Spectral line profiles changed by dust scattering in heavily obscured young stellar objects

It is known that scattering of radiation by circumstellar dust can strongly change the line profiles in stellar spectra. This hampers the analysis of spectral lines originating in the emitting regions of heavily obscured young stars. To calculate the line profile of the scattered radiation, we suggest to use the approximation of remote scattering particles. This approximation assumes that the scattering dust grains are at a distance from the star that is much larger than the characteristic size of the emitting region. Using this method, we calculated the line profiles of several simple models. They show the H alpha line profiles of Herbig AeBe stars in the presence and absence of motionless or moving dust

Explaining UXOR variability with self-shadowed disks

In this Letter we propose a new view on UX Orionis type variability. The idea is based on the earlier proposal by various authors that UXORs are nearly-edge-on disks in which hydrodynamic fluctuations could cause clumps of dust and gas to cross the line of sight. However, because the standard disk models have a flaring geometry, it is mostly the outer regions of the disk that obscure the star. The time scales for such obscuration events would be too long to match the observed time scales of weeks to months. Recent 2-D self-consistent models of Herbig Ae/Be protoplanetary disks (Dullemond et al. 2002,2003 henceforth D02/DD03), however, have indicated that for Herbig Ae/Be star disks there exists, in addition to the usual flared disks, also a new class of disks: those that are fully self-shadowed. Only their puffed-up inner rim (at the dust evaporation radius) is directly irradiated by the star, while the disk at larger radius resides in the shadow of the rim. For these disks there exist inclinations at which the line of sight towards the star skims the upper parts of the puffed-up inner rim, while passing high over the surface of outer disk regions. Small hydrodynamic fluctuations in the puffed-up inner rim could then be held responsible for the extinction events seen in UXORs. If this idea is correct, it makes a prediction for the shape of the SEDs of these stars. It was shown by D02/DD03 that flared disks have a strong far-IR excess and can be classified as `group I' (in the classification of Meeus et al. 2001), while self-shadowed disks have a relatively weak far-IR excess and are classified as `group II'. Our model therefore predicts that UXORs belong to the `group II' sources. We show that this correlation is indeed found within a sample of 86 Herbig Ae/Be stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters (a few lines added to original version to accommodate comments of referee

Bimodal Brightness Oscillations in Models of Young Binary Systems

We consider a model for the cyclic activity of young binary stars that accrete matter from the remnants of a protostellar cloud. If the orbit of such a binary system is inclined at a small angle to the line of sight, then the streams of matter and the density waves excited in the circumbinary disk can screen the primary component of the binary from the observer. To study these phenomena by the SPH (smoothed particle hydrodynamics) method, we have computed grids of hydrodynamic models for binary systems based on which we have constructed the light curves as a function of the orbital phase.The main emphasis is on investigating the properties of the brightness oscillations. Therefore, the model parameters were varied within the following ranges: the component mass ratio q = M2 : M1 = 0.2 - 0.5 and the eccentricity e = 0 - 0.7. The parameter that defined the binary viscosity was also varied. We adopted optical grain characteristics typical of circumstellar dust. Our computations have shown that bimodal oscillations are excited in binaries with eccentric orbits, provided that the binary components do not differ too much in mass. In this case, the ratios of the periods and amplitudes of the bimodal oscillations and their shape depend strongly on the inclination of the binary plane and its orientation relative to the observer. Our analysis shows that the computed light curves can be used in interpreting the cyclic activity of UX Ori stars.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Hydrodynamic Processes in Young Binary Systems as a Source of Cyclic Variations of Circumstellar Extinction

