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A. M. Sobolev

Publications and source records attributed to A. M. Sobolev.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Multi-frequency mapping of the S255IR region at a wavelength of 1~mm

The results of interferometric observations of the star-forming region S255IR in the frequency range 210--250 GHz are presented. The observations were carried out with the antenna array SMA (Hawaii, USA). Fifty-three molecules were detected, including complex organic molecules (COMs) such as CH$_3$CHO, CH$_3$CN, CH$_3$CH$_2$CN, and many others. Typical rotational temperatures in the hot core SMA1 fall in the range 100--200 K. Optical depths in the lines of methanol and some other molecules in the cores SMA1 and SMA2 were estimated. In SMA1, the optical depth of one of the strongest methanol lines, $5_{-1}-4_{-1}E$, proved to be $23.8 \pm 1.5$. Based on this value, one can assume that the lines of other oxygen-containing COMs, such as CH$_3$OCHO, CH$_3$OCH$_3$, CH$_3$CH$_2$OH, which are typically much less abundant in hot cores than methanol, are optically thin in SMA1. Most of the detected molecules can be roughly divided into two groups. The molecules of the first group emit exclusively toward the hot core SMA1, while some or all lines of the molecules of the second group, in addition to SMA1, can be seen toward a ring-like structure to the west of SMA1. This structure is most likely associated with the walls of a cavity formed by high-velocity outflows driven by young stellar objects (YSOs) in molecular cores SMA1, SMA2, and possibly SMA3. The gas temperature and density in the cavity walls were estimated using methanol lines. The temperature was found to be about 50--60 K, and the density about $10^7-10^8$ cm$^{-3}$. The column density of methanol near the brightness peaks in the lines of this molecule is about $5\times 10^{15}$~cm$^{-2}$. The column densities of other COMs in the ring-like structure will be determined in future studies with increased sensitivity achieved by spectral line stacking.

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ALMA view on the nature of the compact VLA continuum sources in the massive young stellar object G25.65+1.05

This paper presents high-resolution ALMA observations of the massive young stellar object G25.65+1.05, which is known to host water maser super flares. To investigate the nature of compact continuum sources that have been previously identified in this region, we analyzed 1.3 mm dust continuum and molecular line emission. The central millimeter peak MM1 coincides with the centimeter source VLA 2, has a complex molecular spectrum, and is identified as a hot molecular core. Molecular emission of SiO and CH3CN in the vicinity of MM1 reveals kinematics consistent with wide-angle outflow structures and a possible rotating disk in the source. VLA sources 1A, 1B, and 3 are lacking compact millimeter counterparts and trace shocked regions where the outflow interacts with the surrounding material. In particular, VLA 1A, the site of H2O maser super flares, is interpreted as a shock interface that exhibits developed turbulent movements seen in the SiO molecular line. The observed turbulence creates conditions required for H2O maser action, directly linking the nature of VLA 1A to the origin of the H2O maser super flares.

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Analysis of the magnetic fields in massive young stellar objects with masers

We analyze observational data on methanol masers in the disks of young massive stellar objects in the massive star formation regions: NGC6334I, G33.641-0.228, G12.89+0.49. Special attention is paid to analysis of the magnetic fields and their possible connection with maser flares. For this purpose, we estimate the distance from star to maser, the magnetospheric radius and magnetic field strength in the region of this radius. The distances from stars to masing regions lie in range from 380 to 620 au. Stellar and disk's magnetic field strengths are comparable at the magnetosphere boundary and lie in the range from 590 to 1880 G for considered objects. Our estimates show that the magnetic fields may play an important role in the considered regions. In particular, observed luminosity bursts and maser flares may be related to magnetic reconnection events near the stars.

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Submillimeter Class II methanol masers near the massive protostar S255IR NIRS3: evolution and excitation of the $J_1 -J_0$ A$^{-+}$ series and a new maser line at 345.919 GHz

