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We present new observations of the FUV (1100-2200 Angstrom) radiation field and the near- to mid-IR (3--13.5 micron) spectral energy distribution (SED) of a sample of T Tauri stars selected on the basis of bright molecular disks (GM Aur, DM Tau, LkCa15). In each source we find evidence for Ly alpha induced H2 fluorescence and an additional source of FUV continuum emission below 1700 Angstroms. Comparison of the FUV spectra to a model of H2 excitation suggests that the strong continuum emission is due to electron impact excitation of H2. The ultimate source of this excitation is likely X-ray irradiation which creates hot photo-electrons mixed in the molecular layer. Analysis of the SED of each object finds the presence of inner disk gaps with sizes of a few AU in each of these young (~1 Myr) stellar systems. We propose that the presence of strong H2 continuum emission and inner disk clearing are related by the increased penetration power of high energy photons in gas rich regions with low grain opacity., 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters

Young stars surrounded by disks with very low mass accretion rates are likely in the final stages of inner disk evolution and therefore particularly interesting to study. We present ultraviolet (UV) observations of the ~5-9 Myr old stars RECX-1 and RECX-11, obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as optical and near-infrared spectroscopic observations. The two stars have similar levels of near-UV emission, although spectroscopic evidence indicates that RECX-11 is accreting and RECX-1 is not. The line profiles of Hα and He I λ10830 in RECX-11 show both broad and narrow redshifted absorption components that vary with time, revealing the complexity of the accretion flows. We show that accretion indicators commonly used to measure mass accretion rates, e.g., U-band excess luminosity or the Ca II triplet line luminosity, are unreliable for low accretors, at least in the middle K spectral range. Using RECX-1 as a template for the intrinsic level of photospheric and chromospheric emission, we determine an upper limit of 3 × 10^(–10) M_☉ yr–1 for RECX-11. At this low accretion rate, recent photoevaporation models predict that an inner hole should have developed in the disk. However, the spectral energy distribution of RECX-11 shows fluxes comparable to the median of Taurus in the near-infrared, indicating that substantial dust remains. Fluorescent H2 emission lines formed in the innermost disk are observed in RECX-11, showing that gas is present in the inner disk, along with the dust.

We exploit the high sensitivity and moderate spectral resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to detect far-ultraviolet (UV) spectral features of carbon monoxide (CO) present in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks for the first time. We present spectra of the classical T Tauri stars HN Tau, RECX-11, and V4046 Sgr, representative of a range of CO radiative processes. HN Tau shows CO bands in absorption against the accretion continuum. The CO absorption most likely arises in warm inner disk gas. We measure a CO column density and rotational excitation temperature of N(CO) = (2 ± 1) × 1017 cm−2 and T rot(CO) 500 ± 200 K for the absorbing gas. We also detect CO A–X band emission in RECX-11 and V4046 Sgr, excited by UV line photons, predominantly H i Lyα. All three objects show emission from CO bands at λ > 1560 Å, which may be excited by a combination of UV photons and collisions with non-thermal electrons. In previous observations these emission processes were not accounted for due to blending with emission from the accretion shock, collisionally excited H2, and photo-excited H2, all of which appeared as a “continuum” whose components could not be separated. The CO emission spectrum is strongly dependent upon the shape of the incident stellar Lyα emission profile. We find CO parameters in the range: N(CO) ∼ 1018–1019 cm−2, T rot(CO) ≳ 300 K for the Lyα-pumped emission. We combine these results with recent work on photo-excited and collisionally excited H2 emission, concluding that the observations of UV-emitting CO and H2 are consistent with a common spatial origin. We suggest that the CO/H2 ratio (≡ N(CO)/N(H2)) in the inner disk is ∼1, a transition between the much lower interstellar value and the higher value observed in solar system comets today, a result that will require future observational and theoretical study to confirm.