Hydrodynamic models of a young binary system accreting matter from the remnants of a protostellar cloud have been calculated by the SPH method. It is shown that periodic variations in column density in projection onto the primary component take place at low inclinations of the binary plane to the line of sight. They can result in periodic extinction variations. Three periodic components can exist in general case. The first component has a period equal to the orbital one and is attributable to the streams of matter penetrating into the inner regions of the binary. The second component has a period that is a factor of 5-8 longer than the orbital one and is related to the density waves generated in a circumbinary (CB) disk. The third, longest period is attributable to the precession of the inner asymmetric region of CB disk. The relationship between the amplitudes of these cycles depends on the model parameters as well as on the inclination and orientation of the binary in space. We show that at a dust-to-gas ratio of 1:100 and and a mass extinction coefficient of 250 cm$^2$ g$^{-1}$, the amplitude of the brightness variations of the primary component in the V-band can reach $1^m$ at a mass accretion rate onto the binary components of $10^{-8} M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ and a $10^{\rm o}$ inclination of the binary plane to the line of sight. We discuss possible applications of the model to pre-main-sequence stars.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, published in Astronomy Letters (v.33, 2007

The evolutionary status of the UX Orionis star RZ Piscium

The star RZ Psc is one of the most enigmatic members of the UX Ori star family. It shows all properties that are typical for these stars (the light variability, high linear polarization in deep minima, the blueing effect) except for one: it lacks any signatures of youth. With the Li I line, as a rough estimate for the stellar age, we show that the "lithium" age of RZ Psc lies between the age of stars in the Pleiades (approximately 70 Myr) and the Orion (approximately 10 Myr) clusters. We also roughly estimated the age of RZ Psc based on the proper motion of the star using the Tycho-2 catalog. We found that the star has escaped from its assumed birthplace near to the Galactic plane about 30-40 Myr ago. We conclude that RZ Psc is a post-UXOr star, and its sporadic eclipses are caused by material from the debris disk

Disc wind in the HH 30 binary models

Recent interferometric observations of the young stellar object(YSO) HH 30 have revealed a low velocity outflow in the $^{12}$CO J=1-2 molecule line (Pety et al. 2006). We present here two models of the low velocity disc winds with the aim of investigating an origin of this molecular outflow. Following Andlada et al. (2006) we treated HH 30 as a binary system. Two cases have been considered: i) the orbital period $P$ = 53 yrs and ii) $P \le$ 1 yr. Calculations showed that in the first case the outflow cone had a spiral-like structure due to summing the velocities of the orbital motion and the disc wind. Such a structure contradicts the observations. In the second case, the outflow cone demonstrates a symmetry relatively to the system axis and agrees well with the observations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. accepted by Mon. Not. R. Astron. So

Accretion and outflow activity on the late phases of pre-main-sequence evolution. The case of RZ Piscium

RZ Psc is an isolated high-latitude post-T Tauri star that demonstrates a UX Ori-type photometric activity. The star shows very weak spectroscopic signatures of accretion, but at the same time possesses the unusual footprints of the wind in Na I D lines. In the present work we investigate new spectroscopic observations of RZ Psc obtained in 2014 during two observation runs. We found variable blueshifted absorption components (BACs) in lines of the other alcali metals, K I 7699 \AA\ and Ca II IR triplet. We also confirmed the presence of a weak emission component in the H$\alpha$ line, which allowed us to estimate the mass accretion rate on the star as $\dot{M}\leq$ $7 \cdot 10^{-12}$Msun yr$^{-1}$. We could not reveal any clear periodicity in the appearance of BACs in sodium lines. Nevertheless, the exact coincidence of the structure and velocities of the Na I D absorptions observed with the interval of about one year suggests that such a periodicity should exist

The Unique Eclipsing System KH 15D: New Photometric Data

We present results of the photometric observations of the young eclipsing binary KH 15D obtained during the two observational seasons of 2002-2004 years. A comparison of our data with those by Hamilton et al. (2001) and Herbst et al. (2002) reveals an existence of the long-term photometrical brightness trend: during 5 years a system brightness in the I band decreased by about one stellar magnitude. It is also shown that a systematic change of the eclipse parameters found by Herbst et al. (2002) is continuing up to now. The shape of the light curve did not change essentially and is characterized with a small brightening in the central part of the eclipses. The results obtained are discussed in the context of the current models of KH 15D.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Accepted by Astrophysic