arXiv subjects

C. M. Wright

Publications and source records attributed to C. M. Wright.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

Radio Monitoring of Protoplanetary Discs

Protoplanetary disc systems observed at radio wavelengths often show excess emission above that expected from a simple extrapolation of thermal dust emission observed at short millimetre wavelengths. Monitoring the emission at radio wavelengths can be used to help disentangle the physical mechanisms responsible for this excess, including free-free emission from a wind or jet, and chromospheric emission associated with stellar activity. We present new results from a radio monitoring survey conducted with Australia Telescope Compact Array over the course of several years with observation intervals spanning days, months and years, where the flux variability of 11 T Tauri stars in the Chamaeleon and Lupus star forming regions was measured at 7 and 15 mm and 3 and 6 cm. Results show that for most sources are variable to some degree at 7 mm, indicating the presence of emission mechanisms other than thermal dust in some sources. Additionally, evidence of grain growth to cm-sized pebbles was found for some sources that also have signs of variable flux at 7 mm. We conclude that multiple processes contributing to the emission are common in T Tauri stars at 7 mm and beyond, and that a detection at a single epoch at radio wavelengths should not be used to determine all processes contributing to the emission.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2016

A cavity and further radial substructures in the disk around HD~97048

Context: Gaps, cavities and rings in circumstellar disks are signposts of disk evolution and planet-disk interactions. We follow the recent suggestion that Herbig Ae/Be disks with a flared disk harbour a cavity, and investigate the disk around HD~97048. Aims: We aim to resolve the 34$\pm$ 4 au central cavity predicted by Maaskant et al. (2013) and to investigate the structure of the disk. Methods: We image the disk around HD~97048 using ALMA at 0.85~mm and 2.94~mm, and ATCA (multiple frequencies) observations. Our observations also include the 12CO J=1-0, 12CO J=3-2 and HCO+ J=4-3 emission lines. Results: A central cavity in the disk around HD~97048 is resolved with a 40-46 au radius. Additional radial structure present in the surface brightness profile can be accounted for either by an opacity gap at ~90 au or by an extra emitting ring at ~150 au. The continuum emission tracing the dust in the disk is detected out to 355 au. The 12CO J=3-2 disk is detected 2.4 times farther out. The 12CO emission can be traced down to $\approx$ 10 au scales. Non-Keplerian kinematics are detected inside the cavity via the HCO+ J=4-3 velocity map. The mm spectral index measured from ATCA observations suggests that grain growth has occurred in the HD~97048 disk. Finally, we resolve a highly inclined disk out to 150 au around the nearby 0.5~$M_{\odot}$ binary ISO-ChaI 126. Conclusions: The data presented here reveal a cavity in the disk of HD 97048, and prominent radial structure in the surface brightness. The cavity size varies for different continuum frequencies and gas tracers. The gas inside the cavity follows non-Keplerian kinematics seen in HCO+ emission. The variable cavity size along with the kinematical signature suggests the presence of a substellar companion or massive planet inside the cavity.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Compact dust concentration in the MWC 758 protoplanetary disk

The formation of planetesimals requires that primordial dust grains grow from micron- to km-sized bodies. Dust traps caused by gas pressure maxima have been proposed as regions where grains can concentrate and grow fast enough to form planetesimals, before radially migrating onto the star. We report new VLA Ka & Ku observations of the protoplanetary disk around the Herbig Ae/Be star MWC 758. The Ka image shows a compact emission region in the outer disk indicating a strong concentration of big dust grains. Tracing smaller grains, archival ALMA data in band 7 continuum shows extended disk emission with an intensity maximum to the north-west of the central star, which matches the VLA clump position. The compactness of the Ka emission is expected in the context of dust trapping, as big grains are trapped more easily than smaller grains in gas pressure maxima. We develop a non-axisymmetric parametric model inspired by a steady state vortex solution with parameters adequately selected to reproduce the observations, including the spectral energy distribution. Finally, we compare the radio continuum with SPHERE scattered light data. The ALMA continuum spatially coincides with a spiral-like feature seen in scattered light, while the VLA clump is offset from the scattered light maximum. Moreover, the ALMA map shows a decrement that matches a region devoid of scattered polarised emission. Continuum observations at a different wavelength are necessary to conclude if the VLA-ALMA difference is an opacity or a real dust segregation.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2005

L-band (3.5 micron) IR-excess in massive star formation, II. RCW 57/NGC 3576

We present a JHKL survey of the massive star forming region RCW 57 (NGC 3576) based on L-band data at 3.5 micron taken with SPIREX (South Pole Infrared Explorer), and 2MASS JHK data at 1.25-2.2 micron. This is the second of two papers, the first one concerning a similar JHKL survey of 30 Doradus. Colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams are used to detect sources with infrared excess. This excess emission is interpreted as coming from circumstellar disks, and hence gives the cluster disk fraction (CDF). Based on the CDF and the age of RCW 57, it is possible to draw conclusions on the formation and early evolution of massive stars. The infrared excess is detected by comparing the locations of sources in JHKL colour-colour and L vs. (K-L) colour-magnitude diagrams to the reddening band due to interstellar extinction. A total of 251 sources were detected. More than 50% of the 209 sources included in the diagrams have an infrared excess. Comparison with other JHKL surveys, including the results on 30 Doradus from the first paper, support a very high initial disk fraction (>80%) even for massive stars, although there is an indication of a possible faster evolution of circumstellar disks around high mass stars. 33 sources only found in the L-band indicate the presence of heavily embedded, massive Class I protostars. We also report the detection of diffuse PAHs emission throughout the RCW 57 region.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Disks around the Young Stars TW Hya and HD 100546 Imaged at 3.4 Millimeters with the Australia Telescope Compact Array

