Dusty disk wind in young binary systems viewed pole-on

A model of a young binary system with companions of unequal mass whose orbital plane is inclined at a large angle to the line of sight is examined. The system components are assumed to accrete matter from the remains of the protostellar cloud. It is found that eclipsing of the primary component by the disk wind of the secondary can be observed when the plane of the orbit is inclined at a large angle to the line of sight or even when the binary system is observed pole-on. __________ Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 267–275 (May 2008).     

Dust in the disk winds from young stars as a source of the circumstellar extinction

We consider the problem of dust grain survival in the disk winds from T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars. For our analysis, we have chosen a disk wind model in which the gas component of the wind is heated through ambipolar diffusion to a temperature of ～10⁴ K. We show that the heating of dust grains through their collisions with gas atoms is inefficient compared to their heating by stellar radiation and, hence, the grains survive even in the hot wind component. As a result, the disk wind can be opaque to the ultraviolet and optical stellar radiation and is capable of absorbing an appreciable fraction of it. Calculations show that the fraction of the wind-absorbed radiation for T Tauri stars can be from 20 to 40% of the total stellar luminosity at an accretion rate ? _a = 10^?8-10^?6 M _⊙yr^?1. This means that the disk winds from T Tauri stars can play the same role as the puffed-up inner rim in current accretion disk models. In Herbig Ae stars, the inner layers of the disk wind (r ≤ 0.5 AU) are dust-free, since the dust in this region sublimates under the effect of stellar radiation. Therefore, the fraction of the radiation absorbed by the disk wind in this case is considerably smaller and can be comparable to the effect from the puffed-up inner rim only at an accretion rate of the order of or higher than 10^?6 M _⊙yr^?1. Since the disk wind is structurally inhomogeneous, its optical depth toward the observer can be variable, which should be reflected in the photometric activity of young stars. For the same reason, moving shadows from gas and dust streams with a spiral-like shape can be observed in high-angular-resolution circumstellar disk images.     

On the Scattered Radiation Spectrum of Protoplanetary Disks

Astronomy Reports - The deformation of the photospheric radiation of a young star during scattering in the inner regions of the protoplanetary disk has been studied. The distortion of spectral...     

Observations of a unique minimum of RR Tau in the optical and near infrared

We present observations of the UX Ori star RR Tau in the optical (UBVRI)and near infrared (JHKLM)acquired between November 2000 and April 2001. We recorded a uniquely long (about half a year) Algol-like minimum with an amplitude of ΔV≈2.9. The dimming of RR Tau was accompanied by an increase of the linear polarization, typical of UX Ori stars and testifying to the eclipsing nature of the minimum. The J and H infrared fluxes varied synchronously with the optical variations. However, the K and L brightness changes were in the opposite sense: the flux in these two bands increased for the entire duration of the optical minimum. Our analysis suggests that the source of the K and L radiation is the dust cloud itself, moving at a distance of about 1 AU from the star. The flux increase in these bands was not due to an increase in the dust temperature, but instead to an increase in the number of emitting grains in the cloud. This could be associated either with an actual increase in the number of fine grains due to sublimation and the disruption of larger grains or with the distortion and disruption of the cloud due to tidal perturbation, permitting the star’s light to penetrate and heat the densest regions of the cloud. Based on the observed L fluxes, we estimate the mass of the emitting dust in the cloud to be ≈10²³ g. Taking into account the presence of cool dust and a gaseous component in the cloud in addition to the dust heated by the star’s radiation, and adopting a ratio for the masses of the dust and gas components similar to that in the interstellar medium (1:100), we estimate the cloud’s total mass to be ≥10²⁵ g. Judging from this value and the duration of the minimum, we observed an extremely rare episode associated with a giant gas and dust cloud with a total mass on the order of 0.1 lunar mass or higher, which passed very near the young star (and may be falling onto it).     

