An N band interferometric survey of the disks around post-AGB binary stars

Abstract

It is now well established that FGK post-AGB stars that are surrounded by both hot and cold dust (as derived from the spectral energy distribution), are almost always part of a binary system with $100 < P_{orb} < 5000$~days. The properties and long-term stability of the dust emission requires it to arise from a gas- and dust-rich, puffed-up and (semi-)stable circumbinary disk. This interpretation has been confirmed with spatially resolved observations at a range of wavelengths for various individual objects. Here I present the first results of the first mid-IR interferometric survey of this class of objects. Our sample comprises 18 sources, most of which are confirmed binaries and which cover a range in IR excess. Our analysis clearly shows the compactness of the dust structures in these systems. We perform a statistical comparison with radiative transfer disk models, showing that most objects are indeed continuous disks from the sublimation radius outwards.