We present the results of the further investigation of the Class II methanol maser emission in the $14_1 - 14_0$ A$^{-+}$ transition at 349.1 GHz discovered in 2016 in the remarkable core S255IR-SMA1, harboring a $\sim$20 M$_\odot$ protostar NIRS3, which exhibited a disk-mediated accretion burst in 2015. The present study is based on the observations of this object with ALMA in Band 7 at the largest baselines, which provide the angular resolution of $\sim$15 mas. We estimated physical conditions in the region from which comes the maser emission, and in the surroundings, using the presumably quasi-thermal methanol lines in our bands and the CH$_3$CN $19_\mathrm{K} - 18_\mathrm{K}$ line series. The total flux density in the $14_1 - 14_0$ A$^{-+}$ line in 2021 is about two times higher than in 2019. A maser emission of about the same intensity in 2021 is detected for the first time in the $12_1 - 12_0$ A$^{-+}$ transition at 336.9 GHz. The physical conditions in the masering and non-masering regions are similar. The masers are apparently excited by the radiation of the central source. Unfortunately, the existing models cannot adequately take into account this radiation. The $18_{-3}-17_{-4}$ E transition at 345.919 GHz shows characteristics of maser emission, too.

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A study of the star clusters' population in the giant molecular cloud G174+2.5

We study the structure, interstellar absorption, color-magnitude diagrams, kinematics, and dynamical state of embedded star clusters in the star-forming region associated with the giant molecular cloud G174+2.5. Our investigation is based on photometric data from the UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey catalog and astrometric data from the Gaia DR3 catalogs. First, we recover all the known embedded clusters and candidate clusters in the region using surface density maps. Then, for the detected clusters, we determine their general parameters: the center positions, radii, number of stars, and reddening. To evaluate the reddening, we use both the NICEST algorithm and the Q-method. Both methods produce consistent extinction maps in the regions of the four studied clusters. However, the Q-method yields a much smaller color scatter in the CMD. For four clusters in particular (S235~North-West, S235~A-B-C, S235~Central, and S235~East1+East2), we were able to compute individual membership probabilities, the cluster distances, the cluster masses, and their average proper motions. By building on these results, we have studied the clusters' kinematics and dynamics. Moreover, we estimate the mass of the gas component and the star formation efficiency (SFE) in the regions of these four clusters. Finally, we provide an estimate of the total energy of the stellar and gas components in the area of these four clusters to determine whether the clusters are bound (here we consider a `cluster' as the system `stars + gas'). The gravitational bound strongly depends on the region for which we estimate the gas mass. If we consider the mass of the entire cloud, all these four clusters turn out to be bound.

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A heat-wave of accretion energy traced by masers in the G358-MM1 high-mass protostar

High-mass stars are thought to accumulate much of their mass via short, infrequent bursts of disk-aided accretion. Such accretion events are rare and difficult to observe directly but are known to drive enhanced maser emission. In this Letter we report high-resolution, multi-epoch methanol maser observations toward G358.93-0.03 which reveal an interesting phenomenon; the sub-luminal propagation of a thermal radiation "heat-wave" emanating from an accreting high-mass proto-star. The extreme transformation of the maser emission implies a sudden intensification of thermal infrared radiation from within the inner (40 mas, 270 au) region. Subsequently, methanol masers trace the radial passage of thermal radiation through the environment at $\geq$ 4-8\% the speed of light. Such a high translocation rate contrasts with the $\leq$ 10 km s$^{-1}$ physical gas motions of methanol masers typically observed using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). The observed scenario can readily be attributed to an accretion event in the high-mass proto-star G358.93-0.03-MM1. While being the third case in its class, G358.93-0.03-MM1 exhibits unique attributes hinting at a possible `zoo' of accretion burst types. These results promote the advantages of maser observations in understanding high-mass star formation, both through single-dish maser monitoring campaigns and via their international cooperation as VLBI arrays.

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A Keplerian disk with a four-arm spiral birthing an episodically accreting high-mass protostar

High-mass protostars (M$_{\star} >$ 8 M$_{\odot}$) are thought to gain the majority of their mass via short, intense bursts of growth. This episodic accretion is thought to be facilitated by gravitationally unstable and subsequently inhomogeneous accretion disks. Limitations of observational capabilities, paired with a lack of observed accretion burst events has withheld affirmative confirmation of the association between disk accretion, instability and the accretion burst phenomenon in high-mass protostars. Following its 2019 accretion burst, a heat-wave driven by a burst of radiation propagated outward from the high-mass protostar G358.93-0.03-MM1. Six VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) observations of the raditively pumped 6.7 GHz methanol maser were conducted during this period, tracing ever increasing disk radii as the heat-wave propagated outward. Concatenating the VLBI maps provided a sparsely sampled, milliarcsecond view of the spatio-kinematics of the accretion disk covering a physical range of $\sim$ 50 - 900 AU. We term this observational approach `heat-wave mapping'. We report the discovery of a Keplerian accretion disk with a spatially resolved four-arm spiral pattern around G358.93-0.03-MM1. This result positively implicates disk accretion and spiral arm instabilities into the episodic accretion high-mass star formation paradigm.

