The Spatial Distribution of Fluorescent H${}_2$ Near T Tau

Abstract

New subarcsecond FUV observations of T Tau with HST/STIS show spatially resolved structures in the 2"x2" area around the star. The structures show in multiline emission of fluorescent H_2 pumped by Lyman alpha. One emission structure follows the cavity walls observed around T Tau N in scattered light in the optical. A temperature greater or equal to 1000K is required to have enough population in the H_2 to produce the observed fluorescent lines; in the cool environment of the T Tau system, shock heating is required to achieve this temperature at distances of a few tens of AU. Fluorescent H_2 along the cavity wall represents the best evidence to date for the action of low-density, wide-opening-angle outflows driving cavities into the molecular medium at scales smaller than 100 AU. A southern region of emission consists of two arcs, with shape and orientation similar to the arcs of H_2 2.12 microns and forbidden line emission crossing the outflow associated with the embedded system T Tau S. This region is located near the centroid of forbidden line emission at the blueshifted lobe of the N-S outflow.

arXiv commentTo appear in ApJ, vol. 591. Color figures available online at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/youngstars/

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