Measurements of the Ca II infrared triplet lines of young stellar objects

Equivalent widths and line widths of Ca II infrared triplet emission lines were measured in the high-resolution optical spectra of 39 young stellar objects.We found that the equivalent widths of the emission lines decrease with stellar evolution.It has often been claimed that strong chromospheric activity is generated by a dynamo process caused by fast rotation of the photosphere.However,we found no clear correlation between the strength of the Ca II lines and the stellar rotation velocity.Instead,we found that the objects with high mass accretion rates had stronger Ca II emission lines.This correlation supports the turbulent chromosphere model or the magnetic accretion theory for classical T Tauri stars.We also noticed that the equivalent widths of Ca II lines in transitional disk objects are one-tenth of those in classical T Tauri stars,even if the masses of the circumstellar disks are comparable.     

Sharp images of young stellar objects

We present high resolution infrared images of the pre-main sequence star V536 Aql and polarization maps of the reflection nebula IRN Cha observed with the SHARP camera on the ESO NTT. Extended structures are observed near V536 Aql. The polarization pattern of IRN Cha is typical of a centrally illuminated source but with a central band of anomalously oriented polarization believed to occur in an optically thick disk.     

Chemical evolution of circumstellar matter around young stellar objects

Recent observational studies of the chemical composition of circumstellar matter around both high- and low-mass young stellar objects are reviewed. The molecular abundances are found to be a strong function of evolutionary state, but not of system mass or luminosity. The data are discussed with reference to recent theoretical models.     

Gemini observations of disks and jets in young stellar objects and in active galaxies

We present first results from the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) located at Gemini North. For the active galaxies Cygnus A and Perseus A we observe rotationally-supported accretion disks and adduce the existence of massive central black holes and estimate their masses. In Cygnus A we also see remarkable high-excitation ionization cones dominated by photoionization from the central engine. In the T-Tauri stars HV Tau C and DG Tau we see highly-collimated bipolar outflows in the [Fe II] λ 1.644 micron line, surrounded by a slower molecular bipolar outflow seen in the H₂ lines, in accordance with the model advocated by Pyo, T.-S., et al., Astrophys. J. 570, 724 (2002).     

Discs and the 10-μm silicate spectra of young stellar objects with non-photospheric continua

Dust emission in the non-photospheric 10-μm continua of HL Tau and Taurus-Elias 7 (Haro6-10, GV Tau) is distinguished from foreground silicate absorption using a simple disc model with radial power-law temperature and mass–density distributions based on the IR–submm model of T Tauri stars by Adams, Lada & Shu with foreground extinction. The resulting 10-μm absorption profiles are remarkably similar to those of the field star Taurus-Elias 16 obtained by Bowey, Adamson & Whittet. The fitted temperature indices are 0.44 (HL Tau) and 0.33 (Elias 7) in agreement with Boss's theoretical models of the 200–300 K region, but lower than those of IR–submm discs (0.5–0.61; Mannings & Emerson); a significant fraction of the modelled 10-μm emission of HL Tau is optically thin, whilst that of Elias 7 is optically thick. We suggest that HL Tau's optically thin component arises from silicate dust within low-density layers above an optically thick disc.     

The evolutionary status of HD 104237, ε Cha and HD 100546

Using the new data from Hipparcos and the TD-1 UV data, we fix the positions of three objects, HD 104237, HD 100546 and ε Cha in the HR diagram and discuss their theoretical evolutionary status.     

115GHz CO Emission from the IRAS Selected Star-Formation Regions

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A search for infrared stellar objects in Vela

In a search for infrared excess objects near the galactic plane, a star field of 28.5 square degrees in Vela has been measured on UK Schmidt plates R4272 and 14183 with the Cosmos machine at Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. The magnitude limit is around 20 in R and around 19 in I. 131 infrared excess objects with colour index R-I > 2.5 are discovered in the field, and 3 red stellar objects have been identified as the optical counterparts of IRAS point sources.     

