341 research outputs found
The Soft X-ray Lightcurves of Partially Eclipsed Stellar Flares
Most stellar flares' soft X-ray lightcurves possess a `typical' morphology,
which consists of a rapid rise followed by a slow exponential decay. However, a
study of 216 of the brightest flares on 161 pre-main sequence stars, observed
during the Chandra Orion-Ultradeep Project (COUP), showed that many flare
lightcurves depart from this typical morphology. While this can be attributed
to the superposition of multiple typical flares, we explore the possibility
that the time-variable eclipsing of flares by their host stars may also be an
important factor. We assume each flare is contained within a single, uniform
plasma density magnetic loop and specify the intrinsic variation of the flare's
emission measure with time. We consider rotational eclipse by the star itself,
but also by circumstellar discs and flare-associated prominences. Based on this
simple model, we generate a set of flares similar to those observed in the COUP
database. Many eclipses simply reduce the flare's maximum emission measure or
decay time. We conclude therefore that eclipses often pass undetected, but
usually have only a modest influence on the flare emission measure profile and
hence the derived loop lengths. We show that eclipsing can easily reproduce the
observed atypical flare morphologies. The number of atypical modelled flare
morphologies is however much less than that found in the COUP sample. The large
number of observed atypical flare morphologies, therefore, must be attributed
to other processes such as multiple flaring loops.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Gaia Stellar Kinematics in the Head of the Orion A Cloud: Runaway Stellar Groups and Gravitational Infall
This work extends previous kinematic studies of young stars in the Head of
the Orion A cloud (OMC-1/2/3/4/5). It is based on large samples of infrared,
optical, and X-ray selected pre-main sequence stars with reliable radial
velocities and Gaia-derived parallaxes and proper motions. Stellar kinematic
groups are identified assuming they mimic the motion of their parental gas.
Several groups are found to have peculiar kinematics: the NGC 1977 cluster and
two stellar groups in the Extended Orion Nebula (EON) cavity are caught in the
act of departing their birthplaces. The abnormal motion of NGC 1977 may have
been caused by a global hierarchical cloud collapse, feedback by massive Ori
OB1ab stars, supersonic turbulence, cloud-cloud collision, and/or slingshot
effect; the former two models are favored by us. EON groups might have
inherited anomalous motions of their parental cloudlets due to small-scale
`rocket effects' from nearby OB stars. We also identify sparse stellar groups
to the east and west of Orion A that are drifting from the central region,
possibly a slowly expanding halo of the Orion Nebula Cluster. We confirm
previously reported findings of varying line-of-sight distances to different
parts of the cloud's Head with associated differences in gas velocity.
Three-dimensional movies of star kinematics show contraction of the groups of
stars in OMC-1 and global contraction of OMC-123 stars. Overall, the Head of
Orion A region exhibits complex motions consistent with theoretical models
involving hierarchical gravitational collapse in (possibly turbulent) clouds
with OB stellar feedback.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 26 pages, 13 figures. The two 3-D
stellar kinematic movies, aimed as Supplementary Materials, can be found on
YouTube at: https://youtu.be/B4GHCVvCYfo (`restricted' sample) and
https://youtu.be/6fUu8sP0QFI (`full' sample
X-Ray flares in Orion Young Stars. II. Flares, Magnetospheres, and Protoplanetary Disks
We study the properties of powerful X-ray flares from 161 pre-main sequence
(PMS) stars observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in the Orion Nebula
region. Relationships between flare properties, protoplanetary disks and
accretion are examined in detail to test models of star-disk interactions at
the inner edge of the accretion disks. Previous studies had found no
differences in flaring between diskfree and accreting systems other than a
small overall diminution of X-ray luminosity in accreting systems. The most
important finding is that X-ray coronal extents in fast-rotating diskfree stars
can significantly exceed the Keplerian corotation radius, whereas X-ray loop
sizes in disky and accreting systems do not exceed the corotation radius. This
is consistent with models of star-disk magnetic interaction where the inner
disk truncates and confines the PMS stellar magnetosphere. We also find two
differences between flares in accreting and diskfree PMS stars. First, a
subclass of super-hot flares with peak plasma temperatures exceeding 100 MK are
preferentially present in accreting systems. Second, we tentatively find that
accreting stars produce flares with shorter durations. Both results may be
