Detection of Crystalline Silicates around the T Tauri Star Hen 3-600A*

We have carried out mid-infrared N-band spectroscopic observations of the T Tauri star Hen 3-600A in the TW Hydra association with the Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope and found structured features in its spectrum. These structured features are well explained by a combination of crystalline forsterite, crystalline enstatite, silica, and glassy olivine grains. Among intermediate-mass young stellar objects (YSOs), crystalline silicates have already been detected, but no firm detection has been reported so far for low-mass YSOs such as T Tauri stars. This is the first clear detection of crystalline silicates in low-mass YSOs, and it shows that the crystallization event occurs even in the protoplanetary disk of low-mass YSOs in the T Tauri phase. The physical processes leading to the inferred dust composition in the Hen 3-600A system may be analogous to those that occurred in the early epoch of the solar system.