log(Z)=0 was used to extrapolate the F171M magnitude to F110W and F160W giving 8.47 and 7.55 mag respectively. The same model gives H=7.53 and J=8.35 mag (in the CIT system) which are 10% brighter than the values given by Rucinski & Krautter (1983), which had an uncertainty of 5–10%. The inferred J-H color, 0.82, is identical to that obtained by Rucinski & Krautter (1983), so we believe the model extrapolation to the NICMOS filters to be accurate. The F110W$``$F160W stellar color is thus 0.92 mag, while the color of the disk is 0.77$`\pm `$0.10 mag, so the disk color appears to be marginally (1.3$`\sigma `$) blue.

Using HST/WFPC2, Krist et al. (2000), also found a slightly blue color for the disk at visual wavelengths (0.6 and 0.8 $`\mu `$m) in images made when the star was as bright as it has ever been recorded. The best estimate of color should come from the largest wavelength range, i.e. 0.6–1.6 µm. Over the disk region between 0.5 and 3′′, F606W$``$F160W=2.6 $`\pm `$ 0.2. For TW Hya, F606W$``$F160W=2.5, so the disk appears to scatter neutrally over this 1 µm wavelength baseline.

### 3.2 Thermal Emission

The radial profiles of TW Hya in thermal emission at 11.7 and 17.9 $`\mu `$m are shown in Figure 4 compared with images of the PSF star. TW Hya appears to be the same size as the PSF, i.e. unresolved, at both wavelengths. Integrated flux densities were measured in a synthetic aperture of radius 2.′′4, and were 0.72 $`\pm `$ 0.04 Jy at 11.7µm and 1.45 $`\pm `$ 0.08 Jy at 17.9µm. The measurement uncertainties reflect both statistical and photometric calibration contributions. These flux densities agree very well with those given in the IRAS Faint Source Catalog (1990) at 12 and 25 µm interpolated to our wavelengths of observation. Thus, all of the mid-infrared flux in the IRAS beam arises from quite close to the star. Using a Kurucz model of a K7 photosphere (see Figure 5) to predict the L-band flux and then assuming Rayleigh-Jeans fall-off from 3.5 to 18 µm, we determine the stellar flux density at 11.7 and 18.9 µm as 31 and 13 mJy, respectively. The mid-infrared color temperature of the disk is 214 K from our measurements.

The 8–13$`\mu `$m spectrum of TW Hya is shown in Figure 6. The 11.7µm flux density, above, was used to normalize the spectrum, since the full width of that filter is contained in the spectral range. There is a broad hump in this region that, similarly to Sitko, Russell, & Lynch (2000), we attribute to emission by a combination of amorphous and crystalline silicates.

### 3.3 Detection Limits for Companions

Multiplicity in the TW Hya association as a whole is $``$50%, including stellar and substellar objects (Zuckerman et al., 2001), although TW Hya itself has no known companion. At the young age of TW Hya any substellar companions would be quite bright in the infrared, so our NICMOS images provide a sensitive way to search for such objects.

We subtracted the two orientations of our F160W data. While the stellar PSF, the instrumental scattering function, and detector artifacts rotate with the aperture, any real features in the unocculted area of the detector are unaffected by a change in the telescope/camera orientation. Subtraction of the these two images has been shown to significantly reduce residual PSF background light (Schneider et al., 1998). Furthermore, since the TW Hya disk is almost face-on, it nulls out nearly perfectly in the roll-subtraction, leaving higher noise but no excess flux. In our data, the roll was only 7°, so point sources in the roll subtraction are separated by more than their FWHM for radii greater than 1.2″. For smaller radii, the roll-subtraction was not useful for point source detection and we used the PSF subtracted images discussed already. In both regions, we assessed the observability of point sources by planting Tiny Tim PSFs and measuring the magnitude that could be recovered at $`>`$3$`\sigma `$ significance. No point sources were found within 3.4″ of TW Hya. The F160W detection limits are shown in Figure 7.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Disk Morphology

Given the large fraction (0.25) of the stellar luminosity re-radiated in the mid and far-infrared, the disk must be optically thick. For single scattering by a geometrically flat and optically thick disk, the flux density per square arcsec would be proportional to r-3 (Whitney & Hartmann, 1992). This is somewhat steeper than the r-2.6 we fit in the 40–150 AU annular region and suggests that the disk is instead flared. Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of disk flaring is that the reflected light surface brightness throughout this annulus is much larger than predicted by a flat disk model.

