Probing the circumstellar structure of Herbig Ae/Be stars

We present Hα spectropolarimetry observations of a sample of 23 Herbig Ae/Be stars. A change in the linear polarization across Hα is detected in a large fraction of the objects, which indicates that the regions around Herbig stars are flattened (disc-like) on small scales. A second outcome of our study is that the spectropolarimetric signatures for the Ae stars differ from those of the Herbig Be stars, with characteristics changing from depolarization across Hα in the Herbig Be stars, to line polarizations in the Ae group. The frequency of depolarizations detected in the Herbig Be stars (seven out of 12) is particularly interesting as, by analogy with classical Be stars, it may be the best evidence to date that the higher-mass Herbig stars are surrounded by flattened structures. For the Herbig Ae stars, nine out of 11 show a line polarization effect that can be understood in terms of a compact Hα emission that is itself polarized by a rotating disc-like circumstellar medium. The spectropolarimetric difference between the Herbig Be and Ae stars may be the first indication that there is a transition in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram from magnetic accretion at spectral type A to disc accretion at spectral type B. Alternatively, the interior polarized line emission apparent in the Ae stars may be masked in the Herbig Be stars owing to their higher levels of Hα emission.     

Non-emission-line young stars of intermediate mass

We present optical spectra of four intermediate-mass candidate young stellar objects that have often been classified as Herbig Ae/Be stars. Typical Herbig Ae/Be emission features are not present in the spectra of these stars. Three of them, HD 36917, HD 36982 and HD 37062, are members of the young Orion nebula cluster (ONC). This association constrains their ages to be ≲1 Myr. The lack of appreciable near-infrared excess in them suggests the absence of hot dust close to the central star. However, they do possess significant amounts of cold and extended dust as revealed by the large excess emission observed at far-infrared wavelengths. The fractional infrared luminosities  ( L _ir/ L _★)  and the dust masses computed from IRAS fluxes are systematically lower than those found for Herbig Ae/Be stars but higher than those for Vega-like stars. These stars may thus represent the youngest examples of the Vega phenomenon known so far. In contrast, the other star in our sample, HD 58647, is more likely to be a classical Be star, as is evident from the low   L _ir/ L _★  , the scarcity of circumstellar dust, the low polarization, the presence of H α emission and near-infrared excess, and the far-infrared spectral energy distribution consistent with free–free emission similar to other well-known classical Be stars.     

X‐shooting Herbig Ae/Be stars: Accretion probed by near‐infrared He I emission

The Herbig Ae/Be stars are intermediate mass pre‐main sequence stars that bridge the gap between the low mass T Tauri stars and the Massive Young Stellar Objects. In this mass range, the acting star forming mechanism switches from magnetically controlled accretion to an as yet unknown mechanism, but which is likely to be direct disk accretion onto the star. We observed a large sample of Herbig Ae/Be stars with X‐shooter to address this issue from a multi‐wavelength perspective. It is the largest such study to date, not only because of the number of objects involved, but also because of the large wavelength coverage from the blue to the near‐infrared. This allows many accretion diagnostics to be studied simultaneously. By correlating the various properties with mass, temperature and age, we aim to determine where and whether the magnetically controlled mass accretion mechanism halts and the proposed direct disk accretion takes over. Here, we will give an overview of the background, present some observations and discuss our initial results. We will introduce a new accretion diagnostic for the research of Herbig Ae/Be stars, the HeI 1.083 μm line (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

X-ray emission as a tracer of circumstellar matter around herbig ae/be stars

We have detected X-ray emission (1 keV) from young intermediate-mass stars (Herbig Ae/Be stars). Since these stars are not supposed to produce intrinsic X-ray emission (no convection, no coronae), we believe that our results suggest that the X-ray emission actually traces the shock interaction of the Ae/Be star stellar winds with remnant circumstellar matter left over from the star formation process, the presence of which is also indicated by far-infrared (IRAS) and submm/mm continuum data.     

