HST far-UV survey of H2 emission of T Tau stars

Observations of the spatial distribution and lifetime of the molecular gas at planet-forming radii (a<10AU) are important for understanding the formation and evolution of exoplanetary systems. Toward this end, we present the largest spectrally resolved survey of H_2_ emission around low-mass pre-main-sequence stars compiled to date.

We use a combination of new and archival far-ultraviolet spectra from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope to sample 34 T Tauri stars (27 actively accreting Classical T Tauri Stars and 7 non-accreting Weak-lined T Tauri Stars) with ages ranging from ~1 to 10Myr. We observe fluorescent H_2_emission, excited by Ly{alpha} photons, in 100% of the accreting sources, including all of the transitional disks in our sample (CS Cha, DM Tau, GM Aur, UX Tau A, LkCa 15, HD 135344B, and TW Hya).