A warm optically thick disk composed of well mixed dust and gas will naturally flare as a consequence of vertical hydrostatic equilibrium (Kenyon & Hartmann, 1987). If dust and gas are well mixed and in interstellar proportions, then the height at which stellar photons are scattered is roughly proportional to the vertical pressure scale height. In this case, the scattering height scales as $`r^\gamma `$, where $`\gamma 1.2`$$`1.4`$ (Chiang & Goldreich, 1997; D’Alessio et al., 1998; Chiang et al., 2001). Such a well-mixed, flared disk has a scattering brightness profile that scales approximately as $`r^2`$ (Whitney & Hartmann, 1992), significantly shallower than the average TW Hya profile at disk radii greater than 40 AU. The discrepancy could reflect vertical settling of dust with respect to the gas such that the actual scattering height at these radii is characterized by $`\gamma <1`$.

The F160W surface brightness profile between 80 and 130 AU scales like r-2. This annulus corresponds to the “zone 3” defined by Krist et al. (2000) (Figure 8), where the visual scattered light also flattens out in their images. The appearance of the same feature in data from two different instruments lends credibility to the idea that this feature is real. Such a variation in the slope of the surface brightness profile might reflect an undulation or ripple in the height of the disk surface; at 40 AU $``$ r $``$ 80 AU, the disk surface might be concave down, while at 80 AU $``$ r $``$ 130 AU, the disk might be concave up. Distortions of the disk may be caused by instabilities afflicting passively heated disks (Chiang, 2000; Dullemond, 2000) or by dynamical effects created by a massive body orbiting in the disk. The detection limit on a massive body at 100 AU from the star is 3MJup. Beyond 150 AU, the surface brightness profile is significantly steeper than r-3. The outer disk is probably completely shadowed.

The face-on geometry of the disk and the average NICMOS data power law for the disk surface brightness are consistent with the WFPC2 data of Krist et al. (2000). Their average power law in the same 40 – 150 AU region (see Figure 8) is -2.4 at F606W (0.6 µm) and -2.6 at F814W (0.8 µm). In addition, the geometry of the disk seen in both HST data sets is consistent with the general morphology reported by Trilling et al. (2001) from ground-based observations. However, there are notable differences between the NICMOS and Trilling et al. data. At their innermost detectable radius of 0.′′94, they report a peak surface brightness at H-band of 6.8$`\pm `$1.1 mJy arcsec-2. At this same radius, which is well outside our coronagraph, and using the F160W filter which is very similar to H-band, we measure 2.5 $`\pm `$ 0.4 mJy arcsec-2. In addition, they measured a total disk flux density in the 0.′′94–4′′ region of 21.6 $`\pm `$ 3.5 mJy, whereas we measure 12.0 $`\pm `$ 1.2 mJy in that same region. The Trilling et al. surface brightness power law index, -3.3 $`\pm `$ 0.3, is discrepant by 2.5 $`\sigma `$ with the NICMOS index of -2.6 $`\pm `$ 0.1. Systematic uncertainties in their ground-based PSF subtraction under conditions of 0.′′8 seeing may be responsible for the discrepancies.

The large optical depth of the disk makes it difficult to use the scattered light to estimate the density of grains. At any given position in the disk, visible and near-infrared stellar radiation penetrates to an optical depth of one. In contrast, the disk is presumably optically thin at millimeter wavelengths, so millimeter images of the dust emission trace the true surface density.

### 4.2 Composition

To elucidate the dust composition, we combine information from the spectral energy distribution, mid-infrared imaging, and mid-infrared spectroscopy.

