SYNTHETIC-IMAGES OF PROTOPLANETARY DISKS AROUND YOUNG STARS

We present synthetic images of accretion disks around young stars comp uted from a model where the disk's vertical structure is solved assumi ng hydrostatic equilibrium. The disk's brightness results from three e mission processes: (1) the reprocessing of stellar photons in the opti cally thick disk's regions; (2) the scattering of stellar photons in t he optically thin parts of the disk; and (3) the thermal emission of t he disk due to viscous energy dissipation during the accretion process . We discuss the relative importance of these emission processes at wa velengths ranging from 1.2 to 20 mum.