1,400 research outputs found
Protostellar clusters in intermediate-mass (IM) star forming regions
The transition between the low density groups of T Tauri stars and the high
density clusters around massive stars occurs in the intermediate-mass (IM)
range (M2--8 M). High spatial resolution studies of IM young
stellar objects (YSO) can provide important clues to understand the clustering
in massive star forming regions.
Aims: Our aim is to search for clustering in IM Class 0 protostars. The high
spatial resolution and sensitivity provided by the new A configuration of the
Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) allow us to study the clustering in these
nearby objects.
Methods: We have imaged three IM Class 0 protostars (Serpens-FIRS 1, IC 1396
N, CB 3) in the continuum at 3.3 and 1.3mm using the PdBI. The sources have
been selected with different luminosity to investigate the dependence of the
clustering process on the luminosity of the source.
Results: Only one millimeter (mm) source is detected towards the low
luminosity source Serpens--FIRS 1. Towards CB 3 and IC1396 N, we detect two
compact sources separated by 0.05 pc. The 1.3mm image of IC 1396 N, which
provides the highest spatial resolution, reveal that one of these cores is
splitted in, at least, three individual sources.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics Letters (Special Feature IRAM/PdB
X-Shooter study of accretion in -Ophiucus: very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs
We present new VLT/X-Shooter optical and NIR spectra of a sample of 17
candidate young low-mass stars and BDs in the rho-Ophiucus cluster. We derived
SpT and Av for all the targets, and then we determined their physical
parameters. All the objects but one have M*<0.6 Msun, and 8 have mass below or
close to the hydrogen-burning limit. Using the intensity of various emission
lines present in their spectra, we determined the Lacc and Macc for all the
objects. When compared with previous works targeting the same sample, we find
that, in general, these objects are not as strongly accreting as previously
reported, and we suggest that the reason is our more accurate estimate of the
photospheric parameters. We also compare our findings with recent works in
other slightly older star-forming regions to investigate possible differences
in the accretion properties, but we find that the accretion properties for our
targets have the same dependence on the stellar and substellar parameters as in
the other regions. This leads us to conclude that we do not find evidence for a
different dependence of Macc with M* when comparing low-mass stars and BDs.
Moreover, we find a similar small (1 dex) scatter in the Macc-M* relation as in
some of our recent works in other star-forming regions, and no significant
differences in Macc due to different ages or properties of the regions. The
latter result suffers, however, from low statistics and sample selection biases
in the current studies. The small scatter in the Macc-M* correlation confirms
that Macc in the literature based on uncertain photospheric parameters and
single accretion indicators, such as the Ha width, can lead to a scatter that
is unphysically large. Our studies show that only broadband spectroscopic
surveys coupled with a detailed analysis of the photospheric and accretion
properties allows us to properly study the evolution of disk accretion rates.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Abstract
shortened to fit arXiv constraint
Photoevaporation of Circumstellar Disks due to External FUV Radiation in Stellar Aggregates
When stars form in small groups (N = 100 - 500 members), their circumstellar
disks are exposed to little EUV radiation but a great deal of FUV radiation
from massive stars in the group. This paper calculates mass loss rates for
circumstellar disks exposed to external FUV radiation. Previous work treated
large disks and/or intense radiation fields in which the disk radius exceeds
the critical radius (supercritical disks) where the sound speed in the FUV
heated layer exceeds the escape speed. This paper shows that significant mass
loss still takes place for subcritical systems. Some of the gas extends beyond
the disk edge (above the disk surface) to larger distances where the
temperature is higher, the escape speed is lower, and an outflow develops. The
evaporation rate is a sensitive function of the stellar mass and disk radius,
which determine the escape speed, and the external FUV flux, which determines
the temperature structure of the flow. Disks around red dwarfs are readily
evaporated and shrink to disk radii of 15 AU on short time scales (10 Myr) when
exposed to moderate FUV fields with = 3000. Although disks around solar
type stars are more durable, these disks shrink to 15 AU in 10 Myr for intense
FUV radiation fields with = 30,000; such fields exist in the central 0.7
pc of a cluster with N = 4000 stars. If our solar system formed in the presence
of such strong FUV radiation fields, this mechanism could explain why Neptune
and Uranus in our solar system are gas poor, whereas Jupiter and Saturn are gas
rich. This mechanism for photoevaporation can also limit the production of
Kuiper belt objects and can suppress giant planet formation in sufficiently
large clusters, such as the Hyades, especially for disks associated with low
mass stars.Comment: 49 pages including 12 figures; accepted to Ap
A Census of Large-Scale ( 10 pc), Velocity-Coherent, Dense Filaments in the Northern Galactic Plane: Automated Identification Using Minimum Spanning Tree
Large-scale gaseous filaments with length up to the order of 100 pc are on
the upper end of the filamentary hierarchy of the Galactic interstellar medium.