On the binarity of Herbig Ae/Be stars

We present high-resolution spectro-astrometry of a sample of 28 Herbig Ae/Be and three F-type pre-main-sequence stars. The spectro-astrometry, which is essentially the study of unresolved features in long-slit spectra, is shown from both empirical and simulated data to be capable of detecting binary companions that are fainter by up to 6 mag at separations larger than ∼0.1 arcsec. The nine targets that were previously known to be binary are all detected. In addition, we report the discovery of six new binaries and present five further possible binaries. The resulting binary fraction is 68 ± 11 per cent. This overall binary fraction is the largest reported for any observed sample of Herbig Ae/Be stars, presumably because of the exquisite sensitivity of spectro-astrometry for detecting binary systems. The data hint that the binary frequency of the Herbig Be stars is larger than that of the Herbig Ae stars. The Appendix presents model simulations to assess the capabilities of spectro-astrometry and reinforces the empirical findings. Most spectro-astrometric signatures in this sample of Herbig Ae/Be stars can be explained by the presence of a binary system. Two objects, HD 87643 and Z CMa, display evidence for asymmetric outflows. Finally, the position angles of the binary systems have been compared with available orientations of the circumprimary disc and these appear to be coplanar. The alignment between the circumprimary discs and the binary systems strongly suggests that the formation of binaries with intermediate-mass primaries is due to fragmentation as the alternative, stellar capture, does not naturally predict aligned discs. The alignment extends to the most massive B-type stars in our sample. This leads us to conclude that formation mechanisms that do result in massive stars, but predict random angles between the binaries and the circumprimary discs, such as stellar collisions, are also ruled out for the same reason.     

Herbig Ae/Be stars

Herbig Ae/Be stars are the higher mass counterparts of the T Tauri stars. In comparison with the latter, however, relatively little is known about them. After a historical introduction, we briefly review their optical and UV spectroscopic properties. We consider the evidence for and against disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars; the existence of which remains highly controversial. We also examine in-depth their interaction with the surrounding medium as manifested through optical outflows. It is shown that although there are similarities with analogous outflows from lower mass young stars, those from Herbig Ae/Be stars may be more poorly collimated. Jets, however, are found in at least some cases.     

The exceptional Herbig Ae star HD 101412: The first detection of resolved magnetically split lines and the presence of chemical spots in a Herbig star

In our previous search for magnetic fields in Herbig Ae stars, we pointed out that HD 101412 possesses the strongest magnetic field among the Herbig Ae stars and hence is of special interest for follow‐up studies of magnetism among young pre‐main‐sequence stars. We obtained high‐resolution, high signal‐to‐noise UVES and a few lower quality HARPS spectra revealing the presence of resolved magnetically split lines. HD 101412 is the first Herbig Ae star for which the rotational Doppler effect was found to be small in comparison to the magnetic splitting and several spectral lines observed in unpolarized light at high dispersion are resolved into magnetically split components. The measured mean magnetic field modulus varies from 2.5 to 3.5kG, while the mean quadratic field was found to vary in the range of 3.5 to 4.8 kG. To determine the period of variations, we used radial velocity, equivalent width, line width, and line asymmetry measurements of variable spectral lines of several elements, as well as magnetic field measurements. The period determination was done using the Lomb‐Scargle method. The most pronounced variability was detected for spectral lines of He I and the iron peak elements, whereas the spectral lines of CNO elements are only slightly variable. From spectral variations and magnetic field measurements we derived a potential rotation period P_rot = 13.86 d, which has to be proven in future studies with a larger number of observations. It is the first time that the presence of element spots is detected on the surface of a Herbig Ae/Be star. Our previous study of Herbig Ae stars revealed a trend towards stronger magnetic fields for younger Herbig Ae stars, confirmed by statistical tests. This is in contrast to a few other (non‐statistical) studies claiming that magnetic Herbig Ae stars are progenitors of the magnetic Ap stars. New developments in MHD theory show that the measured magnetic field strengths are compatible with a current‐driven instability of toroidal fields generated by differential rotation in the stellar interior. This explanation for magnetic intermediate‐mass stars could be an alternative to a frozen‐in fossil field (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Probing the circumstellar structures of T Tauri stars and their relationship to those of Herbig stars