#### 4.2.1 SED Fitting compared to Mid-infrared Imaging

A simple model of the disk using grains that absorb and emit like blackbodies in thermal equilibrium with a star of luminosity 0.3 L predicts a temperature of 214 K, the 11.7 to 17.9 µm color temperature, at a distance of only 0.9 AU (0.′′04). If the entire disk could be described by such grains, it would therefore not be surprising that it appears point-like. In more sophisticated models of passive circumstellar disks, Chiang & Goldreich (1997) and Chiang et al. (2001) predict the mid-infrared flux emitted by a disk as a function of radius. In their two-layer disk models, the hotter disk surface layer is heated by direct exposure to starlight, while the cooler disk interior is heated by radiation from the surface. To compare predictions of their models with our mid-infrared images, we modeled TW Hya after the prescription of Chiang et al. (2001) which accounts explicitly for grain size distributions and laboratory-based silicate and water ice opacities. Our procedure was first to select disk parameters so as to reproduce the observed SED only. In fitting the disk parameters, no regard is given to any imaging data. Only after a disk model is chosen that provides a satisfactory fit to the SED do we derive surface brightness profiles at 11.7 µm and 17.9 µm based on our fitted model disk. These profiles are convolved with our respective PSFs and compared to our images of TW Hya.

Figure 5 displays the observed and fitted SEDs of TW Hya. Model input parameters are given in Table 3. For additional details of the model, see Chiang et al. (2001). The SED model predicts that 99.8% of the 12 $`\mu `$m flux density and 94.6% of the 18 $`\mu `$m flux density arise within a radius of 9 AU (2 pixels) of the star. As is shown in Figure 4, at the resolution of the Keck Telescope, no extended emission is predicted by the model. This is consistent with the observations in which no extension is observed.

Outside 0.2 (2) AU, silicate cores are mantled by water ice in the disk interior (surface). The remarkably large grains in the disk interior, consisting of millimeter–centimeter sized cores, and the large total condensable mass in the disk of 0.0014 M = 470 M, were necessary to fit the millimeter-wave SED measured by Weintraub et al. (1989) and Wilner et al. (2000). The measurement at the particularly long wavelength of 7 mm constrains the grain size distribution in the disk interior to be significantly flatter than the standard interstellar law of $`dN/drr^{3.5}`$, and to possess an upper size cut-off of 6 mm. Had we employed a grain size distribution that was much steeper than $`r^1`$ and that had an upper size cut-off smaller than $`r=`$ 6 mm, the model fluxes between $`1.3`$ and 7 mm would have been too low compared to the measurements. Our fitted grain size distributions in the disk interior are subject to the well-known degeneracy between grain size and disk surface density (see, e.g., Chiang et al. (2001)); reducing the grain sizes or steepening the size distribution increases the fitted dust surface mass density. However, increasing the fitted dust surface density would threaten to make the disk gravitationally unstable, if gas and dust are present in interstellar proportions in TW Hya. We draw the model-dependent conclusion that grain growth has indeed occurred in the TW Hya disk.

For the particular grain mixture of millimeter to centimeter-sized olivine spheres mantled with water ice employed by our model, $`\kappa _{1.1\mathrm{mm},\mathrm{dust}}=0.84\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$ and $`\kappa _{7\mathrm{m}\mathrm{m},\mathrm{dust}}=0.14\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{g}^1`$. A somewhat lower dust mass of $``$130 $`M_{}`$ was derived by Wilner et al. (2000) and Trilling et al. (2001) using the same observational data. The difference arises largely because their assumed dust opacities were $``$3 times greater than ours (we have multiplied their opacities by 100 to isolate the dust component). Their values were based on the Hildebrand (1983) measurement of $`\kappa _{250\mu \mathrm{m},\mathrm{dust}}`$ = 10 cm2 g-1 in the dark molecular cloud NGC 7023 and extrapolated to longer wavelengths with $`\kappa _{\nu ,\mathrm{dust}}\nu ^\beta `$, where $`\beta `$ is taken to be 1.0 by Wilner et al. and 0.9 by Trilling et al. The assumed similarity between dust in NGC 7023 and dust in TW Hya has no direct observational evidence.

Pollack et al. (1994) showed that a single power law description of the opacity is inaccurate for real dust materials. They computed opacities for a variety of grain species, including water ice, silicates, organics, iron, and troilite. For their “Composite (50%)” grains, extrapolated values of $`\kappa _{7\mathrm{m}\mathrm{m},\mathrm{dust}}`$ range between 0.03 and 0.06 cm2 g-1, assuming that the values of $`\beta `$ that they compute between 650 $`\mu `$m and 2.3 mm can be extended to 7 mm. These opacities are a factor of $``$3 smaller than the ones employed in our disk model fit, and a factor of 5–10 smaller than the ones adopted by Wilner et al. (2000) and Trilling et al. (2001).

Krist et al. (2000) model only $``$33 $`M_{}`$ of ISM-like dust to reproduce their observed surface brightness profiles in scattered light at $`\lambda `$ = 0.6 and 0.8 $`\mu `$m. The profiles depend more strongly on the distribution of dust at high altitude above the midplane than on the distribution of dust in the midplane where most of the mass probably resides. Krist et al. assume a Gaussian vertical density profile for micron-sized dust. However, substantially more dust could reside at the midplane of their disk model without detracting from the goodness of their surface brightness fits. Thus, their $``$33 $`M_{}`$ could easily represent a lower limit on the actual dust mass.

We conclude that the TW Hya disk probably contains several hundred Earth masses of condensed silicates and ices. This dust mass is several times larger than the typical dust masses estimated for T Tauri star disks in the Taurus and Ophiuchus star forming regions on the basis of 1.3 mm dust continuum observations (Osterloh & Beckwith, 1995; Andre & Montmerle, 1994). Large, centimeter sized, grains were necessary to fit the $`\nu ^{3.5}`$ slope of the millimeter-wave SED. A grain size distribution with smaller grains is characterized by a significantly steeper slope, $`\nu ^{45}`$, and is difficult to reconcile with the observations. The presence of these very large particles is good evidence for grain growth within the disk.

Total mass estimates for TW Hya’s disk in the literature vary by another two orders of magnitude depending on the assumed gas:dust ratio. The standard interstellar gas:dust mass ratio of 100:1 may be incorrect for an older disk like that around TW Hya. Kastner et al. (1997) find only 11 M in H2 gas based on 13CO observations and a standard interstellar H2/CO ratio. The low mass accretion rate estimated by Muzerolle et al. (2000), an order of magnitude less than for typical T Tauri stars, also suggests that the gas in this system has been depleted. The gas-to-dust mass ratio does not formally enter into our model SED-fitted disk; only enough gas and/or vertical circulation of gas is assumed to lift dust grains $``$3–5 vertical scale heights above the midplane to comprise the flared, superheated disk atmosphere. If we assume the primordial TW Hya disk had the canonical 100:1 gas to dust ratio, then it once contained 0.14 M. This early disk with $``$25% of the star’s mass would have been marginally gravitationally stable.

#### 4.2.2 Mid-infrared spectrum

The broad silicate emission feature cannot be explained by amorphous silicates alone since they have a pronounced peak at 9.6µm and fall off rapidly to longer wavelengths. Our spectrum agrees very well with the published result of Sitko, Russell, & Lynch (2000), who note the near absence of a peak at 11.2 $`\mu `$m, within the uncertainties of their data. Our spectrum hints at a peak at 11.2 $`\mu `$m; furthermore, to create the full width of the feature requires substantial flux longward of 10µm. Crystalline species are probably responsible. Data of this spectral resolution are inadequate to constrain the exact crystalline structure, however. Magnesium and iron-rich species all have peaks in the 10 – 11.3µm region (J$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$ger et al., 1998). Silicate emission features become less prominent as the grains get larger, so that by a size of $``$5µm their mid-infrared spectrum is nearly flat (Skinner, Barlow & Justtanont, 1992). The TW Hya spectrum suggests that its emitting grains must therefore be $``$5$`\mu `$m in size.