Their association with respect to the Galactic structure and their role in
Galactic star formation are of great interest from both observational and
theoretical point of view. Previous "by-eye" searches, combined together, have
started to uncover the Galactic distribution of large filaments, yet inherent
bias and small sample size limit conclusive statistical results to be drawn.
Here, we present (1) a new, automated method to identify large-scale
velocity-coherent dense filaments, and (2) the first statistics and the
Galactic distribution of these filaments. We use a customized minimum spanning
tree algorithm to identify filaments by connecting voxels in the
position-position-velocity space, using the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey
spectroscopic catalog. In the range of , we
have identified 54 large-scale filaments and derived mass (), length (10-276 pc), linear mass density (54-8625 ), aspect ratio, linearity, velocity gradient, temperature,
fragmentation, Galactic location and orientation angle. The filaments
concentrate along major spiral arms. They are widely distributed across the
Galactic disk, with 50% located within 20 pc from the Galactic mid-plane
and 27% run in the center of spiral arms (aka "bones"). An order of 1% of the
molecular ISM is confined in large filaments. Massive star formation is more
favorable in large filaments compared to elsewhere. This is the first
comprehensive catalog of large filaments useful for a quantitative comparison
with spiral structures and numerical simulations.Comment: Accepted to ApJS. 20 pages (in aastex6 compact format), 6 figures, 1
table. See http://www.eso.org/~kwang/MSTpaper for (1) a preprint with full
resolution Fig 6, (2) filaments catalog (Table 1) in ASCII format, and (3) a
DS9 region file for the coordinates of the filament
A haptic-enabled multimodal interface for the planning of hip arthroplasty
Multimodal environments help fuse a diverse range of sensory modalities, which is particularly important when integrating the complex data involved in surgical preoperative planning. The authors apply a multimodal interface for preoperative planning of hip arthroplasty with a user interface that integrates immersive stereo displays and haptic modalities. This article overviews this multimodal application framework and discusses the benefits of incorporating the haptic modality in this area
An extensive VLT/X-Shooter library of photospheric templates of pre-main sequence stars
Studies of the formation and evolution of young stars and their disks rely on
the knowledge of the stellar parameters of the young stars. The derivation of
these parameters is commonly based on comparison with photospheric template
spectra. Furthermore, chromospheric emission in young active stars impacts the
measurement of mass accretion rates, a key quantity to study disk evolution.
Here we derive stellar properties of low-mass pre-main sequence stars without
disks, which represent ideal photospheric templates for studies of young stars.
We also use these spectra to constrain the impact of chromospheric emission on
the measurements of mass accretion rates. The spectra in reduced,
flux-calibrated, and corrected for telluric absorption form are made available
to the community. We derive the spectral type for our targets by analyzing the
photospheric molecular features present in their VLT/X-Shooter spectra by means
of spectral indices and comparison of the relative strength of photospheric
absorption features. We also measure effective temperature, gravity, projected
rotational velocity, and radial velocity from our spectra by fitting them with
synthetic spectra with the ROTFIT tool. The targets have negligible extinction
and spectral type from G5 to M8. We perform synthetic photometry on the spectra
to derive the typical colors of young stars in different filters. We measure
the luminosity of the emission lines present in the spectra and estimate the
noise due to chromospheric emission in the measurements of accretion luminosity
in accreting stars. We provide a calibration of the photospheric colors of
young PMS stars as a function of their spectral type in a set of standard
broad-band optical and near-infrared filters. For stars with masses of ~
1.5Msun and ages of ~1-5 Myr, the chromospheric noise converts to a limit of
measurable mass accretion rates of ~ 3x10^-10 Msun/yr.Comment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysics. The spectra of
the photospheric templates will be uploaded to Vizier, but are already
available on request. Abstract shortened for arxiv constraints. Language
edited versio
First results from a VLBA proper motion survey of H2O masers in low-mass YSOs: the Serpens core and RNO15-FIR
This article reports first results of a long-term observational program aimed
to study the earliest evolution of jet/disk systems in low-mass YSOs by means
of VLBI observations of the 22.2 GHz water masers. We report here data for the
cluster of low-mass YSOs in the Serpens molecular core and for the single
object RNO~15-FIR. Towards Serpens SMM1, the most luminous sub-mm source of the
Serpens cluster, the water maser emission comes from two small (< 5 AU in size)
clusters of features separated by ~25 AU, having line of sight velocities
strongly red-shifted (by more than 10 km/s) with respect to the LSR velocity of
the molecular cloud. The two maser clusters are oriented on the sky along a
direction that is approximately perpendicular to the axis of the radio
continuum jet observed with the VLA towards SMM1. The spatial and velocity
distribution of the maser features lead us to favor the interpretation that the
maser emission is excited by interaction of the receding lobe of the jet with
dense gas in the accretion disk surrounding the YSO in SMM1. Towards
RNO~15-FIR, the few detected maser features have both positions and (absolute)
velocities aligned along a direction that is parallel to the axis of the
molecular outflow observed on much larger angular scales. In this case the
maser emission likely emerges from dense, shocked molecular clumps displaced
along the axis of the jet emerging from the YSO. The protostar in Serpens SMM1
is more massive than the one in RNO~15-FIR. We discuss the case where a high
mass ejection rate can generate jets sufficiently powerful to sweep away from
their course the densest portions of circumstellar gas. In this case, the
excitation conditions for water masers might preferably occur at the interface
between the jet and the accretion disk, rather than along the jet axis.Comment: 18 pages (postscript format); 9 figures; to be published into
Astronomy & Astrophysics, Main Journa
Hot and dense water in the inner 25 AU of SVS13-A
In the context of the ASAI (Astrochemical Surveys At IRAM) project, we
carried out an unbiased spectral survey in the millimeter window towards the
well known low-mass Class I source SVS13-A. The high sensitivity reached (3-12
mK) allowed us to detect at least 6 HDO broad (FWHM ~ 4-5 km/s) emission lines
with upper level energies up to Eu = 837 K. A non-LTE LVG analysis implies the
presence of very hot (150-260 K) and dense (> 3 10^7 cm-3) gas inside a small
radius ( 25 AU) around the star, supporting, for the first time, the
occurrence of a hot corino around a Class I protostar.
