Strong Near-Infrared Emission Interior to the Dust-Sublimation Radius of Young Stellar Objects MWC275 and AB Aur

Abstract

Using the longest optical-interferometeric baselines currently available, we have detected strong near-infrared (NIR) emission from inside the dust-destruction radius of Herbig Ae stars MWC275 and AB Aur. Our sub-milli-arcsecond resolution observations unambiguously place the emission between the dust-destruction radius and the magnetospheric co-rotation radius. We argue that this new component corresponds to hot gas inside the dust-sublimation radius, confirming recent claims based on spectrally-resolved interferometry and dust evaporation front modeling.

12 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJL