Rotation of Jets from Young Stars: New Clues from the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph

Abstract

We report findings from the first set of data in a current survey to establish conclusively whether jets from young stars rotate. We observed the bi-polar jets from the T Tauri stars TH28 and RW Aur, and the blue-shifted jet from T Tauri star LkH$α$321, using the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS). Forbidden emission lines (FELs) show distinct and systematic velocity asymmetries of 10 -- 25 (+/- 5) km/s at a distance of 0".3 from the source, representing a (projected) distance of ~ 40 AU along the jet in the case of RW Aur, ~ 50 AU for TH28, and 165 AU in the case of LkH$α$321. These velocity asymmetries are interpreted as rotation in the initial portion of the jet where it is accelerated and collimated. For the bi-polar jets, both lobes appear to rotate in the same direction. Values obtained were in agreement with the predictions of MHD disk-wind models (Bacciotti et al 2002, Anderson et al 2003, Dougados et al 2003, Pesenti et al 2003). Finally, we determine, from derived toroidal and poloidal velocities, values for the distance from the central axis of the footpoint for the jet's low velocity component of ~ 0.5 - 2 AU, consistent with the models of magneto-centrifugal launching (Anderson et al 2003).