Linking the inner and outer disk with polarimetry and interferometry

Polarised light imaging with extreme adaptive optics systems such as SPHERE and GPI provides unique information on the spatial distribution and scattering properties of the cirumstellar dust in the intermediate and outer disk regions. At the same time, aperture masking interferometry and infrared long-baseline interferometry probe the distribution of the hot dust in the inner disk.

The aim of our MSCA-funded project is to combine high-angular resolution imaging in polarised light + total intensity light in order to relate the structure and properties of the outer disk with the inner disk geometry. For this purpose, we survey a small sample of Herbig Ae/Be stars with SPHERE polarimetry, Keck aperture masking interferometry, and VLT/PIONIER interferometry. Our radiative transfer modelling allows us to constrain global disk parameters and to search for shadowing effects from the inner disks. The aperture masking observations are optimised to search for low-mass stellar or planetary-mass companions.

Major results from this project include:

• Willson et al. 2019, A&A 621, A7: "Imaging the disc rim and a moving close-in companion candidate in the pre-transitional disc of V1247 Orionis"


• Kluska et al. 2018, ApJ 855, 44: "A Multi-instrument and Multi-wavelength High Angular Resolution Study of MWC 614: Quantum Heated Particles Inside the Disk Cavity"


• Willson et al. 2016, A&A 595, A9: "Sparse Aperture Masking Interferometry Survey of Transitional Disks - Search for sub-stellar-mass companions and asymmetries in their parent disks"


• Kraus et al. 2016, MNRAS 462, 61: "V346 Normae: first post-outburst observations of an FU Orionis star"

This project was funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Career Integration Grant Nr. 618910 from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).