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Ammonia masers toward G358.931-0.030

We report the detection of ammonia masers in the non-metastable (6, 3), (7, 5) and (6, 5) transitions, the latter is the first unambiguous maser detection of that transition ever made. Our observations include the first VLBI detection of ammonia maser emission, which allowed effective constrain of the (6, 5) maser brightness temperature. The masers were detected towards G358.931-0.030, a site of 6.7-GHz class~II methanol maser emission that was recently reported to be undergoing a period of flaring activity. These ammonia masers appear to be flaring contemporaneously with the class~II methanol masers during the accretion burst event of G358.931-0.030. This newly detected site of ammonia maser emission is only the twelfth such site discovered in the Milky Way. We also report the results of an investigation into the maser pumping conditions, for all three detected masing transitions, through radiative transfer calculations constrained by our observational data. These calculations support the hypothesis that the ammonia (6, 5) maser transition is excited through high colour temperature infrared emission, with the (6, 5) and (7, 5) transition line-ratio implying dust temperatures >400K. Additionally, we detect significant linearly polarised emission from the ammonia (6, 3) maser line. Alongside our observational and radiative transfer calculation results, we also report newly derived rest frequencies for the ammonia (6, 3) and (6, 5) transitions.

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The burst mode of accretion in massive star formation with stellar inertia

The burst mode of accretion in massive star formation is a scenario linking the initial gravitational collapse of parent pre-stellar cores to the properties of their gravitationally unstable discs and of their accretion-driven bursts. In this study, we present a series of high-resolution 3D radiation-hydrodynamics numerical simulations for young massive stars formed out of collapsing 100 Mo molecular cores spinning with several values of the ratio of rotational-to-gravitational energies beta=5%-9%. The models include the indirect gravitational potential caused by disc asymmetries. We find that this modifies the barycenter of the disc, causing significant excursions of the central star position, which we term stellar wobbling. The stellar wobbling slows down and protracts the development of gravitational instability in the disc, reducing the number and magnitude of the accretion-driven bursts undergone by the young massive stars, whose properties are in good agreement with that of the burst monitored from the massive protostar M17 MIR. Including stellar wobbling is therefore important for accurate modeling disc structures. Synthetic ALMA interferometric images in the millimeter waveband show that the outcomes of efficient gravitational instability such as spiral arms and gaseous clumps can be detected for as long as the disc is old enough and has already entered the burst mode of accretion.

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The evolution of the H2O maser emission in the accretion burst source G358.93-0.03

The massive young stellar object (MYSO) G358.93-0.03-MM1 showed an extraordinary near-infrared- to (sub-)millimetre-dark and far-infrared-loud accretion burst, which is closely associated with flares of several class II methanol maser transitions, and, later, a 22 GHz water maser flare. Water maser flares provide an invaluable insight into ejection events associated with accretion bursts. Although the short timescale of the 22 GHz water maser flare made it impossible to carry out a very long baseline interferometry observation, we could track it with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). The evolution of the spatial structure of the 22 GHz water masers and their association with the continuum sources in the region is studied with the VLA during two epochs, pre- and post-H2O maser flare. A drastic change in the distribution of the water masers is revealed: in contrast to the four maser groups detected during epoch I, only two newly formed clusters are detected during epoch II. The 22 GHz water masers associated with the bursting source MM1 changed in morphology and emission velocity extent. Clear evidence of the influence of the accretion burst on the ejection from G358.93-0.03-MM1 is presented. The accretion event has also potentially affected a region with a radius of ~2'' (~13 500 AU at 6.75 kpc), suppressing water masers associated with other point sources in this region.