We present Hα spectropolarimetry observations of a sample of 10 bright T Tauri stars, supplemented with new Herbig Ae/Be star data. A change in the linear polarization across Hα is detected in most of the T Tauri (9/10) and Herbig Ae (9/11) objects, which we interpret in terms of a compact source of line photons that is scattered off a rotating accretion disc. We find consistency between the position angle (PA) of the polarization and those of imaged disc PAs from infrared and millimetre imaging and interferometry studies, probing much larger scales. For the Herbig Ae stars AB Aur, MWC 480 and CQ Tau, we find the polarization PA to be perpendicular to the imaged disc, which is expected for single scattering. On the other hand, the polarization PA aligns with the outer disc PA for the T Tauri stars DR Tau and SU Aur and FU Ori, conforming to the case of multiple scattering. This difference can be explained if the inner discs of Herbig Ae stars are optically thin, whilst those around our T Tauri stars and FU Ori are optically thick. Furthermore, we develop a novel technique that combines known inclination angles and our recent Monte Carlo models to constrain the inner rim sizes of SU Aur, GW Ori, AB Aur and CQ Tau. Finally, we consider the connection of the inner disc structure with the orientation of the magnetic field in the foreground interstellar medium: for FU Ori and DR Tau, we infer an alignment of the stellar axis and the larger magnetic field direction.     

Measuring the mass accretion rates of Herbig Ae/Be stars with X‐shooter

We present the results of our observations of eight magnetic Herbig Ae/Be stars obtained with the X‐shooter spectrograph mounted on UT2 at the VLT. X‐shooter provides a simultaneous, medium‐resolution and high‐sensitivity spectrum over the entire wavelength range from 300 to 2500 nm. We estimate the mass accretion rates (Ṁ_acc) of the targets from 13 different spectral diagnostics using empiric calibrations derived previously for T Tauri‐type stars and brown dwarfs. We have estimated the mass accretion rates of our targets, which range from 2 × 10^–9 to 2 × 10^–7 M_⊙ yr^–1. Furthermore, we have found accretion rate variability with amplitudes of 0.10–0.40 dex taking place on time scales from one day to tens of days. Additional future night‐to‐night observations need to be carried out to investigate the character of Ṁ_acc variability in details. Our study shows that the majority of the calibration relations can be applied to Herbig Ae/Be stars, but several of them need to be re‐calibrated on the basis of new spectral data for a larger number of Herbig Ae/Be stars (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

HARPS spectropolarimetry of Herbig Ae/Be stars

Our knowledge of the presence and the strength of magnetic fields in intermediate‐mass pre‐main‐sequence stars remains very poor. We present new magnetic field measurements in six Herbig Ae/Be stars observed with HARPS in spectropolarimetric mode. We downloaded from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) archive the publically available HARPS spectra for six Herbig Ae/Be stars. Wavelength shifts between right‐ and left‐hand side circularly polarised spectra were interpreted in terms of a longitudinal magnetic field 〈B_z〉, using the moment technique introduced by Mathys. The application of the moment technique to the HARPS spectra allowed us in addition to study the presence of the crossover effect and quadratic magnetic fields. Our search for longitudinal magnetic fields resulted in first detections of weak magnetic fields in the Herbig Ae/Be stars HD 58647 and HD 98922. Further, we confirm the previous tentative detection of a weak magnetic field in HD 104237 by Donati et al. and confirm the previous detection of a magnetic field in the Herbig Ae star HD 190073. Surprisingly, the measured longitudinal magnetic field of HD 190073, 〈B_z〉 = 91 ± 18 G at a significance level of 5σ is not in agreement with the measurement results of Alecian et al. (2013), 〈B_z〉 = –10 ± 20 G, who applied the LSD method to exactly the same data. No crossover effect was detected for any star in the sample. Only for HD 98922 the crossover effect was found tobe close to 3σ with a measured value of –4228 ± 1443 km s^–1 G. A quadratic magnetic field of the order of 10 kG was detected in HD 98922, and of ∼3.5 kG in HD 104237. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Be phenomenon in open clusters: results from a survey of emission-line stars in young open clusters

