Probing the close environment of young stellar objects with interferometry

The study of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) is one of the most exciting topics that can be undertaken by long baseline optical interferometry. The magnitudes of these objects are at the edge of capabilities of current optical interferometers, limiting the studies to a few dozen, but are well within the capability of coming large aperture interferometers like the VLT Interferometer, the Keck Interferometer, the Large Binocular Telescope or 'OHANA. The milli-arcsecond spatial resolution reached by interferometry probes the very close environment of young stars, down to a tenth of an astronomical unit. In this paper, I review the different aspects of star formation that can be tackled by interferometry: circumstellar disks, multiplicity, jets. I present recent observations performed with operational infrared interferometers, IOTA, PTI and ISI, and I show why in the next future one will extend these studies with large aperture interferometers. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Simulation of the emission lines radiated from cataclysmic variables

Cataclysmic variables are special celestial bodies because they have particular light curves and spectra.The mechanisms for generating emission lines radiated from dwarf novae in their quiescent phases are studied.We assume that the incident radiation field which is emitted by a hot source（white dwarf and boundary layer）irradiates the gaseous layer evaporated from the accretion disk,and the emission lines are radiated from the gas.We model the fluxes of emission lines by using the photoionization code CLOUDY.Using this method,we input some reasonable parameters and get a series of simulated spectra.In order to find a simulated spectrum which is the best fit to an observed spectrum,we use a cross-correlation method to match them.After the calculation,we use the approximation that the parameters of the simulated spectrum can simulate the observed spectrum.Finally,we learn more about the physical conditions of the system.     

Empirical calibration of the near-infrared Ca ii triplet – II. The stellar atmospheric parameters

We present a homogeneous set of stellar atmospheric parameters ( T _eff, log  g , [Fe/H]) for a sample of about 700 field and cluster stars which constitute a new stellar library in the near-IR developed for stellar population synthesis in this spectral region ( λ 8350–9020) . Having compiled the available atmospheric data in the literature for field stars, we have found systematic deviations between the atmospheric parameters from different bibliographic references. The Soubiran, Katz & Cayrel sample of stars with very well determined fundamental parameters has been taken as our standard reference system, and other papers have been calibrated and bootstrapped against it. The obtained transformations are provided in this paper. Once most of the data sets were on the same system, final parameters were derived by performing error weighted means. Atmospheric parameters for cluster stars have also been revised and updated according to recent metallicity scales and colour–temperature relations.     

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.     

Modeling far-infrared observations of young stellar objects

The exotic quantum process of photon splitting has great potential to explain the softness of emission in soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) if they originate in neutron stars with surface fields above the quantum critical fieldB _cr = 4.413×10¹³ Gauss. Splitting becomes prolific at such field strengths: its principal effect is to degrade photon energies, initiating a cascade that softens gamma-ray spectra. Uniform field cascade calculations have demonstrated that emission could be softened to the observed SGR energies for fields exceeding about 10¹⁴ Gauss. Recently, we have determined splitting attenuation lengths and maximum energies for photon escape in neutron star environments including the effects of magnetospheric dipole field geometry. Such escape energies _esc suitably approximate the peak energy of the emergent spectrum, and in this paper we present results for _esc as a function of photon emission angles for polar cap and equatorial emission regions. The escape energy is extremely insensitive to viewing perspective for equatorial emission, arguing in favour of such a site for the origin of SGR activity.     

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.     

Polarization models of young stellar objects – II. Linear and circular polarimetry of R Coronae Australis

