¹ Department of Physics & Astronomy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081, USA
²Physics Department, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
³Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
⁴Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
⁵Department of Geology & Astronomy, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383, USA

We discuss three different observational diagnostics related to disks around hot stars: absorption line determinations of rotational velocities of Be stars; polarization diagnostics of circumstellar disks; and X-ray line diagnostics of one specific magnetized hot star, ¹ Ori C. Some common themes that emerge from these studies include (a) the benefits of having a specific physical model as a framework for interpreting diagnostic data; (b) the importance of combining several different types of observational diagnostics of the same objects; and (c) that while there is often the need to reinterpret traditional diagnostics in light of new theoretical advances, there are many new and powerful diagnostics that are, or will soon be, available for the study of disks around hot stars.

to appear in the proceedings of The Nature and Evolution of Disks Around Hot Stars, eds. R. Ignace and K. Gayley, ASP Conf. Series
Preprints on the web at
http://astro.swarthmore.edu/~cohen/Papers/Cohen_ETSU_diagfocus.pdf