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A multi-transition methanol maser study of the accretion burst source G358.93-0.03-MM1

We present the most complete to date interferometric study of the centimeter wavelength methanol masers detected in G358.93-0.03 at the burst and post-burst epochs. A unique, NIR/(sub)mm-dark and FIR-loud MYSO accretion burst was recently discovered in G358.93-0.03. The event was accompanied by flares of an unprecedented number of rare methanol maser transitions. The first images of three of the newly-discovered methanol masers at 6.18, 12.23, and 20.97 GHz are presented in this work. The spatial structure evolution of the methanol masers at 6.67, 12.18, and 23.12 GHz is studied at two epochs. The maser emission in all detected transitions resides in a region of $\sim$0.2$^{\prime\prime}$ around the bursting source and shows a clear velocity gradient in the north-south direction, with red-shifted features to the north and blue-shifted features to the south. A drastic change in the spatial morphology of the masing region is found: a dense and compact "spiral" cluster detected at epoch I evolved into a disperse, "round" structure at epoch II. During the transition from the first epoch to the second, the region traced by masers expanded. The comparison of our results with the complementary VLA, VLBI, SMA, and ALMA maser data is conducted. The obtained methanol maser data support the hypothesis of the presence of spiral-arm structures within the accretion disk, which was suggested in previous studies of the source.

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The link between gas and stars in the S254-S258 star-forming region

The paper aims to study relation between the distributions of the young stellar objects (YSOs) of different ages and the gas-dust constituents of the S254-S258 star-formation complex. This is necessary to study the time evolution of the YSO distribution with respect to the gas and dust compounds which are responsible for the birth of the young stars. For this purpose we use correlation analysis between different gas, dust and YSOs tracers. We compared the large-scale CO, HCO$^+$, near-IR extinction, and far-IR {\it Herschel} maps with the density of YSOs of the different evolutionary Classes. The direct correlation analysis between these maps was used together with the wavelet-based spatial correlation analysis. This analysis reveals a much tighter correlation of the gas-dust tracers with the distribution of Class I YSOs than with that of Class II YSOs. We argue that Class I YSOs which were initially born in the central bright cluster S255-IR (both N and S parts) during their evolution to Class II stage ($\sim$2 Myr) had enough time to travel through the whole S254-S258 star-formation region. Given that the region contains several isolated YSO clusters, the evolutionary link between these clusters and the bright central S255-IR (N and S) cluster can be considered. Despite the complexity of the YSO cluster formation in the non-uniform medium, the clusters of Class II YSOs in the S254-258 star-formation region can contain objects born in the different locations of the complex.

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The warm-up phase in massive star-forming cores around RCW 120

We study molecular emission in a massive condensation at the border of the HII region RCW 120, paying particular attention to the Core 1 and Core 2 objects, the most massive fragments of the condensation found previously by ALMA. The latter fragment was previously suggested to host a high-mass analogue of Class 0 young stellar object. We present spectra of molecular emission in the 1 mm range made with the APEX telescope. We detect CH$_3$OH and C$^{34}$S lines in Core 1 and Core 2. The CH$_3$CN series and the SO$_2$ lines are only found in Core 2. We estimate gas physical parameters using methanol lines and obtain gas temperature less than 100 K in both regions. Molecular hydrogen number density in Core 2 is in the range of $10^5-10^7$ cm$^{-3}$ and is more uncertain in Core 1. However, the detection of the CH$_3$CN lines corresponding to highly excited transitions ($E_{\rm u}> 400$~K) in Core~2 indicates that the region contains hot gas, while the abundances of CH$_3$OH, CS, SO$_2$ and CH$_3$CN are quite low for a hot core stage. We propose that Core 2 is in the warm-up phase prior to the establishing of the hot gas chemistry. We suggest that Core 2 is in the beginning of the hot core stage. There are no detected CH$_3$CN lines in Core 1, therefore, it might be on an even less evolved evolutionary stage.

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Parameter study for the burst mode of accretion in massive star formation

It is now a widely held view that, in their formation and early evolution, stars build up mass in bursts. The burst mode of star formation scenario proposes that the stars grow in mass via episodic accretion of fragments migrating from their gravitationally-unstable circumstellar discs and it naturally explains the existence of observed pre-main-sequence bursts from high mass protostars. We present a parameter study of hydrodynamical models of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) that explores the initial masses of the collapsing clouds (Mc = 60-200Mo) and ratio of rotational-to-gravitational energies (beta = 0:005-0:33). An increase in Mc and/or beta produces protostellar accretion discs that are more prone to develop gravitational instability and to experience bursts. We find that all MYSOs have bursts even if their pre-stellar core is such that beta <= 0.01. Within our assumptions, the lack of stable discs is therefore a major difference between low- and high-mass star formation mechanisms. All our disc masses and disk-to-star mass ratios Md=M* > 1 scale as a power-law with the stellar mass. Our results confirm that massive protostars accrete about 40-60% of their mass in the burst mode. The distribution of time periods between two consecutive bursts is bimodal: there is a short duration (~ 1-10 yr) peak corresponding to the short, faintest bursts and a long duration peak (at ~ 10^3-10^4 yr) corresponding to the long, FU-Orionis-type bursts appearing in later disc evolution, i.e., around 30 kyr after disc formation. We discuss this bimodality in the context of the structure of massive protostellar jets as potential signatures of accretion burst history.

