Probing Gas and Dust around B[e] Stars at the Highest Angular Resolution: A Decade of Interferometric Studies
Long-baseline interferometry is the one and only technique offering the sub-milliarcsecond resolution needed to spatially resolve the close environment of stars. Since the construction of modern facilities such as the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in Chile, and the Center for High Resolution Array (CHARA) in California, it became a key technique to probe massive […]
VLTI, CHARA and NPOI Observations of Be Stars
In this review we will present recent results between 2005 and 2012 on the interferometric observations of circumstellar disks around active hot stars using the VLTI, CHARA and NPOI interferometers.
First Observations of the Be Star α Ara with the VLTI
We aim to study the geometry and kinematics of the disk around the Be star α Arae as a function of wavelength, especially across the Brγ emission line. We use both the VLTI/MIDI and VLTI/AMBER instruments operating respectively in the N and K bands. Moreover, we have combined the high angular resolution provided with the […]
Interferometric View of Massive Active Hot and Dusty Stars
We present in the following recent results from the VLTI MIDI and AMBER instruments operating respectively at 10 and 2 μm. Up to now most of the interferometric results were obtained using the modulus of the visibility in order to estimate the global size and geometry of the circumstellar environments. Thanks to the spectrally resolved […]
Interferometric Studies of Hot Star Disks
Interferometry in the visible and in the IR now provides milliarcsecond spatial resolution and thus can be used for studying the circumstellar environment of hot star disks. After a brief introduction on the interferometric technique we will illustrate how the modulus and the phase of the visibility can be used to constrain the physics of […]
The Mid-IR interferometer VLTI/MIDI and the study of hot star disks
The Mid-IR interferometric instrument MIDI on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in June 2003 allows interferometric observations over the 8 μm-13 μm wavelength range, with a spatial resolution ranging from 5 to 20 milliarcsec, a spectral resolution of 30 and 250, and a point source sensitivity better than N = 4 mag (1 Jy). […]