consequences of the distortion and destabilization of the stellar magnetosphere
by the interacting disk. Finally, we find no evidence that any flare types,
even slow-rise flat-top flares are produced in star-disk magnetic loops. All
are consistent with enhanced solar long-duration events with both footprints
anchored in the stellar surface.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (07/17/08); 46 pages, 14 figures, 2
table
Methods for Estimating Fluxes and Absorptions of Faint X-ray Sources
X-ray sources with very few counts can be identified with low-noise X-ray
detectors such as ACIS onboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These sources are
often too faint for parametric spectral modeling using well-established methods
such as fitting with XSPEC. We discuss the estimation of apparent and intrinsic
broad-band X-ray fluxes and soft X-ray absorption from gas along the line of
sight to these sources, using nonparametric methods. Apparent flux is estimated
from the ratio of the source count rate to the instrumental effective area
averaged over the chosen band. Absorption, intrinsic flux, and errors on these
quantities are estimated from comparison of source photometric quantities with
those of high S/N spectra that were simulated using spectral models
characteristic of the class of astrophysical sources under study. The concept
of this method is similar to the long-standing use of color-magnitude diagrams
in optical and infrared astronomy, with X-ray median energy replacing color
index and X-ray source counts replacing magnitude. Our nonparametric method is
tested against the apparent spectra of 2000 faint sources in the Chandra
observation of the rich young stellar cluster in the M17 HII region. We show
that the intrinsic X-ray properties can be determined with little bias and
reasonable accuracy using these observable photometric quantities without
employing often uncertain and time-consuming methods of non-linear parametric
spectral modeling. Our method is calibrated for thermal spectra characteristic
of stars in young stellar clusters, but recalibration should be possible for
some other classes of faint X-ray sources such as extragalactic AGN.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 39 pages, 15
figure
A Chandra ACIS Study of the Young Star Cluster Trumpler 15 in Carina and Correlation with Near-infrared Sources
Using the highest-resolution X-ray observation of the Trumpler 15 star
cluster taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we estimate the total size of
its stellar population by comparing the X-ray luminosity function of the
detected sources to a calibrator cluster, and identify for the first time a
significant fraction (~14%) of its individual members. The highest-resolution
near-IR observation of Trumpler 15 (taken by the HAWK-I instrument on the VLT)
was found to detect most of our X-ray selected sample of cluster members, with
a K-excess disk frequency of 3.8+-0.7%. The near-IR data, X-ray luminosity
function, and published spectral types of the brightest members support a
cluster age estimate (5-10 Myr) that is older than those for the nearby
Trumpler 14 and Trumpler 16 clusters, and suggest that high-mass members may
have already exploded as supernovae. The morphology of the inner ~0.7 pc core
of the cluster is found to be spherical. However, the outer regions (beyond 2
pc) are elongated, forming an `envelope' of stars that, in projection, appears
to connect Trumpler 15 to Trumpler 14; this morphology supports the view that
these clusters are physically associated. Clear evidence of mass segregation is
seen. This study appears in a Special Issue of the ApJS devoted to the Chandra
Carina Complex Project (CCCP), a 1.42 square degree Chandra X-ray survey of the
Great Nebula in Carina.Comment: Accepted for the ApJS Special Issue on the Chandra Carina Complex
Project (CCCP), scheduled for publication in May 2011. All 16 CCCP Special
Issue papers are available at
http://cochise.astro.psu.edu/Carina_public/special_issue.html through 2011 at
least. 30 pages; 8 figures; 3 table
A Naive Bayes Source Classifier for X-ray Sources
The Chandra Carina Complex Project (CCCP) provides a sensitive X-ray survey
of a nearby starburst region over >1 square degree in extent. Thousands of
faint X-ray sources are found, many concentrated into rich young stellar
clusters. However, significant contamination from unrelated Galactic and
extragalactic sources is present in the X-ray catalog. We describe the use of a
naive Bayes classifier to assign membership probabilities to individual
sources, based on source location, X-ray properties, and visual/infrared
properties. For the particular membership decision rule adopted, 75% of CCCP
sources are classified as members, 11% are classified as contaminants, and 14%
remain unclassified. The resulting sample of stars likely to be Carina members
is used in several other studies, which appear in a Special Issue of the ApJS
