256 research outputs found
Discovery of close companions to the nearby young stars HD 199143 and HD 358623
Young stellar systems in the solar neighborhood provide valuable laboratories
for detailed studies of star and planet formation. The bright F8V star HD
199143 and the Li-rich late-type emission line star HD 358623 are among the
nearest young stars identified to date, and may be members of a young
association in Capricornus. We present high-resolution near-infrared images of
these two sources, obtained using the adaptive optics system on the 3.6-meter
telescope at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile. Our
observations reveal that both are in fact close binary systems. The newly
discovered companion at a separation of 1'' may account for the unusual
characteristics of HD 199143 --rapid rotation, emission lines, ultraviolet
variability, and excess infrared emission-- recently discussed by van den
Ancker and co-workers. HD 199143 may be a rare example of a close binary with
only a circum{\it secondary} disk. With the detection of a 2'' companion,
HD 358623 is now possibly one of the closest known T Tauri binaries. Both
binary systems are prime targets for follow-up spectroscopic and astrometric
observations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 PostScript figure, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal
Letter
Candidate Pre-Mainsequence F Stars with Circumstellar Dust Identified Using Combined 2MASS and uvby Data
We propose a method that uses near-infrared plus uvby photometry to identify
potentially extensive circumstellar dusty environment about F and A stars. The
method has been applied to a sample of ~900 metal rich reddened F stars with
2MASS and uvby data, suggesting the presence of circumstellar dust emitting in
the near infrared for ~70 stars. The log T_e - M_V diagram suggests that most,
if not all, of them are likely pre-mainsequence (PMS). They seem to be
consistent with being a continuation of the class of Herbig Ae/Be PMS stars
into the spectral type F. Their number drops sharply downward of log T_e ~ 3.84
(spectral types later than ~F5), which may provide new clues to the PMS
evolution of stars with 1 to 2 solar mass. We present a list of 21 most
conspicuous candidate stars with circumstellar dust. About half of them are
associated with the extended star-forming region around rho Oph. The brightest
of these 21 stars, with V < 7.5, turn out to be IRAS sources, suggesting the
presence of heated dust emitting in the far infrared. Also in this list, HD
81270 is reported as a very unusual star moving away from the Galactic plane at
a projected speed of 70 km/sec.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. To appear in ApJ, part 2, v. 570, 2002
May
GREAT [CII] and CO observations of the BD+40{\deg}4124 region
The BD+40\degree4124 region was observed with high angular and spectral
resolution with the German heterodyne instrument GREAT in CO J = 13 \rightarrow
12 and [CII] on SOFIA. These observations show that the [CII] emission is very
strong in the reflection nebula surrounding the young Herbig Ae/Be star
BD+40\degree4124. A strip map over the nebula shows that the [CII] emission
approximately coincides with the optical nebulosity. The strongest [CII]
emission is centered on the B2 star and a deep spectrum shows that it has faint
wings, which suggests that the ionized gas is expanding. We also see faint CO J
= 13 \rightarrow 12 at the position of BD+40\degree4124, which suggests that
the star may still be surrounded by an accretion disk.We also detected [CII]
emission and strong CO J = 13 \rightarrow 12 toward V1318 Cyg. Here the [CII]
emission is fainter than in BD+40\degree4124 and appears to come from the
outflow, since it shows red and blue wings with very little emission at the
systemic velocity, where the CO emission is quite strong. It therefore appears
that in the broad ISO beam the [CII] emission was dominated by the reflection
nebula surrounding BD+40\degree4124, while the high J CO lines originated from
the adjacent younger and more deeply embedded binary system V1318 Cyg
H_2 and CO Emission from Disks around T Tauri and Herbig Ae Pre-Main-Sequence Stars and from Debris Disks around Young Stars: Warm and Cold Circumstellar Gas
We present ISO Short-Wavelength Spectrometer observations of H_2 pure-rotational line emission from the disks around low- and intermediate-mass pre-main-sequence stars as well as from young stars thought to be surrounded by debris disks. The pre-main-sequence sources have been selected to be isolated from molecular clouds and to have circumstellar disks revealed by millimeter interferometry. We detect "warm" (T ≈100-200 K) H_2 gas around many sources, including tentatively the debris-disk objects. The mass of this warm gas ranges from ~ 10^(-4) M_☉ up to 8 x 10^(-3) and can constitute a nonnegligible fraction of the total disk mass. Complementary single-dish ^(12)CO 3-2/^(13)CO 3-2, and ^(12)CO 6-5 observations have been obtained as well. These transitions probe cooler gas at T ≈ 20-80 K. Most objects show a double-peaked CO emission profile characteristic of a disk in Keplerian rotation, consistent with interferometer data on the lower J lines. The ratios of the ^(12)CO 3-2/^(13)CO 3-2 integrated fluxes indicate that ^(12)CO 3-2 is optically thick but that ^(13)CO 3-2 is optically thin or at most moderately thick. The ^(13)CO 3-2 lines have been used to estimate the cold gas mass. If a H_2/CO conversion factor of 1 x 10^(-4) is adopted, the derived cold gas masses are factors of 10-200 lower than those deduced from 1.3 millimeter dust emission assuming a gas/dust ratio of 100, in accordance with previous studies. These findings confirm that CO is not a good tracer of the total gas content in disks since it can be photodissociated in the outer layers and frozen onto grains in the cold dense part of disks, but that it is a robust tracer of the disk velocity field. In contrast, H_2 can shield itself from photodissociation even in low-mass "optically thin" debris disks and can therefore survive longer. The warm gas is typically 1%-10% of the total mass deduced from millimeter continuum emission, but it can increase up to 100% or more for the debris-disk objects. Thus, residual molecular gas may persist into the debris-disk phase. No significant evolution in the H_2 CO, or dust masses is found for stars with ages in the range of 10^6-10^7 yr, although a decrease is found for the older debris-disk star β Pictoris. The large amount of warm gas derived from H_2 raises the question of the heating mechanism(s). Radiation from the central star as well as the general interstellar radiation field heat an extended surface layer of the disk, but existing models fail to explain the amount of warm gas quantitatively. The existence of a gap in the disk can increase the area of material influenced by radiation. Prospects for future observations with ground- and space-borne observations are discussed
Looking for Pure Rotational H_2 Emission from Protoplanetary Disks
We report on a limited search for pure-rotational molecular hydrogen emission
associated with young, pre-main-sequence stars. We looked for H_2 v=0 J = 3->1
and J = 4->2 emission in the mid-infrared using the Texas Echelon-Cross-Echelle
Spectrograph (TEXES) at NASA's 3m Infrared Telescope Facility. The high
spectral and spatial resolution of our observations lead to more stringent
limits on narrow line emission close to the source than previously achieved.
