IMAGING THE MOLECULAR DISK ORBITING THE TWIN YOUNG SUNS OF V4046 Sgr

We have imaged the disk surrounding the nearby (D similar to 73 pc), similar to 12 Myr, classical T Tauri binary system V4046 Sgr with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at an angular resolution of similar to 2 ''. We detect a rotating disk in (CO)-C-12(2-1) and (CO)-C-13(2-1) emission and resolve the continuum emission at 1.3 mm. We infer disk gas and dust masses of similar to 110 and similar to 40 Earth masses, respectively. Fits to a power-law disk model indicate that the molecular disk extends to similar to 370 AU and is viewed at an inclination of between similar to 33 degrees and similar to 39 degrees for dynamical stellar masses ranging from 1.8 M-circle dot down to 1.5 M-circle dot (the range of the total mass previously determined for the central, 2.4 day spectroscopic binary). This range of disk inclination is consistent with that assumed in deducing the central binary mass (i.e., 35 degrees), suggesting that the V4046 Sgr binary system and its circumbinary, molecular disk are coplanar. In light of the system's age and binarity, the presence of an extensive molecular disk orbiting V4046 Sgr provides constraints on the timescales of processes related to Jovian planet formation and demonstrates that circumbinary Jovian planets potentially could form around close binary systems.