devoted to the CCCP.Comment: Accepted for the ApJS Special Issue on the Chandra Carina Complex
Project (CCCP), scheduled for publication in May 2011. All 16 CCCP Special
Issue papers are available at
http://cochise.astro.psu.edu/Carina_public/special_issue.html through 2011 at
least. 19 pages, 7 figure
The Massive Star-forming Regions Omnibus X-ray Catalog
We present the Massive Star-forming Regions (MSFRs) Omnibus X-ray Catalog
(MOXC), a compendium of X-ray point sources from {\em Chandra}/ACIS
observations of a selection of MSFRs across the Galaxy, plus 30 Doradus in the
Large Magellanic Cloud. MOXC consists of 20,623 X-ray point sources from 12
MSFRs with distances ranging from 1.7 kpc to 50 kpc. Additionally, we show the
morphology of the unresolved X-ray emission that remains after the catalogued
X-ray point sources are excised from the ACIS data, in the context of \Spitzer\
and {\em WISE} observations that trace the bubbles, ionization fronts, and
photon-dominated regions that characterize MSFRs. In previous work, we have
found that this unresolved X-ray emission is dominated by hot plasma from
massive star wind shocks. This diffuse X-ray emission is found in every MOXC
MSFR, clearly demonstrating that massive star feedback (and the
several-million-degree plasmas that it generates) is an integral component of
MSFR physics.Comment: Accepted to ApJS, March 3, 2014. 51 pages, 25 figure
Extreme radio flares and associated X-ray variability from young stellar objects in the Orion Nebula Cluster
Jan Forbrich, et al, ‘Extreme Radio Flares and Associated XRay Variability from Young Stellar Objects in the Orion Nebula Cluster’, The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 844 (2), July 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa7aa4. © 2017 The American Astronomical Society. All Rights Reserved.Young stellar objects are known to exhibit strong radio variability on timescales of weeks to months, and a few reports have documented extreme radio flares with at least an order of magnitude change in flux density on timescales of hours to days. However, there have been few constraints on the occurrence rate of such radio flares or on the correlation with pre-main sequence X-ray flares, although such correlations are known for the Sun and nearby active stars. Here we report simultaneous deep VLA radio and Chandra X-ray observations of the Orion Nebula Cluster, targeting hundreds of sources to look for the occurrence rate of extreme radio variability and potential correlation with the most extreme X-ray variability. We identify 13 radio sources with extreme radio variability, with some showing an order of magnitude change in flux density in less than 30 minutes. All of these sources show X-ray emission and variability, but we find clear correlations with extreme radio flaring only on timescales <1 hr. Strong X-ray variability does not predict the extreme radio sources and vice versa. Radio flares thus provide us with a new perspective on high-energy processes in YSOs and the irradiation of their protoplanetary disks. Finally, our results highlight implications for interferometric imaging of sources violating the constant-sky assumption.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Innovations in the Analysis of Chandra-ACIS Observations
As members of the instrument team for the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer
(ACIS) on NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and as Chandra General Observers, we
have developed a wide variety of data analysis methods that we believe are
useful to the Chandra community, and have constructed a significant body of
publicly-available software (the ACIS Extract package) addressing important
ACIS data and science analysis tasks. This paper seeks to describe these data
analysis methods for two purposes: to document the data analysis work performed
in our own science projects, and to help other ACIS observers judge whether
these methods may be useful in their own projects (regardless of what tools and
procedures they choose to implement those methods).
The ACIS data analysis recommendations we offer here address much of the
workflow in a typical ACIS project, including data preparation, point source
detection via both wavelet decomposition and image reconstruction, masking
point sources, identification of diffuse structures, event extraction for both
point and diffuse sources, merging extractions from multiple observations,
nonparametric broad-band photometry, analysis of low-count spectra, and
automation of these tasks. Many of the innovations presented here arise from
several, often interwoven, complications that are found in many Chandra
projects: large numbers of point sources (hundreds to several thousand), faint
point sources, misaligned multiple observations of an astronomical field, point
source crowding, and scientifically relevant diffuse emission.Comment: Accepted by the ApJ, 2010 Mar 10 (\#343576) 39 pages, 16 figure
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