The temperature is higher than expected for water molecules are sublimated
from the icy dust mantles (~ 100 K). Although we cannot exclude we are observig
the effects of shocks and/or winds at such small scales, this could imply that
the observed HDO emission is tracing the water abundance jump expected at
temperatures ~ 220-250 K, when the activation barrier of the gas phase
reactions leading to the formation of water can be overcome. We derive X(HDO) ~
3 10-6, and a H2O deuteration > 1.5 10-2, suggesting that water deuteration
does not decrease as the protostar evolves from the Class 0 to the Class I
stage.Comment: MNRAS Letter
On the gas content of transitional disks: a VLT/X-Shooter study of accretion and winds
Transitional disks (TDs) are thought to be a late evolutionary stage of
protoplanetary disks with dust depleted inner regions. The mechanism
responsible for this depletion is still under debate. To constrain the models
it is mandatory to have a good understanding of the properties of the gas
content of the inner disk. Using X-Shooter broad band -UV to NIR- medium
resolution spectroscopy we derive the stellar, accretion, and wind properties
of a sample of 22 TDs. The analysis of these properties allows us to put strong
constraints on the gas content in a region very close to the star (<0.2 AU)
which is not accessible with any other observational technique. We fit the
spectra with a self-consistent procedure to derive simultaneously SpT,Av,and
mass accretion rates (Macc) of the targets. From forbidden emission lines we
derive the wind properties of the targets. Comparing our findings to values for
cTTs, we find that Macc and wind properties of 80% of the TDs in our sample,
which is strongly biased towards strongly accreting objects, are comparable to
those of cTTs. Thus, there are (at least) some TDs with Macc compatible with
those of cTTs, irrespective of the size of the dust inner hole.Only in 2 cases
Macc are much lower, while the wind properties are similar. We do not see any
strong trend of Macc with the size of the dust depleted cavity, nor with the
presence of a dusty optically thick disk close to the star. In the TDs in our
sample there is a gas rich inner disk with density similar to that of cTTs
disks. At least for some TDs, the process responsible of the inner disk
clearing should allow for a transfer of gas from the outer disk to the inner
region. This should proceed at a rate that does not depend on the physical
mechanism producing the gap seen in the dust emission and results in a gas
density in the inner disk similar to that of unperturbed disks around stars of
similar mass.Comment: Accepted on Astronomy & Astrophysics. Abstract shortened to fit arXiv
constraint
The kinematics of molecular clumps surrounding hot cores in G29.96-0.02 and G31.41+0.31
We present high angular resolution interferometric observations of the 3 and
1.3mm continuum emission, and HCO+(1-0) and SiO(2-1)v=0 lines, obtained with
the Owens Valley Radio Observatory millimeter-wave array, toward two hot cores
(HCs) associated with two well known ultracompact (UC) HII regions: G29.96-0.02
and G31.41+0.31. These HCs are believed to host young forming massive stars
which have been suggested to be surrounded by massive rotating accretion disks.
The aim of these new observations is to study the structure and kinematics of
the molecular clumps surrounding the HCs and nearby UCHII regions at moderately
high angular resolution. Our observations reveal that the clumps within which
the HCs and UCHII regions are embedded have a complex kinematical structure.
The total mass of the clumps is estimated to be in the range 1000-3000 Msun,
consistent with previous findings. Our observations also show compelling
evidence that the clump in G29.96-0.02 is contracting onto the HC position,
suggesting that the accretion process onto the massive young stellar object
embedded in the HC is still ongoing. In these objects the kinematical structure
that we observe is also compatible with the presence of a massive rotating disk
within the HC, even though we cannot prove this suggestion with our data. The
case of G31.41+0.31 is more complicated, and our data, although consistent with
the presence of an inner disk and an infalling envelope around it, do not have
the required spatial resolution to resolve the different structures.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figs, A&A in pres
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