Emission-line stars in young open clusters are identified to study their properties, as a function of age, spectral type and evolutionary state. 207 open star clusters were observed using the slitless spectroscopy method and 157 emission stars were identified in 42 clusters. We have found 54 new emission-line stars in 24 open clusters, out of which 19 clusters are found to house emission stars for the first time. About 20 per cent clusters harbour emission stars. The fraction of clusters housing emission stars is maximum in both the 0–10 and 20–30 Myr age bin (∼40 per cent each). Most of the emission stars in our survey belong to Classical Be class (∼92 per cent) while a few are Herbig Be stars (∼6 per cent) and Herbig Ae stars (∼2 per cent). The youngest clusters to have Classical Be stars are IC 1590, NGC 637 and 1624 (all 4 Myr old) while NGC 6756 (125–150 Myr) is the oldest cluster to have Classical Be stars. The Classical Be stars are located all along the main sequence (MS) in the optical colour–magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of clusters of all ages, which indicates that the Be phenomenon is unlikely due to core contraction near the turn-off. The distribution of Classical Be stars as a function of spectral type shows peaks at B1–B2 and B6–B7 spectral types. The Be star fraction [N(Be)/N(B+Be)] is found to be less than 10 per cent for most of the clusters and NGC 2345 is found to have the largest fraction (∼26 per cent). Our results indicate there could be two mechanisms responsible for the Classical Be phenomenon. Some are born Classical Be stars (fast rotators), as indicated by their presence in clusters younger than 10 Myr. Some stars evolve to Classical Be stars, within the MS lifetime, as indicated by the enhancement in the fraction of clusters with Classical Be stars in the 20–30 Myr age bin.     

Photoelectric Investigation of the Herbig Ae/Be Star MWC 1080

The results of photoelectric observations of the Herbig Ae/Be star MWC 1080 in the Strömgren system are given. It was found that MWC 1080 undergoes rapid rises and falls in brightness with an amplitude of up to 0 ^m .25, occurring in a time interval of from several minutes to several hours. It is shown that MWC 1080 is similar to MWC 342 and MWC 419. It is suggested that there is a fundamental difference between the mechanisms of brightness variation of these three objects and of Herbig Ae/Be stars.     

SCUBA photometry of candidate Vega-like sources

New SCUBA measurements at millimetre wavelengths are presented for a sample of Vega-like stars. Six stars were detected, while sensitive upper limits were obtained for a further 11 sources. Most of the sample selected from a recent catalogue of Vega-like stars have infrared excesses similar to those of the prototype Vega-like stars α Lyr and α PsA. Their IR–submm spectral indices are steep, indicating that the submm emission from the discs is dominated by grains which are smaller than the wavelength of observation and that only small grains exist in those dusty discs. HD 98800 has an IR–submillimetre spectral index of less than two, which suggests that grains have grown to more than 0.3 mm in size. Hipparcos parallax data for HD 42137 and HD 123160 suggest that these two stars are giants rather than dwarfs, similar to the situation previously found for HD 233517. Dust masses, or upper limits, were derived for the sample; these indicate that most of the sources do not have as much dust as Herbig Ae/Be or T Tauri stars, but are likely to have dust masses comparable to those of the prototype Vega-like stars.     

Pulsation in the pre-main-sequence Herbig Ae star HD 142666

Asteroseismology of pre-main-sequence δ Scuti stars has the potential not only to provide unprecedented constraints on models of these stars, but also to allow for the possibility of detecting evolutionary period changes, thus providing a direct measure of the pre-main-sequence evolutionary time-scale. In the last two years, the published number of such stars known has doubled from four to eight. Searches are now being conducted amongst the Herbig Ae stars, which are considered to be excellent candidates. We announce the discovery of δ Scuti pulsation in one Herbig Ae star, HD 142666, which lies within Marconi & Palla's theoretically predicted instability strip for pre-main-sequence stars, making this the ninth known pre-main-sequence δ Scuti star. We also demonstrate a lack of δ Scuti pulsation in another such star, HD 142527.     

The use of genetic algorithms to model protoplanetary discs

The protoplanetary discs of T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars have previously been studied using geometric disc models to fit their spectral energy distribution (SED). The simulations provide a means to reproduce the signatures of various circumstellar structures, which are related to different levels of infrared excess. With the aim of improving our previous model, which assumed a simple flat-disc configuration, we adopt here a reprocessing flared-disc model that assumes hydrostatic, radiative equilibrium. We have developed a method to optimize the parameter estimation based on genetic algorithms (GAs). This paper describes the implementation of the new code, which has been applied to Herbig stars from the Pico dos Dias Survey catalogue, in order to illustrate the quality of the fitting for a variety of SED shapes. The star AB Aur was used as a test of the GA parameter estimation, and demonstrates that the new code reproduces successfully a canonical example of the flared-disc model. The GA method gives a good quality of fit, but the range of input parameters must be chosen with caution, as unrealistic disc parameters can be derived. It is confirmed that the flared-disc model fits the flattened SEDs typical of Herbig stars; however, embedded objects (increasing SED slope) and debris discs (steeply decreasing SED slope) are not well fitted with this configuration. Even considering the limitation of the derived parameters, the automatic process of SED fitting provides an interesting tool for the statistical analysis of the circumstellar luminosity of large samples of young stars.     