Near-infrared linear imaging polarimetry of the young stellar objects R CrA and T CrA in the J , H and K n bands, and circular imaging polarimetry in the H band, is presented. The data are modelled with the Clark and McCall scattering model. The R CrA and T CrA system is shown to be a particularly complex scattering environment. In the case of R CrA there is evidence that the wavelength dependence of polarization changes across the nebula. MRN dust grain models do not explain this behaviour. Depolarization by line emission is considered as an alternative explanation. The dust grain properties could also be changing across the nebula.
Although surrounded by reflection nebulosity, there is a region of particularly low polarization surrounding R CrA that is best modelled by the canonical bipolar outflow being truncated by an evacuated spherical cavity surrounding the star. The symmetry axis of the nebula appears inclined by 50° to the plane of the sky.
The H -band circular polarimetry of R CrA clearly shows a quadrupolar structure of positive and negative degrees of circular polarization that reach peak magnitudes of ∼5 per cent within our limited map. It is shown that spherical MRN grains are incapable of producing this circular polarization given the observed linear polarization of the R CrA system. Instead, scattering from aligned non-spherical grains is proposed as the operating mechanism.
T CrA is a more archetypical bipolar reflection nebula, and this object is modelled as a canonical parabolic reflection nebula that lies in the plane of the sky. The wavelength independence of linear polarization in the T CrA reflection nebula suggests that the scattering particles are Rayleigh sized. This is modelled with the MRN interstellar grain size distribution.     

Results and perspectives of young stellar object long look programs

Both Chandra and XMM‐Newton have performed long look programs for studying the YSO physics. I will discuss recent results on the controversial issue of Class 0 YSO X‐ray emission, the observational evidence of magnetic funnels interconnecting the YSO with its circumstellar disk and the Fe 6.4 keV fluorescent line emission and its origin. While recent results of the XMM‐Newton DROXO program challenge the “standard” interpretation of the Fe 6.4 kev line origin as due to photoionized fluorescing disk material, the discovery of X‐ray excited Ne 12.81 μ m line is a clear evidence of the interaction between X‐rays and disk material. Future long look observations with XMM‐Newton are required to clarify the X‐ray effects on YSO disk. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Near-infrared imaging polarimetry of young stellar objects in ρ Ophiuchi

The results of a near-infrared ( J H K L _P) imaging linear polarimetry survey of 20 young stellar objects (YSOs) in ρ Ophiuchi are presented. The majority of the sources are unresolved, with K -band polarizations, P _K < 6 per cent. Several objects are associated with extended reflection nebulae. These objects have centrosymmetric vector patterns with polarization discs over their cores; maximum polarizations of P _K > 20 per cent are seen over their envelopes. Correlations are observed between the degree of core polarization and the evolutionary status inferred from the spectral energy distribution. K -band core polarizations >6 per cent are only observed in Class I YSOs.
A 3D Monte Carlo model with oblate grains aligned with a magnetic field is used to investigate the flux distributions and polarization structures of three of the ρ Oph YSOs with extended nebulae. A ρ∝ r ^−1.5 power law for the density is applied throughout the envelopes. The large-scale centrosymmetric polarization structures are due to scattering. However, the polarization structure in the bright core of the nebula appears to require dichroic extinction by aligned non-spherical dust grains. The position angle indicates a toroidal magnetic field in the inner part of the envelope. Since the measured polarizations attributed to dichroic extinction are usually ≤10 per cent, the grains must either be nearly spherical or very weakly aligned. The higher polarizations observed in the outer parts of the reflection nebulae require that the dust grains responsible for scattering have maximum grain sizes 1.05 μm.     

Massive early-type emission-line stars: an attempt to distinguish a new group of stellar objects

A new sample of possibly massive early-type emission-line stars (METELS) based on the previous lists of peculiar Be stars is presented. It consists of 36 objects divided amongst supergiants, possible binaries, and candidates to the list. The central stars are probably more massive than 10M . Two new relations allowing idientification of possible binaries among the objects are proposed.     

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.     

Excitation of solar-like oscillations: From PMS to MS stellar models

The amplitude of solar-like oscillations results from a balance between excitation and damping. As in the sun, the excitation is attributed to turbulent motions that stochastically excite thep modes in the uppermost part of the convective zone. We present here a model for the excitation mechanism. Comparisons between modeled amplitudes and helio and stellar seismic constraints are presented and the discrepancies discussed. Finally the possibility and the interest of detecting such stochastically excited modes in pre-main sequence stars are also discussed.