4 research outputs found
Massive protostars as gamma-ray sources
Massive protostars have associated bipolar outflows with velocities of
hundreds of km s. Such outflows can produce strong shocks when interact
with the ambient medium leading to regions of non-thermal radio emission. We
aim at exploring under which conditions relativistic particles are accelerated
at the terminal shocks of the protostellar jets and can produce significant
gamma-ray emission. We estimate the conditions necessary for particle
acceleration up to very high energies and gamma-ray production in the
non-thermal hot spots of jets associated with massive protostars embedded in
dense molecular clouds. We show that relativistic Bremsstrahlung and
proton-proton collisions can make molecular clouds with massive young stellar
objects detectable by the {\it Fermi}{} satellite at MeV-GeV energies and by
Cherenkov telescope arrays in the GeV-TeV range. Gamma-ray astronomy can be
used to probe the physical conditions in star forming regions and particle
acceleration processes in the complex environment of massive molecular clouds.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy
and Astrophysic
Massive protostars as gamma-ray sources
Massive protostars have associated bipolar outflows with velocities of
hundreds of km s. Such outflows can produce strong shocks when interact
with the ambient medium leading to regions of non-thermal radio emission. We
aim at exploring under which conditions relativistic particles are accelerated
at the terminal shocks of the protostellar jets and can produce significant
gamma-ray emission. We estimate the conditions necessary for particle
acceleration up to very high energies and gamma-ray production in the
non-thermal hot spots of jets associated with massive protostars embedded in
dense molecular clouds. We show that relativistic Bremsstrahlung and
proton-proton collisions can make molecular clouds with massive young stellar
objects detectable by the {\it Fermi}{} satellite at MeV-GeV energies and by
Cherenkov telescope arrays in the GeV-TeV range. Gamma-ray astronomy can be
used to probe the physical conditions in star forming regions and particle
acceleration processes in the complex environment of massive molecular clouds.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy
and Astrophysic