arXiv subjects

Basmah Riaz

Publications and source records attributed to Basmah Riaz.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Chemical Complexity in the Early Stages of Star Formation in the SKAO Era

About 350 molecules have been identified in the interstellar medium (ISM), including complex molecules relevant to prebiotic chemistry. A remarkable level of molecular diversity has been observed from the earliest stages of star formation, providing the initial chemical inventory inherited by planetary systems. Radio observations have played a pivotal role in these discoveries, starting with the identification of the first polyatomic molecule, $\text{NH}_3$ (Cheung et al. 1968). (Sub-)millimeter observations have revealed complex organic molecules of prebiotic relevance, including formamide ($\text{NH}_2\text{CHO}$), glycolaldehyde ($\text{CH}_2\text{OHCHO}$), and even urea ($(\text{NH}_2)_2\text{CO}$), and hydroxylamine ($\text{NH}_2\text{OH}$), which are possible precursors of RNA nucleotides (Ceccarelli et al. 2023; Jim\'enez-Serra et al. 2020). However, in dense protostellar regions, dust opacity hampers the detection of molecular emission. Additionally, large molecules and those containing heavy atoms, which have rotational transitions at lower frequencies, often remain inaccessible to current instruments. The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) will provide an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and angular resolution at radio wavelengths. This will allow for the detection of prebiotic species and offer new insights into the chemical pathways that shape emerging planetary systems (Jim\'enez-Serra et al. 2022). This chapter details the scientific questions and advancements that the SKAO, and more specifically, SKA-Mid equipped with the Band 5 receivers, will pursue in the field of astrochemistry, focusing on the chemical complexity in both high-mass and solar-type star-forming regions.

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arXiv2026

Jets and Outflows in Young Stellar Objects with the SKAO

Jets and outflows are ubiquitous phenomena associated with the formation of young stellar objects (YSOs). They play a crucial role in removing angular momentum from the accreting system and in regulating star-formation efficiency. Theoretical studies and observations with ALMA and VLA have shown that jets and winds may have a crucial role in promoting dust growth in the envelope-disc system and in shaping the physical and chemical properties of the surrounding environment. Despite these significant advances, many fundamental questions remain unanswered regarding the acceleration, collimation, and chemical impact of jets and outflows from YSOs. The SKA-project will overcome the limitations of current mm/cm-facilities by enabling high-angular resolution and high-sensitivity cm-observations, crucial for probing jets/outflows near YSOs. Radio recombination lines, combined with proper motions, offer a unique opportunity to study the 3D-kinematics of jets. Non-thermal linearly polarised synchrotron emission will allow measuring magnetic field strength and morphology at unprecedented scales of a few au. Observations of dust emission in outflow cavities will allow studying how dust grows and is eventually transported from the disc to the envelope and back. Finally, the SKA-project will allow exploring the dust composition and chemical enrichment in shocks, where sputtering/shattering of grains cause the release of their mantles and refractory cores in the gas-phase. Complementary to ALMA's detection of simple and complex organic molecules, the SKAO will probe, for the first time, long carbon chains/rings, several Cl-, Al-, Mg-, and other metal-bearing species (missed by current sub-mm facilities).

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arXiv2025

Episodic outbursts during brown dwarf formation

There is evidence that stars and browns dwarfs grow through episodic rather than continuous gas accretion. However, the role of episodic accretion in the formation of brown dwarfs remains mostly unexplored. We investigate the role of episodic accretion, triggered by the magnetorotational instability in the inner disk regions, resulting in episodic outbursts during the formation of brown dwarfs, and its implications for their early formation stages. We use hydrodynamical simulations coupled with a sub-grid accretion model to investigate the formation of young proto-brown dwarfs and protostars, taking into account the effects of episodic accretion resulting in episodic radiative feedback, i.e. in luminosity outbursts. The formation timescale for proto brown dwarfs is at least one order of magnitude shorter than that of protostars. Episodic accretion leads to a shorter main accretion phase compared to continuous accretion in brown dwarfs, whereas the opposite is true for low-mass stars. Episodic accretion can accelerate early mass accretion in proto-brown dwarfs and protostars, but it results in less massive objects by the end of the main phase compared to continuous accretion. We find an approximately linear correlation between an object's mass at the end of the main accretion phase and the timing of the last episodic outburst: later events result in more massive brown dwarfs but less massive low-mass stars. Episodic outbursts have a stronger effect on brown dwarf-forming cloud cores, with the last outburst essentially splitting the brown dwarf evolution into a short high-accretion and a much longer low-accretion phase.