Statistical results from a jcmt survey of MM and sub-MM emission in herbig ae/be stars

We have detected 1.1 mm continuum emission from 24 of 53 Herbig Ae/Be stars surveyed with the JCMT. Survival analysis shows that 1.1 mm luminosity is correlated with bolometric luminosity and with IRAS 25µm luminosity. For those stars that were also detected at 0.45 or 0.8 mm we find a typical flux dependence of the form S _#x03BD; ³, which is steeper than that of most classical T Tauri stars.     

The stellar composition of the star formation region CMa R1 – II. Spectroscopic and photometric observations of nine young stars

We present new high- and low-resolution spectroscopic and photometric data of nine members of the young association CMa R1. All the stars have circumstellar dust at some distance, as could be expected from their association with reflection nebulosity. Four stars (HD 52721, HD 53367, LkH α  220 and LkH α  218) show H α emission and we argue that they are Herbig Be stars with discs. Our photometric and spectroscopic observations of these stars reveal new characteristics of their variability. We present first interpretations of the variability of HD 52721, HD 53367 and the two LkH α stars in terms of a partially eclipsing binary, a magnetic activity cycle and circumstellar dust variations, respectively. The remaining five stars show no clear indications of H α emission in their spectra, although their spectral types and ages are comparable with those of HD 52721 and HD 53367. This indicates that the presence of a disc around a star in CMa R1 may depend on the environment of the star. In particular we find that all H α emission stars are located at or outside the arc-shaped border of the H  ii region, which suggests that the stars inside the arc have lost their discs through evaporation by UV photons from nearby O stars, or from the nearby (<25 pc) supernova, about 1 Myr ago.     

Star formation in the Cepheus Flare region – II. A-type stars associated with IRAS sources

In order to reveal the star-forming history of the molecular cloud complex we studied the intermediate mass stellar population in the Cepheus Flare region. (Paper I dealt with the distance and the young stellar object candidates of the region.) Correlating the IRAS Point Source Catalogue and Faint Source Catalogue positions with those of 1214 B8–A8 and 1760 F0–F5 type stars brighter than     and classified during an objective prism survey, we identified 19 stars showing far-infrared excess emission in the Cepheus Flare region. In addition to the 16 stars whose counterparts are given in the IRAS catalogues, we found three more stars with infrared excess not recognized before. In order to identify the young medium-mass stars associated with the Cepheus Flare molecular clouds we observed the optical spectra of the IR-excess stars, and using published optical photometry and the IRAS data we examined their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and IRAS two-colour diagram. The observations resulted in the discovery of a new Herbig Ae/Be star, BD +68°1118, coinciding with IRAS 21169+6842. More evolved HAe/Be stars may be SAO 19953, BD +67°1314 and BD +69°1231, whose H α lines showed weak emission components. Possible β Pictoris- or Vega-type stars may be HD 203854, HD 212826 and HD 216486, whereas the far-infrared fluxes at the positions of BD +72°1018, HD 210806 and HD 217903 can be attributed to the heating of the interstellar environment. We used distances and radial velocities of the stars derived from the spectroscopy and published optical photometry as indicators of their relations to the clouds. Information on the environment of the observed stars deduced from the diffuse interstellar band at λ 6613 is briefly discussed.     

Herbig Ae/Be星的尘埃壳层形态研究

我们使用Kurucz恒星大气模型以及黑体模型对22颗Herbig Ae/Be星的紫外数据、IRAS观测数据、地面光学及近红外测光数据资料等进行了拟合计算,用能量平衡方法进行了统计分析,得出Herbig Ae/Be星的尘埃壳层为盘状的结论.     

Single Be stars as binary ejecta?

Among the mechanisms suggested for the creation of discs around Be stars is interaction with binary companions. This idea has largely been dismissed, because the majority of Be stars have no observed companion. This difficulty can be circumvented if single Be stars are actually ejected from binary systems (owing, for instance, to the supernova of the companion). Using Hipparcos data, we show that this explanation is not likely, by comparing the velocity distributions of Be stars with those of normal B stars. We find that the distributions are consistent to within 1 σ uncertainties, and thus do not support the formation of single Be stars through binary breakup.