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The physical parameters of clumps associated with class I methanol masers

We present a study of the association between class I methanol masers and cold dust clumps from the ATLASGAL survey. It was found that almost 100% of class I methanol masers are associated with objects listed in the ATLASGAL compact source catalog. We find a statistically significant difference in the flux density, luminosity, number and column density and temperature distributions of ATLASGAL sources associated with 95/44 GHz methanol masers compared with those ATLASGAL sources devoid of 95 GHz methanol masers. The masers tend to arise in clumps with higher densities, luminosities and temperatures compared with both the full sample of the ATLASGAL clumps, as well as the sample of ATLASGAL sources that were cross-matched with positions previously searched for methanol masers but with no detections. Comparison between the peak position of ATLASGAL clumps and the interferometric positions of the associated class I and II methanol masers reveals that class I masers are generally located at larger physical distances from the peak submillimetre emission than class II masers. We conclude that the tight association between ATLASGAL sources and class I methanol masers may be used as a link toward understanding the conditions of the pumping of these masers and evolutionary stages at which they appear.

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The PDR structure and kinematics around the compact HII regions S235A and S235C with [CII], [13CII], [OI] and HCO+ line profiles

The aim of the present work is to study structure and gas kinematics in the photodissociation regions (PDRs) around the compact HII regions S235A and S235C. We observe the [CII], [13CII] and [OI] line emission, using SOFIA/upGREAT and complement them by data of HCO+ and CO. We use the [13CII] line to measure the optical depth of the [CII] emission, and find that the [CII] line profiles are influenced by self-absorption, while the [13CII] line remains unaffected by these effects. Hence, for dense PDRs, [13CII] emission is a better tracer of gas kinematics. The optical depth of the [CII] line is up to 10 in S235A. We find an expanding motion of the [CII]-emitting layer of the PDRs into the front molecular layer in both regions. Comparison of the gas and dust columns shows that gas components visible neither in the [CII] nor in low-J CO lines may contribute to the total column across S235A. We test whether the observed properties of the PDRs match the predictions of spherical models of expanding HII region + PDR + molecular cloud. Integrated intensities of the [13CII], [CII] and [OI] lines are well-represented by the model, but the models do not reproduce the double-peaked [CII] line profiles due to an insufficient column density of C+. The model predicts that the [OI] line could be a more reliable tracer of gas kinematics, but the foreground self-absorbing material does not allow using it in the considered regions.

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VLBI observations of the G25.65+1.05 water maser superburst

This paper reports observations of a 22 GHz water maser `superburst' in the G25.65+1.05 massive star forming region, conducted in response to an alert from the Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O). Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations using the European VLBI Network (EVN) recorded a maser flux density of $1.2 \times 10^{4}$ Jy. The superburst was investigated in the spectral, structural and temporal domains and its cause was determined to be an increase in maser path length generated by the superposition of multiple maser emitting regions aligning in the line of sight to the observer. This conclusion was based on the location of the bursting maser in the context of the star forming region, its complex structure, and its rapid onset and decay.

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Detection of new methanol maser transitions associated with G358.93-0.03

We report the detection of new 12.178, 12.229, 20.347, and 23.121 GHz methanol masers in the massive star-forming region G358.93-0.03, which are flaring on similarly short timescales (days) as the 6.668 GHz methanol masers also associated with this source. The brightest 12.178 GHz channel increased by a factor of over 700 in just 50 d. The masers found in the 12.229 and 20.347 GHz methanol transitions are the first ever reported and this is only the fourth object to exhibit associated 23.121 GHz methanol masers. The 12.178 GHz methanol maser emission appears to have a higher flux density than that of the 6.668 GHz emission, which is unusual. No associated near-infrared flare counterpart was found, suggesting that the energy source of the flare is deeply embedded.

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