Testing the circumstellar disc hypothesis: a search for H2 outflow signatures from massive young stellar objects with linearly distributed methanol masers

The results of a survey searching for outflows using near-infrared imaging are presented. Targets were chosen from a compiled list of massive young stellar objects associated with methanol masers in linear distributions. Presently, it is a widely held belief that these methanol masers are found in (and delineate) circumstellar accretion discs around massive stars. If this scenario is correct, one way to test the disc hypothesis is to search for outflows perpendicular to the methanol maser distributions. The main objective of the survey was to obtain wide-field near-infrared images of the sites of linearly distributed methanol masers using a narrow-band 2.12-μm filter. This filter is centred on the  H₂ v = 1–0 S(1)  line; a shock diagnostic that has been shown to successfully trace CO outflows from young stellar objects. 28 sources in total were imaged of which 18 sources display H₂ emission. Of these, only two sources showed emission found to be dominantly perpendicular to the methanol maser distribution. Surprisingly, the H₂ emission in these fields is not distributed randomly, but instead the majority of sources are found to have H₂ emission dominantly parallel to their distribution of methanol masers. These results seriously question the hypothesis that methanol masers exist in circumstellar discs. The possibility that linearly distributed methanol masers are instead directly associated with outflows is discussed.     

Automated Separation of Stars and Normal Galaxies Based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with RBF Neural Networks

For LAMOST, the largest sky survey program in China, the solution of the problem of automatic discrimination of stars from galaxies by spectra has shown that the results of the PSF test can be significantly refined. However, the problem is made worse when the redshifts of galaxies are not available. We present a new automatic method of star/(normal) galaxy separation, which is based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (SMM-RBFNN). This work is a continuation of our previous one, where active and non-active celestial objects were successfully segregated. By combining the method in this paper and the previous one, stars can now be effectively separated from galaxies and AGNs by their spectra-a major goal of LAMOST, and an indispensable step in any automatic spectrum classification system. In our work, the training set includes standard stellar spectra from Jacoby's spectrum library and simulated galaxy spectra of EO, SO, Sa, Sb types with redshift ranging from 0 to 1     

Toroidal versus poloidal magnetic fields in Sun-like stars: a rotation threshold

From a set of stellar spectropolarimetric observations, we report the detection of surface magnetic fields in a sample of four solar-type stars, namely HD 73350, HD 76151, HD 146233 (18 Sco) and HD 190771. Assuming that the observed variability of polarimetric signal is controlled by stellar rotation, we establish the rotation periods of our targets, with values ranging from 8.8 d (for HD 190771) to 22.7 d (for HD 146233). Apart from rotation, fundamental parameters of the selected objects are very close to the Sun's, making this sample a practical basis to investigate the specific impact of rotation on magnetic properties of Sun-like stars.
We reconstruct the large-scale magnetic geometry of the targets as a low-order  (ℓ < 10)  spherical harmonic expansion of the surface magnetic field. From the set of magnetic maps, we draw two main conclusions. (i) The magnetic energy of the large-scale field increases with rotation rate. The increase in chromospheric emission with the mean magnetic field is flatter than observed in the Sun. Since the chromospheric flux is also sensitive to magnetic elements smaller than those contributing to the polarimetric signal, this observation suggests that a larger fraction of the surface magnetic energy is stored in large scales as rotation increases. (ii) Whereas the magnetic field is mostly poloidal for low rotation rates, more rapid rotators host a large-scale toroidal component in their surface field. From our observations, we infer that a rotation period lower than ≈12 d is necessary for the toroidal magnetic energy to dominate over the poloidal component.     

Keck II spectroscopy of mHz quasi-periodic oscillations in Hercules X-1

We present Keck II spectroscopy of optical mHz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the light curve of the X-ray pulsar binary Hercules X-1. In the power spectrum it appears as 'peaked noise', with a coherency ∼2, a central frequency of 35 mHz and a peak-to-peak amplitude of 5 per cent. However, the dynamic power spectrum shows it to be an intermittent QPO, with a lifetime of ∼100 s, as expected if the lifetime of the orbiting material is equal to the thermal time-scale of the inner disc. We have decomposed the spectral time series into constant and variable components and used blackbody fits to the resulting spectra to characterize the spectrum of the QPO variability and constrain possible production sites. We find that the spectrum of the QPO is best fitted by a small hot region, possibly the inner regions of the accretion disc, where the ballistic accretion stream impacts on to the disc. The lack of any excess power around the QPO frequency in the X-ray power spectrum, created using simultaneous light curves from RXTE , implies that the QPO is not simply reprocessed X-ray variability.     

Modelling the binary progenitor of Supernova 1993J

We have developed a detailed stellar evolution code capable of following the simultaneous evolution of both stars in a binary system, together with their orbital properties. To demonstrate the capabilities of the code, we investigate potential progenitors for the Type IIb Supernova 1993J, which is believed to have been an interacting binary system prior to its primary exploding. We use our detailed binary stellar evolution code to model this system to determine the possible range of primary and secondary masses that could have produced the observed characteristics of this system, with particular reference to the secondary. Using the luminosities and temperatures for both stars (as determined by Maund et al.) and the remaining mass of the hydrogen envelope of the primary at the time of explosion, we find that if mass transfer is 100 per cent efficient, the observations can be reproduced by a system consisting of a  15 M_⊙  primary and a  14 M_⊙  secondary in an orbit with an initial period of 2100 days. With a mass transfer efficiency of 50 per cent, a more massive system consisting of a  17 M_⊙  primary and a  16 M_⊙  secondary in an initial orbit of 2360 days is needed. We also investigate some of the uncertainties in the evolution, including the effects of tidal interaction, convective overshooting and thermohaline mixing.     

Surface images of the short period contact binary AE Phe

We present high resolution Doppler images of the short period (P = 0.362 d) contact binary AE Phe. Using least squares deconvolution, we make use of the information content of the several thousand lines in each échelle spectrum to obtain the necessary S/N and time resolution required to resolve individual starspot features. A single pair of rotationally broadened profiles (free of sidelobes due to blending) with a typical S/N of 3000 ‐ 4000 per spectrum is thus obtained. With 300 sec exposures we achieve a cadence of 350 sec which is equivalent to sampling the rotation phase every 4°. We derive images for four nights of data which reveal starspots at most latitudes on both components of the common envelope system. Individual starspots evolve significantly on very short timescales, of order one day; significantly faster than the week timescales found on active single stars and the Sun. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Disc structure around strongly magnetic accretors: a full disc solution with buoyancy diffusivity

A full numerical solution is found for the effect of a strongly magnetic star on its accretion disc, for the case of magnetic buoyancy diffusion. As in the previously considered case of turbulent diffusion, the disc becomes disrupted when magnetic and viscous stresses become comparable. A magnetically induced temperature elevation leads to electron scattering opacity and radiation pressure becoming significant far from the stellar surface, with consequent viscous instability and vertical disruption of the disc. This, together with the previous turbulent case, suggests that such a disruption mechanism owing to strongly magnetic accretors is generally operable.     

Spectroscopic binaries near the North Galactic Pole paper 6: BD 33° 2206

Photoelectric radial-velocity measurements have confirmed O. C. Wilson’s finding that BD 33° 2206, the secondary star in the wide visual binary ADS 8470, is a spectroscopic binary. It has an eccentric orbit with a period of 100 days. Its γ-velocity is close to the constant radial velocity of the visual primary, confirming the physical association of the stars.