One star, AB Aur, shows a possible (2sigma) H_2 detection, but further
observations are required to make a confident statement. Our non-detections
suggest that a significant fraction, perhaps all, of previously reported H_2
emission towards these objects could be extended on scales of 5" or more.Comment: 14 pages including 2 figures. Accepted by ApJ Letter
Resolved Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Mysterious Pre-Main Sequence Binary Systems T Tau S
We obtained new near-infrared images of the prototypical pre-main sequence
triple system T Tau, as well as the first resolved medium-resolution spectra of
the close pair T Tau S. At the time of our observations, the tight binary had a
13 AU projected separation and showed significant motion since its discovery,
three years before. The orbit cannot be strongly constrained yet, but the
observed motion of T Tau Sb with respect to T Tau Sa suggests that the system
is at least as massive as T Tau N itself. This may indicate that T Tau N is not
the most massive star in the system. The spectrum of T Tau Sa, which is totally
featureless except for a strong Br gamma emission line, identifies this
component with the ``infrared companion'', whose exact nature remains obscure
but may be the consequence of it being the most massive component of the
system. Contrasting sharply with T Tau Sa, the spectrum of T Tau Sb shows
numerous photospheric features consistent with an early-M spectral type. The
presence of a strong Br gamma emission line and of a significant veiling
continuum classifies this object as a deeply embedded T Tauri star. From these
observations, we conclude that both components of T Tau S are embedded in their
own dense circumstellar cocoon of material, which are probably fed by a much
more extended structure.Comment: Accepted for publication by ApJ; 21 pages, including 3 figure
Dust evolution in protoplanetary disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars - The Spitzer view
In this paper we present mid-infrared spectra of a comprehensive set of
Herbig Ae/Be stars observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The
signal-to-noise ratio of these spectra is very high, ranging between about a
hundred and several hundreds. During the analysis of these data we tested the
validity of standard protoplanetary dust models and studied grain growth and
crystal formation. On the basis of the analyzed spectra, the major constituents
of protoplanetary dust around Herbig Ae/Be stars are amorphous silicates with
olivine and pyroxene stoichiometry, crystalline forsterite and enstatite and
silica. No other solid state features, indicating other abundant dust species,
are present in the Spitzer spectra. Deviations of the synthetic spectra from
the observations are most likely related to grain shape effects and
uncertainties in the iron content of the dust grains. Our analysis revealed
that larger grains are more abundant in the disk atmosphere of flatter disks
than in that of flared disks, indicating that grain growth and sedimentation
decrease the disk flaring. We did not find, however, correlations between the
value of crystallinity and any of the investigated system parameters. Our
analysis shows that enstatite is more concentrated toward the warm inner disk
than forsterite, in contrast to predictions of equilibrium condensation models.
None of the three crystal formation mechanisms proposed so far can alone
explain all our findings. It is very likely that all three play at least some
role in the formation of crystalline silicates.Comment: 56 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Making FORS2 fit for exoplanet observations (again)
For about three years, it was known that precision spectrophotometry with
FORS2 suffered from systematic errors that made quantitative observations of
planetary transits impossible. We identified the Longitudinal Atmospheric
Dispersion Compensator (LADC) as the most likely culprit, and therefore engaged
in a project to exchange the LADC prisms with the uncoated ones from FORS1.
This led to a significant improvement in the depth of FORS2 zero points, a
reduction in the systematic noise, and should make FORS2 again competitive for
transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets.Comment: To appear in the March issue of the ESO Messenge
Gas-phase CO2 emission toward Cepheus A East: the result of shock activity?
We report the first detection of gas-phase CO2 emission in the star-forming
region Cepheus A East, obtained by spectral line mapping of the v2 bending mode
at 14.98 micron with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) instrument onboard the
Spitzer Space Telescope. The gaseous CO2 emission covers a region about 35'' x
25'' in extent, and results from radiative pumping by 15 micron continuum
photons emanating predominantly from the HW2 protostellar region. The gaseous
CO2 exhibits a temperature distribution ranging from 50 K to 200 K. A
correlation between the gas-phase CO2 distribution and that of H2 S(2), a
tracer of shock activity, indicates that the CO2 molecules originate in a cool
post-shock gas component associated with the outflow powered by HW2. The
presence of CO2 ice absorption features at 15.20 micron toward this region and
the lack of correlation between the IR continuum emission and the CO2 gas
emission distribution further suggest that the gaseous CO2 molecules are mainly
sputtered off grain mantles -- by the passage of slow non-dissociative shocks
with velocities of 15-30 km/s -- rather than sublimated through grain heating.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
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