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arXiv2020

Herschel Observations of Disks around Late-type Stars

A set of twenty late-type (K5-M5) stars were observed with the Herschel Space Observatory at 100 and 160 microns with the goal of searching for far-infrared excesses indicative of the presence of circumstellar disks. Out of this sample, four stars (TYC 7443-1102-1, TYC 9340-437-1, GJ 784 and GJ 707) have infrared excesses above their stellar photospheres at either 100 or 160 micron or both. At 100 microns TYC 9340-437-1 is spatially resolved with a shape that suggests it is surrounded by a face-on disk. The 100 micron excess flux associated with GJ 707 is marginal at around 3sigma. The excess flux associated with GJ 784 is most likely due to a background galaxy as the dust radius estimated from the spectral energy fit implies that any associated dust disk should have been resolved in the Herschel images but is not. TYC 7443-1102-1 has been observed with ALMA which resolves the emission at its location into two distinct sources making the Herschel excess most likely also due to a background galaxy. It is worth noting that this star is in the 23 Myr old beta Pic association. With a disk luminosity on the order of 10^-3 L*, this system is an ideal follow-up target for high-contrast imaging and ALMA.

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arXiv2019

The Elusive Majority of Young Moving Groups. I. Young Binaries and Lithium-Rich Stars in the Solar Neighborhood

Young stars in the solar neighborhood serve as nearby probes of stellar evolution and represent promising targets to directly image self-luminous giant planets. We have carried out an all-sky search for late-type ($\approx$K7$-$M5) stars within 100 pc selected primarily on the basis of activity indicators from $GALEX$ and $ROSAT$. Approximately two thousand active and potentially young stars are identified, over 600 of which we have followed up with low-resolution optical spectroscopy and over 1000 with diffraction-limited imaging using Robo-AO at the Palomar 1.5-m telescope. Strong lithium is present in 58 stars, implying ages spanning $\approx$10$-$200 Myr. Most of these lithium-rich stars are new or previously known members of young moving groups including TWA, $β$ Pic, Tuc-Hor, Carina, Columba, Argus, AB Dor, Upper Centaurus Lupus, and Lower Centaurus Crux; the rest appear to be young low-mass stars without connections to established kinematic groups. Over 200 close binaries are identified down to 0.2$''$ $-$ the vast majority of which are new $-$ and will be valuable for dynamical mass measurements of young stars with continued orbit monitoring in the future.

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arXiv2018

The Near-Infrared Outflow and Cavity of the proto-Brown Dwarf Candidate ISO-Oph 200

In this letter a near-infrared integral field study of a proto-brown dwarf candidate is presented. A $\sim$ 0\farcs5 blue-shifted outflow is detected in both H$_{2}$ and [Fe II] lines at V$_{sys}$ = (-35~$\pm$ 2)~km~s$^{-1}$ and V$_{sys}$ = (-51~$\pm$ 5)~km~s$^{-1}$ respectively. In addition, slower ($\sim$ $\pm$~10~km~s$^{-1}$) H$_{2}$ emission is detected out to $<$ 5\farcs4, in the direction of both the blue and red-shifted outflow lobes but along a different position angle to the more compact faster emission. It is argued that the more compact emission is a jet and the extended H$_{2}$ emission is tracing a cavity. The source extinction is estimated at A$_{v}$ = 18 mag $\pm$ 1 mag and the outflow extinction at Av = 9 mag $\pm$ 0.4 mag. The H$_{2}$ outflow temperature is calculated to be 1422 K $\pm$~255~K and the electron density of the [Fe II] outflow is measured at $\sim$ 10000 cm$^{-3}$. Furthermore, the mass outflow rate is estimated at $\dot{M}_{out[H2]}$ = 3.8 $\times$ 10$^{-10}$~\Msun~yr$^{-1}$ and $\dot{M}_{out[FeII]}$ = 1 $\times$ 10$^{-8}$~\Msun~yr$^{-1}$. $\dot{M}_{out[FeII]}$ takes a Fe depletion of $\sim$ 88$\%$ into account. The depletion is investigated using the ratio of the [FeII]~1.257~$μ$m and [PII]~1.188~$μ$m lines. Using the Pa$β$ and Br$γ$ lines and a range in stellar mass and radius $\dot{M}_{acc}$ is calculated to be (3 - 10) $\times$ 10$^{-8}$~\Msun~yr$^{-1}$. Comparing these rates puts the jet efficiency in line with predictions of magneto-centrifugal models of jet launching in low mass protostars. This is a further case of a brown dwarf outflow exhibiting analogous properties to protostellar jets.

