{
  "id": "1302.2111",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2013-02-08T18:55:55.000Z",
  "updated": "2013-02-08T18:55:55.000Z",
  "title": "X-ray Irradiation of the LkCa 15 Protoplanetary Disk",
  "authors": [
    "Stephen L. Skinner",
    "Manuel Guedel"
  ],
  "comment": "3 tables, 3 figures",
  "journal": "2013, ApJ, 765, 3",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.SR"
  ],
  "abstract": "LkCa 15 in the Taurus star-forming region has recently gained attention as the first accreting T Tauri star likely to host a young protoplanet. High spatial resolution infrared observations have detected the suspected protoplanet within a dust-depleted inner gap of the LkCa 15 transition disk at a distance of 15 AU from the star. If this object's status as a protoplanet is confirmed, LkCa 15 will serve as a unique laboratory for constraining physical conditions within a planet-forming disk. Previous models of the LkCa 15 disk have accounted for disk heating by the stellar photosphere but have ignored the potential importance of X-ray ionization and heating. We report here the detection of LkCa 15 as a bright X-ray source with Chandra. The X-ray emission is characterized by a cool heavily-absorbed plasma component at kT_cool ~0.3 keV and a harder component at kT_hot ~5 keV. We use the observed X-ray properties to provide initial estimates of the X-ray ionization and heating rates within the tenuous inner disk. These estimates and the observed X-ray properties of LkCa 15 can be used as a starting point for developing more realistic disk models of this benchmark system.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2013-02-08T18:55:55.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "protoplanetary disk",
      "x-ray irradiation",
      "high spatial resolution infrared observations",
      "x-ray properties",
      "x-ray ionization"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "doi": "10.1088/0004-637X/765/1/3",
      "journal": "The Astrophysical Journal",
      "year": 2013,
      "month": "Mar",
      "volume": 765,
      "number": 1,
      "pages": 3
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 1218148,
      "adsabs": "2013ApJ...765....3S"
    }
  }
}