Measuring Optical Extinction Towards Young Stellar Objects Using Diffuse Interstellar Bands

Abstract

Line-of-sight extinction estimates to well-studied young T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars are based on many different measurements and analysis methods. This has resulted in wide scatter among the published $A_V$ values for the same star. In this work, we discuss the challenges in measuring extinction to actively accreting and especially outbursting young stellar objects (YSOs). We then explore a method not previously applied to young stars utilizing diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). In early-type stars, narrow correlations exist between DIB equivalent widths and the column density of interstellar material, and therefore the line-of-sight extinction. Here, we measure equivalent widths of the 5780 Å and 6614 Å DIB features in a sample of actively accreting YSOs, and apply a DIB-reddening calibration to estimate reddening and subsequently extinction. Our calibration is newly derived from a composite of available literature data and fully accounts for the scatter in these measurements. We also compare the DIBs-inferred optical line-of-sight extinction values with previous extinction estimates for our sample stars.

arXiv comment32 pages, 14 figures, submitted to ApJ

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• The Radial Distribution and Excitation of H2 around Young Stars in the HST-ULLYSES Survey
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• Possible evidence for the 478 keV emission line from ${}^7$Be decay during the outburst phases of V1369 Cen