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arXiv2008

First Confirmed Detection of a Bipolar Molecular Outflow from a Young Brown Dwarf

Studying the earliest stages in the birth of stars is crucial for understanding how they form. Brown dwarfs with masses between that of stars and planets are not massive enough to maintain stable hydrogen-burning fusion reactions during most of their lifetime. Their origins are subject to much debate in recent literature because their masses are far below the typical mass where core collapse is expected to occur. We present the first confirmed evidence that brown dwarfs undergo a phase of molecular outflow that is typical of young stars. Using the Submillimeter Array, we have obtained a map of a bipolar molecular outflow from a young brown dwarf. We estimate an outflow mass of 1.6 x 10^-4 M_Sun and a mass-loss rate of 1.4 x 10^-9 M_Sun. These values are over two orders of magnitude smaller than the typical ones for T Tauri stars. From our millimiter continuum data and our own analysis of Spitzer infrared photometry, we estimate that the brown dwarf has a disk with a mass of 8 x 10^-3 M_Sun and an outer disk radius of 80 AU. Our results demonstrate that the bipolar molecular outflow operates down to planetary masses, occurring in brown dwarfs as a scaled-down version of the universal process seen in young stars.

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arXiv2007

HST search for M subdwarf binaries

We present HST/ACS observations of 19 nearby M subdwarfs in a search for binary systems. Other than the wide common proper motion pair LHS 2140/2139, none of our sdM and esdM targets are found to be binaries. Our survey is sensitive to equal-luminosity companions at close (2-8 AU) separations, while sub-stellar secondaries could have been detected at separations in the range of 6-30 AU. To check for wide binaries, we have compared the POSS I and II images in a field of view as large as 10'x10', but could not detect a single co-moving star for any of the targets. Combining our results with those from Gizis & Reid, we have a binary fraction of 3% (1/28). Detection of a small number of M subdwarf binaries reported in the literature suggests a higher fraction than the one obtained here, probably comparable to that found for the more massive solar-type stars in the halo (13-15%). Comparison with the disk M dwarf fraction (25%) however suggests multiplicity to be rare among the lowest mass halo stars, implying the two populations formed under different initial conditions. The low binary fraction in our survey could be explained by selection biases. A decrease in multiplicity has been observed in the disk for masses below 0.1Msun, the peak in the disk mass function (MF). The globular cluster MF is found to peak at about 0.33Msun, with a decrease in the number of stars per unit mass below the peak mass. Our sample being composed of stars with masses between ~0.2 and 0.085 Msun suggests that a decrease in multiplicity similar to the disk may also be true for the halo stars, but perhaps below a mass of ~0.3Msun. A higher M subdwarf binary fraction may be obtained if the selected primaries have masses near or higher than the peak in the MF.

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arXiv2007

Characterizing the disk around the TW Hydrae Association brown dwarf 2MASSW J1207334-393254

We present detailed modeling of the disk around the TW Hydrae Association (TWA) brown dwarf 2MASSW J1207334-393254 (2M1207), using {\it Spitzer} observations from 3.6 to 24 $\micron$. The spectral energy distribution (SED) does not show a high amount of flaring. We have obtained a good fit using a flat disk of mass between $10^{-4}$ and $10^{-6}$ $M_{\sun}$, $\dot{M}$ $\la10^{-11} M_{\sun}$/yr and a large inclination angle between 60$\degr$ and 70$\degr$. We have used three different grain models to fit the 10 $\micron$ Si emission feature, and have found the results to be consistent with ISM-like dust. In comparison with other TWA members, this suggests lesser dust processing for 2M1207 which could be explained by mechanisms such as aggregate fragmentation and/or turbulent mixing. We have found a good fit using an inner disk radius equal to the dust sublimation radius, which indicates the absence of an inner hole in the disk. This suggests the presence of a small K-$L^{\prime}$ excess, similar to the observed K-[3.6] excess.