## 5 Conclusions

TW Hya is surrounded by a optically thick dust disk which must be flared to account for the large apparent size of the disk seen in scattered light and for its thermal SED. A ripple in the surface brightness at 85 AU and the steep decline in surface brightness beyond 150 AU could be due to thermal instabilities or dynamical effects. However, no companion to TW Hya is detected down to a mass of $``$10 MJup at distances greater than 50 AU from the star.

Although TW Hya looks like a classical T Tauri star in terms of its H$`\alpha `$ emission, its disk shows signs of evolution. To fit the large submillimeter and millimeter flux densities measured from TW Hya, our SED models require a grain size distribution in the disk interior dominated by large, millimeter-centimeter sized, icy grains. Large grains, which dominate the mass of the disk, presumably grew from coagulation of smaller grains in the disk. The initial mass of TW Hya’s disk in gas and dust may be several times the typical T Tauri star disk mass, which may help account for its long, $``$8 Myr, lifetime. The thermal emission remains spatially unresolved at the resolution of the Keck Telescope, in accord with theoretical expectations.

We thank John Krist and Mike Sitko for providing their data in digital form, our anonymous referee for insightful comments on the manuscript, and the Keck staff for help with LWS. This work was supported by NASA grant NAG 5-3042 to the NICMOS IDT and by a Hubble Fellowship grant to EIC. This paper is based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This paper is also based on observations at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.


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# Gamma-Rays as Probes for the Multi-Dimensionality of Type Ia Supernovae

## 1 Introduction

$`\gamma `$-ray observations have long been recognized as a potential, valuable tool for supernovae research (Clayton, Colgate & Fishman, 1969; Ambwani & Sutherland, 1988; Chan & Lingenfelter, 1991). Only $`\gamma `$-rays provide a direct link to the Ni distribution which hardly depends on details of the physics and on the numerical treatment. Different scenarios can be distinguished by line fluxes and profiles, the structure of the progenitors can be probed, and the time of the explosion can be determined. $`\gamma `$-rays can provide a good determination of the $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$ production for nearby SNe Ia because, nowadays, accurate distances of nearby galaxies can be obtained by $`\delta `$Ceph. Moreover, all sky surveys by $`\gamma `$-rays may provide an unbiased rate of SNe Ia. As we will discuss below, advances in the fields of optical and IR observations and of the theory have helped to redefine the goals of SN research by $`\gamma `$-rays. New challenges emerged which emphasize their central role as probes for the 3-D structure of SNe Ia.

The results presented are based on our gamma-ray codes 111available on request for spherical (Höflich, Müller & Khokhlov, 1992) and arbitrary 3-D geometries (Höflich & Lee, 2001). We assume homologous expansion of density and chemical structures calculated by spherical and 3-D hydro simulations. All nuclear decay lines of $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{56}Co`$ are included. Pair production and bound-free opacities are taken into account.

## 2 Classical and New Challenges

Classical questions and problems: In parts, this section is based on our previous analyses (Höflich, Müller & Khokhlov, 1992; Höflich, Wheeler J.C., Khokhlov, 1998a). For further discussions, we also want to refer to Burrows et al. (1991),Kumagai & Nomoto (1997) and Pinto, Eastman & Rogers (2001).

Overall, $`\gamma `$ spectra and their evolution is characterized by a turnover from a phase dominated by $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$ to $`{}_{}{}^{56}Co`$ lines (Fig. 1). The time of the explosion can be determined by the ratio between the $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$(0.81MeV) and the $`{}_{}{}^{56}Co`$(0.84 MeV) lines because it varies strongly with time of the explosion but it hardly depends on the model. With time, the envelope becomes increasingly transparent. The spectral evolution depends sensitively on the density and chemical structure of the envelope and, thus, provides a valuable tool for the discrimination of explosion models. For example, sub-Chandrasekhar mass models show as a distinguishing feature an outer layer of $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$ which reveals itself by high $`\gamma `$-ray fluxes and broads already a few days after the explosion (Fig. 1). At late phases ($``$100 days), the absolute line fluxes and profiles provide a direct measure of the total $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$ mass and its distribution. For $`M_{Ch}`$ models, the high densities close to the center ($`10^9gcm^3`$) result in the production of neutron-rich iron-group isotopes rather than $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$. The size of this central region increases with $`\rho _c`$. A knowledge of this property is critical to detect because systematic variations in $`\rho _c`$ can produce an offset (up to $`0.2^m`$, Domínguez, Höflich, & Straniero (2001)) in the brightness decline relation (Hamuy et al., 1995), a cornerstone of modern cosmology with SNe Ia (e.g. Schmidt et al. (1998); Perlmutter et al. (1999)). Optical and near IR-spectra do not allow to distinguish isotopes. However, the lack of central $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$ reveals itself in by flat-topped line profiles (Fig. 2). To detect the variation, we need resolutions between 20 to 30 which are well within reach for the upcoming INTEGRAL mission.

