Characterizing the Inner AU of V1295 Aql

The inner AU of protoplanetary disks hosts many complex physical processes such as star-disk interactions, magnetic fields, dust destruction, planet formation, and migration. To directly study this region requires milli-arcsecond angular resolution, beyond the diffraction limit of the world’s largest optical telescopes and even too small for the mm-wave interferometer ALMA. However, we can use infrared interferometers now to image the inner astronomical unit and we present new results from the CHARA and VLTI Arrays for the young and luminous Herbig Ae star v1295 Aql. We clearly detect a sub-au dust-free cavity surrounded by a ring-like structure that we interpret as the dust destruction front. We model the shape with different radial profiles and also present a model-free image reconstruction. The inner rim is not perfectly sharp and the cause for the transition region is still unclear, perhaps due to different dust grain compositions or diffusion effects.