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arXiv2006

Infrared observations of a mid-L dwarf with strong H$α$ emission

We present {\it Spitzer}/IRAC observations of the L5 dwarf, 2MASSI J1315309-264951 (2M1315). This ultracool dwarf is known to display strong emission in the H$α$ line. The SED for this object does not show any IR excess, that would indicate the presence of an accretion disk. Although the IRAC colors for 2M1315 are consistent with other L dwarfs, they seem to be redder by $\sim$0.1 mag compared to the other L5 dwarfs, and more like the late-type L dwarfs. The existing six epochs of spectroscopy suggest that the emission in H$α$ is not persistent, but shows long-term variability between a flare value of $\sim$100 $Å$ and a quiescent value of $\sim$25 $Å$. Chromospheric activity seems to be the most likely cause, which is also indicated by the detection of Na I D lines in emission (Fuhrmeister et al.). We have measured a proper motion of 0.79$\arcsec\pm$ 0.06$\arcsec$/yr, that corresponds to a tangential velocity of $\sim$81 km/s, at a distance of $\sim$22 pc. The high $V_{tan}$ for this object suggests an old age. Evolutionary models indicate lower limits of 3.3 Gyr (Chabrier et al.) or 1.4 Gyr (Burrows et al.) for this magnetically active L dwarf to be a stable hydrogen-burning star. There seem to be no observational differences between this old L dwarf that has H$α$ emission and the other field L dwarfs without it.

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arXiv2006

Spitzer Observations of Nearby M Dwarfs

We present Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations for a sample of eight M dwarfs: six dMe, one dM, and one sdMe star. All of our targets are found to have SEDs which are fitted within the error bars by a purely photospheric spectrum out to 24 micron. We find no evidence for IR excess. None of our targets is detected in the MIPS 70 and 160 micron bands. The estimated ages for all are >10 Myr, suggesting that enough disk dissipation has occurred within the inner several AU of the star. For four of these, Mullan et al. (1989) had reported IRAS detections at 12 micron, although the reported fluxes were below the 5-sigma IRAS detection limit (~0.2 Jy). Mullan et al. also pointed out that V-K colors in dMe stars are larger than those in dM stars, possibly because of the presence of a chromosphere. Here we suggest that metallicity effects provide a better explanation of the V-K data. For reasons of observational selection, our targets are not the most active flare stars known, but being dMe stars indicates the presence of a chromosphere. Scaling from Houdebine's model of the AU Mic chromosphere, we have computed the free-free infrared excesses for a range of densities. Our Spitzer 24 micron data shows that the chromospheres in two of our targets are less dense than in AU Mic by a factor of 10 or more. This is consistent with the fact that our sample includes the less active flare stars. Our models also indicate that the chromospheric contribution to the observed AU Mic emission at submillimeter wavelengths is only about 2%.

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arXiv2006

Spitzer Observations of two TW Hydrae Association Brown Dwarfs

We present Spitzer Space Telescope observations of two TW Hydrae Association brown dwarfs, 2MASSW J1207334-393254 and 2MASSW J1139511-315921, in the IRAC and MIPS 24 micron bands. Based on their IRAC colors, we have classified them as Classical and Weak-line T Tauri stars, respectively. For 2MASSW J1207334-393254, we have found that a flat disk model fits the data very well. This brown dwarf shows the presence of warm (T > 100 K) circumstellar dust close (R < 0.2 AU) to it, and does not display any signs of cleansing of dust within several AU of the star. In comparison with other TWA members that show excess in IR, we suggest that there exists a different disk evolution/dust processing mechanism for stellar and sub-stellar objects. 2MASSW J1139511-315921 does not show any significant excess in any of the IRAC bands, but a small one at 24 micron, which is not significant enough to suggest the presence of warm dust around this star. It shows signs of dust cleansing in the inner several AU, similar to most of the other TWA members.

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arXiv2006

Identification of New M Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood

We present the results from a spectroscopic study of 1080 nearby active M dwarfs, selected by correlating the 2MASS and ROSAT catalogs. We have derived the spectral types and estimated distances for all of our stars. The spectral types range between K5 and M6. Nearly half of our stars lie within 50 pc. We have measured the equivalent width of the H alpha emission line. Our targets show an increase in chromospheric activity from early to mid-spectral types, with a peak in activity around M5. Using the count rate and hardness ratios obtained from the ROSAT catalog, we have derived the X-ray luminosities. Our stars display a "saturation-type" relation between the chromospheric and coronal activity. The relation is such that log (Lx/Lbol) remains "saturated" at a value of about -3 for varying H alpha equivalent width. We have found 568 matches in the USNO-B catalog, and have derived the tangential velocities for these stars. There is a slight trend of decreasing chromospheric activity with age, such that the stars with higher Vtan have lower H alpha equivalent widths. The coronal emission, however, remains saturated at a value of log (Lx/Lbol) -3 for varying tangential velocities, suggesting that the coronal activity remains saturated with age. We do not find any break in the saturation-type relation at the spectral type where stars become fully convective (~M3.5). Most of the stars in our sample show more coronal emission than the dMe stars in the Hyades and Praesepe clusters, and have Vtan< 40km/s, suggesting a young population.

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