We want to mention one problem related to the analysis of observed line fluxes during the first months after the explosion. An advantage of $`\gamma `$-ray compared to optical analyses is that the results are insensitive to details of the physics or numerical treatment. E.g. the specific opacities do not depend on temperature or density. This advantage is somewhat lost along the way when comparing the observations with theoretical predictions. Problems are caused by the time- and model-dependent line shifts and widths ($`10,000km/s`$), the intrinsic response function of the instrument which is non-Gaussian, and they are connected to the actual definition used to determine integrated line fluxes from synthetic spectra. The actual value may differ by up to a factor of 2 even if based on a given synthetic spectrum (e.g. Müller, Höflich & Khokhlov (1991)). Preferable, the same machinery should be employed for both the synthetic spectra and the observations to derive accurate values or good upper limits for the $`\gamma `$ emission.

New challenges: During the last few years, observational and theoretical methods in the field of SN-research advanced significantly well beyond the point imaginable as little as 10 years ago. Back then, SNe Ia were discovered a few days before maximum or later and, in general, light curves were rather uncertain and the spectral coverage was poor. Even for nearby SNe Ia, distances to the host galaxy were uncertain by 20 to 30 % . Now, accurate $`\delta `$-Ceph. based distances of nearby galaxies are available (e.g. Saha et al. (1997)). Combined with the establishment of the optical brightness decline relation relation (Hamuy et al., 1995), SNe Ia provide a unique tool for cosmology. Robotic, systematic SN-search programs (e.g. LOSS, c.f. Treffers et al. (1997)) continuously increase the sample both at low, intermediate and high red-shifts. Often, SNe Ia are discovered 4 to 5 magnitudes before maximum light (Riess et al., 1999; Aldering, Knop & Nugent, 2000), almost eliminating the selection effects by galactic extinction and providing a tight handle on the rise times. Detailed observations of optical and infrared spectra and light curves allowed sophisticated analyses and test of scenarios, ruling all but out the once popular helium triggered detonations, and strongly favoring deflagration or delayed detonation $`M_{Ch}`$ models or, in some instances, the merger scenario (e.g. Höflich & Khokhlov (1996)). Observation of polarization in SNe Ia has shown that, in general, these objects are fairly spherical (Wang, et al., 2001) with the noticeable exception of very subluminous SNe Ia (Howell et al., 2001). For the first time, a direct connection with the progenitors seems to be within reach. In particular, there is mounting evidence for a connection between the properties of the progenitor, and the physics of the explosion (Höflich, Wheeler, & Thielemann, 1998b; Iwamoto et al., 1999; Domínguez, Höflich, & Straniero, 2001; Khokhlov, 2001). The recent progress may redefine the role of modern $`\gamma `$-ray astronomy for the field of supernovae, and some of classical goals may have been rendered less compelling. $`\gamma `$-rays are particular valuable to measure the 3-D structure of SNe Ia. A comprehensive list of new goals is beyond the format of this paper. We want to address two of the areas, namely, $`\gamma `$-rays as tools to reveal properties of nuclear burning front and large scale asymmetries.