Modeling of Spectroscopic and Interferometric Observations of the Herbig Star VV Ser with Hybrid Models

Modeling of hydrogen emission lines is a powerful tool to study physical processes in the nearest vicinity of young stars because spectral lines carry information on the kinematics and physical conditions of the gas. One of the lines that probe emitting regions closest to the star is the Br$$\gamma $$ line. We consider different types of hybrid models to reproduce both interferometric VLTI-AMBER observations and LBT-LUCIFER spectroscopic observations of the single-peak profile of the Br$$\gamma $$ line of the Herbig AeBe star (HAEBE) VV Ser, a member of the UX Ori type subclass. We computed models of a magneto-centrifugal disk wind, a magnetospheric accretion region (magnetosphere), Cranmer’s polar wind, and scattered light from circumstellar polar dust. Furthermore, we calculated hybrid two-component models consisting of a disk wind and one of the aforementioned models. We computed visibilities and line profiles for all types of models and compared them with the available interferometric observations to constrain model parameters. We conclude that for the inclinations reported for this star (60°–70°), the disk wind alone cannot explain the Br$$\gamma $$ line profile although it may be a dominant contributor to the hydrogen line radiation. However, magneto-centrifugal disk wind in combination with aforementioned emitting regions (magnetosphere, polar wind, or scattered light from polar dust) may be able to reproduce the observations.     

Disk wind in the radiation of young intermediate-mass stars

We consider the role of the disk wind in the formation of hydrogen emission spectra of young intermediate-mass Herbig Ae stars. The assumed parameters for the kinematic characteristics of the wind region are typical of the theory of magnetocentrifugal disk winds. Our computations of the excitation and ionization states for atoms in the emitting region are based on the Sobolev approximation for a medium with a large velocity gradient. The calculations show that hydrogen-line emission profiles can have a complex structure that depends on the disk-wind parameters, as well as on the system’s orientation relative to the line of sight. The model proposed is able to explain most types of Hα profiles observed for Herbig Ae stars.     

Disk wind in young binaries and the origin of the cyclic activity of young stars

We present the results of our numerical simulations of the cyclic brightness modulation in young binary systems with eccentric orbits and low-mass secondary components. We suggest that the binary components accrete matter from the remnants of the protostellar cloud, with the main accretor (according to current models) being the low-mass component. The brightness variations of the primary are attributable to the periodic extinction variations on the line of sight caused by the disk wind from the secondary and by the common envelope produced by this wind. The distribution of matter in the envelope was calculated in the ballistic approximation. When calculating the optical effects produced by the dust component of the disk wind, we adopted the dust-to-gas mass ratio of 1:100 characteristic of the interstellar medium and the optical parameters of the circumstellar dust typical of young stars. Our calculations show that the theoretical light curves for binaries with elliptical orbits exhibit a wider variety of shapes than those for binaries with circular orbits. In this case, the parameters of the photometric minima (their depth, duration, and shape of the light curve) depend not only on the disk-wind parameters and the orbital inclination of the binary to the line of sight, but also on the longitude of the periastron. We investigate the modulation of the scattered radiation from the common envelope with orbital phase in the single-scattering approximation. The modulation amplitude is shown to be at a maximum when the system is seen edge-on and to be also nonzero in binaries seen pole-on. We discuss possible applications of the theory to young stellar objects. In particular, several model light curves have been found to be similar to those of candidate FU Orionis stars (FUORs).     

Mechanisms for eclipsing in exotic eclipsing systems

The stars ε Aur, KH 15D, and H 187 are utterly different in their fundamental characteristics. However, they share two important features: (1) prolonged eclipses are observed in all three and (2) there are no spectroscopic signs of a second component. The light curves of these objects are substantially similar, which may indicate a uniform mechanism for the eclipses. This article analyzes models for eclipsing in these objects proposed by different authors and discusses the problems associated with their application. __________ Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 553–571 (November 2006).     

Disk wind and magnetospheric accretion in emission from the Herbig Ae star MWC 480

The young Herbig Ae star MWC 480 (HD 31648) is one of the comprehensively spectroscopically studied stars in the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared spectral ranges. Using non-LTE modeling of its hydrogen spectrum, we have calculated the contribution to the hydrogen emission from such important regions of the circumstellar environment as the disk wind and the magnetosphere. We have used our own observations of the stellar spectrum performed with the 2.4-m telescope at the Thai National Observatory to quantitatively check our theoretical calculations. In addition, all of the visible and infrared spectra available in the literature have been used for a qualitative comparison. The modeling results have revealed a significant role of the magneto-centrifugal disk wind in the formation of atomic hydrogen emission. The cause of the emission line variability in the spectrum ofMWC 480 is discussed.