A new photometric study of T Tauri stars in the infrared

Abstract

We have compiled infrared photometric data from the literature of practically all T Tauri stars found up to date including 444 classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs), 1698 weak-line T Tauri stars (WTTSs) and 1258 not classified T Tauri stars (3400 in total) in addition to 196 post-T Tauri stars (PTTSs). From this data bank we extract the infrared characteristics of the different groups and discuss different origins of the infrared radiation. The observational data are taken from the AKARI, IRAS, WISE and 2MASS missions. We show that in the wavelength range 1–140 μm, all T Tauri stars have infrared excesses. CTTSs have more infrared excess than WTTSs, while PTTSs have little or no infrared excess. We found that in the 1–3 μm wavelength range the infrared emission of T Tauri stars is mainly due to thermal radiation from the photosphere and hot dust grains from circumstellar envelopes. In the 3–140 μm wavelength range the infrared emission of T Tauri stars is mainly due to radiation from dusty/gaseous disks surrounding the stars. In addition, we also make a comparison between T Tauri stars and Herbig AeBe stars (HAeBe). There are some differences between these two kinds of objects in that for HAeBe stars the infrared radiation as a rule originates in dusty/gaseous disks in the 1–3 μm wavelength range, while in the range 3–12 μm it is possibly due to PAH emission for about half of HAeBe stars. In other wavelength ranges both kinds of stars have similar infrared characteristics indicating emission from dusty/gaseous disks.