Nuclear burning fronts: Within $`M_{Ch}`$ models, optical and IR LCs and spectra can be reproduced by models in which a (slow) deflagration front turns into a detonation (e.g. Khokhlov (1991)) or, alternatively, a deflagration front is rapidly accelerating as in W7 (Nomoto, Thielemann, & Yokoi, 1984). However, successful models require parameterized descriptions for the propagation of the burning front. For a discussion, see Domínguez, Höflich, & Straniero (2001) and references therein. The propagation of a detonation front is well understood but the description of the deflagration and the deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) pose problems. On a microscopic scale, a deflagration propagates due to heat conduction by electrons. Though the laminar flame speed in SNe Ia is well known, the front has been found to be Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) unstable, increasing the effective speed of burning (Nomoto, Sugimoto & Neo, 1976). Recently, significant progress has been made toward a better understanding of the physics of flames. Starting from static WDs, hydrodynamic calculations of the deflagration fronts have been performed in 2-D (Lisewski et al., 2000), and full 3-D (Khokhlov, 2001). These calculations demonstrated the complicated morphology of the front. Khokhlov (2001) finds that, while the expansion of the envelope becomes almost spherical, the inhomogeneous chemical structure will fill about 50 to 70% of the star (in mass). The resulting chemical inhomogeneities and their scale depends sensitively on the structure of the initial WD, i.e. progenitor and the pre-conditioning of the runaway. If a DDT occurs at densities needed to reproduce normal-bright SNe Ia, most of the unburned fuel will be consumed during the detonation phase and, by enlarge, the chemical inhomogeneities will be eliminated. However, they will survive in pure deflagration models.

Currently, state of the art 3-D calculations are restricted to the regime of linear instabilities, i.e. the flamelet regime. The consistent treatment is restricted to the early part of the deflagration phase. In these calculations, The initial acceleration of the the deflagration front is followed by a declining rate of burning. This leave a significant fraction of the WD unburned ($`0.5M_{}`$). The resulting structures cannot account for the observations of typical SNe Ia (Khokhlov, 2001). This problem is well known from spherical deflagration models with a low deflagration speed (e.g. DF1, Khokhlov (1991)), and it triggered the suggestion of a DDT, or, alternatively, showed the need for continuously accelerating deflagration front (Nomoto, Thielemann, & Yokoi, 1984). Despite the limitations of current models, the chemical clumps will not mix in the subsequent phase. To test for possible effects of chemical inhomogeneities produced during the deflagration, we have remapped a 3-D chemical structure on a spherical explosion model (Fig. 3). The resulting line profiles show fluctuations of about 10 %. Their frequency provides a measure of the scale of the instabilities which depends on the C/O ratio of the progenitor. Weak or absent fluctuations in the $`\gamma `$-ray spectra would be a strong indicator for a DDT.

Large scale asymmetries: One of the open questions is the nature of subluminous SNe Ia such as SN 1991bg (Filippenko et al., 1992; Leibundgut et al., 1993). Among them, SN 1999by is one of the best observed SNe Ia. In addition to the studies of optical light curves, detailed polarization spectra of the subluminous SN 1999by have been obtained and analyzed (Howell et al., 2001). Whereas ‘normal’ SNe Ia tend to show little or no polarization (Wang, Wheeler, & Höflich, 1997), this supernova was significantly polarized, up to 0.7%, indicating an overall asphericity of the photosphere of $`20\%`$. This result suggests that there may be a connection between the observed asphericity and the subluminosity in SNe Ia. Among others, a possible explanations are the explosion of a rapidly rotating WD and its effect on the propagation of nuclear flames during the explosive phase of burning, or extensive burning of carbon just prior to the runaway (Höflich et al., 2001). Polarization in the optical measures the asymmetry of the photosphere but, in general, provides little information whether it is caused by a global asymmetry in the density structure or in the excitation mechanism, i.e. the $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$ distribution. To test the sensitivity of $`\gamma `$-rays, we have calculated the transport for the subluminous model of ellipsoidal shape (Figs. 4). The flux and line profiles vary as a function of inclination (e.g. by $`50\%`$ at day 23). In combination with optical and IR observations, $`\gamma `$-rays can be a key to answer the question on the nature of the asymmetry.