A Spitzer survey of young stellar objects in the Rosette Molecular Cloud

We present results from a survey of the Rosette Molecular Cloud (RMC) using both the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope . We have mapped a region of active star formation covering an area approximately 1° by 1.5° including several previously known clusters. Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) fitted to our data combined with that from Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) are used to identify young stellar objects (YSOs) with infrared (IR) excesses. We find that roughly 50 per cent of the sources are forming in clustered environments and identify seven clusters of IR excess sources including four that were previously unknown. We investigate evidence for triggering of star formation due to the ionization front, identified in Brackett-α emission, associated with the young open cluster NGC 2244. Although the position of several of the clusters of IR excess sources are coincident with the ionization front, the bulk of the youngest YSOs are located far from the ionization front, in clusters located along the mid-plane of the cloud. We conclude that although triggering from the H  ii nebula is a possible origin for some of the recent star formation, the majority of the active star formation is occurring in already dense regions of the cloud not compressed by the expansion of the H  ii region.     

A direct imaging search for close stellar and sub‐stellar companions to young nearby stars

A total of 28 young nearby stars (ages ≤60 Myr) have been observed in the K_s‐band with the adaptive optics imager Naos‐Conica of the Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Among the targets are ten visual binaries and one triple system at distances between 10 and 130 pc, all previously known. During a first observing epoch a total of 20 faint stellar or sub‐stellar companion‐candidates were detected around seven of the targets. These fields, as well as most of the stellar binaries, were re‐observed with the same instrument during a second epoch, about one year later. We present the astrometric observations of all binaries. Their analysis revealed that all stellar binaries are co‐moving. In two cases (HD 119022 AB and FG Aqr B/C) indications for significant orbital motions were found. However, all sub‐stellar companion candidates turned out to be non‐moving background objects except PZ Tel which is part of this project but whose results were published elsewhere. Detection limits were determined for all targets, and limiting masses were derived adopting three different age values; they turn out to be less than 10 Jupiter masses in most cases, well below the brown dwarf mass range. The fraction of stellar multiplicity and of the sub‐stellar companion occurrence in the star forming regions in Chamaeleon are compared to the statistics of our search, and possible reasons for the observed differences are discussed. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A high-frequency radio continuum study of massive young stellar objects

We present high-resolution observations made with the Very Large Array (VLA) in its A configuration at frequencies between 5 and 43 GHz of a sample of five massive young stellar objects (YSOs): Lk Hα101, NGC 2024-IRS2, S106-IR, W75N and S140-IRS1. The resolution varied from 0.04 arcsec (at 43 GHz) to 0.5 arcsec (at 5 GHz), corresponding to a linear resolution as high as 17 au for our nearest source. A MERLIN observation of S106-IR at 23 GHz with 0.03-arcsec resolution is also presented. S106-IR and S140-IRS1 are elongated at 43 GHz perpendicular to their large-scale bipolar outflows. This confirms the equatorial wind picture for these sources seen previously in MERLIN 5-GHz observations. The other sources are marginally resolved at 43 GHz. The spectral indices we derive for the sources in our sample range from +0.2 to +0.8, generally consistent with ionized stellar winds. We have modelled our sources as uniform, isothermal spherical winds, with Lk Hα101 and NGC 2024-IRS2 yielding the best fits. However, in all cases our fits give wind temperatures of only 2000–5000 K, much less than the effective temperatures of main-sequence stars of the same luminosity, a result which is likely due to the clumpy nature of the winds.     

Progress in spectral studies of the FBS blue stellar objects

Spectral observations of 10 FBS blue stellar objects (BSO) with the OHP 1.93-m and BAO 2.6.m telescopes are reported, and overall progress in all the spectral observations and classifications of FBS BSO over 1987–2000 and in the classification of these objects based on all the accessible sources-- in all, 753 out of 1103 objects-- is discussed. Representative slit spectra for the major types of objects are presented and compared with digitized low dispersion spectra from the DFBS. The nature of the FBS objects is examined in terms of advances in the spectral studies. Two-color diagrams are constructed from the SDSS data and are used to find the regions occupied by the various types for further identification of objects of unknown type. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 85–97 (February 2009).     

Influence of molecular outflows from young stellar objects on molecular clouds

In this paper it is investigated whether molecular outflows can support the turbulence in molecular clouds against decay. In the momentum-driven regime of molecular flows the time scale of the replenishment of the fluctuations is longer than the dissipation time scale of pure hydrodynamical supersonic turbulence.     

Discussion session on star formation,molecular clouds and the interstellar medium

In this panel discussion contributions were made by K. Strom, L. Nordh and H. Zinnecker on the contributions of surveys to the study of star formation regions, by B. Burton on a survey of galactic H I and by E. Dwek on the detection of galactic supernovae by infrared surveys. The contributions of K. Strom, L. Nordh and E. Dwek are summarized here.