We present observations of the young stars TW Hya and HD 100546 made with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 89 GHz with $\sim2''$ resolution and $\sim3$ mJy continuum sensitivity. Compact thermal dust continuum emission is detected from disks surrounding both stars. HD 100546 also shows hints of extended emission, presumably a residual protostellar envelope, which is also visible in scattered light at optical wavelengths. For TW Hya, HCO$^+$ J=1--0 line emission from the circumstellar disk is detected and spatially resolved. The observed size and intensity are in good agreement with model calculations based on an irradiated disk with substantial depletions derived previously from single dish observations of higher-J HCO$^+$ transitions.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Gas-phase H2O and CO2 toward massive protostars

We present a study of gas-phase H2O and CO2 toward a sample of 14 massive protostars with the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). Modeling of the H2O spectra using a homogeneous model with a constant excitation temperature T_ex shows that the H2O abundances increase with temperature, up to a few times 10^-5 with respect to H2 for the hottest sources (T_ex ~500 K). This is still a factor of 10 lower than the H2O ice abundances observed toward cold sources in which evaporation is not significant (Keane et al. 2001). Gas-phase CO2 is not abundant in our sources. The abundances are nearly constant for T_ex>~100 K at a value of a few times 10^-7, much lower than the solid-state abundances of ~1--3 times 10^-6 (Gerakines et al. 1999). For both H2O and CO2 the gas/solid ratio increases with temperature, but the increase is much stronger for H2O than for CO2, suggesting a different type of chemistry. In addition to the homogeneous models, a power law model has been developed for one of our sources, based on the physical structure of this region as determined from submillimeter data by van der Tak et al. (1999). The resulting H2O model spectrum gives a good fit to the data.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The aromatic infrared bands as seen by ISO-SWS: probing the PAH model

We discuss the Aromatic Infrared Band (AIB) profiles observed by ISO-SWS towards a number of bright interstellar regions where dense molecular gas is illuminated by stellar radiation. Our sample spans a broad range of excitation conditions (exciting radiation fields with effective temperature, Teff, ranging from 23,000 to 45,000 K). The SWS spectra are decomposed coherently in our sample into Lorentz profiles and a broadband continuum. We find that the individual profiles of the main AIBs at 3.3, 6.2, 8.6 and 11.3 microns are well represented with at most two lorentzians. Furthermore, we show that the positions and widths of these AIBs are remarkably stable (within a few cm-1). We then extract the profiles of individual AIBs from the data and compare them to a model of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) cation emission which includes the temperature dependence of the AIB profiles. The present similarity of the AIB profiles requires that the PAH temperature distribution remains roughly the same whatever the radiation field hardness. Deriving the temperature distribution of interstellar PAHs, we show that its hot tail, which controls the AIB spectrum, sensitively depends on Nmin (the number of C-atoms in the smallest PAH) and Teff. Comparing the observed profiles of the individual AIBs to our model results, we can match most of the AIB profiles if Nmin is increased with Teff. We then discuss our results in the broader context of ISO observations of fainter interstellar regions where PAHs are expected to be in neutral form.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Detection of interstellar CH_3

Observations with the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) onboard the {\it Infrared Space Observatory} (ISO) have led to the first detection of the methyl radical ${\rm CH_3}$ in the interstellar medium. The $ν_2$ $Q-$branch at 16.5 $μ$m and the $R$(0) line at 16.0 $μ$m have been unambiguously detected toward the Galactic center SgrA$^*$. The analysis of the measured bands gives a column density of (8.0$\pm$2.4)$\times10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$ and an excitation temperature of $(17\pm 2)$ K. Gaseous ${\rm CO}$ at a similarly low excitation temperature and ${\rm C_2H_2}$ are detected for the same line of sight. Using constraints on the ${\rm H_2}$ column density obtained from ${\rm C^{18}O}$ and visual extinction, the inferred ${\rm CH_3}$ abundance is $(1.3{{+2.2}\atop{-0.7}}) \times 10^{-8}$. The chemically related ${\rm CH_4}$ molecule is not detected, but the pure rotational lines of ${\rm CH}$ are seen with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS). The absolute abundances and the ${\rm CH_3/CH_4}$ and ${\rm CH_3/CH}$ ratios are inconsistent with published pure gas-phase models of dense clouds. The data require a mix of diffuse and translucent clouds with different densities and extinctions, and/or the development of translucent models in which gas-grain chemistry, freeze-out and reactions of ${\rm H}$ with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and solid aliphatic material are included.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

ISO-SWS observations of pure rotational water absorption lines toward Orion-IRc2

First detections of thermal water vapor absorption lines have been made toward Orion IRc2 using the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). Grating spectra covering wavelengths 25-45 micron yield 19 pure rotational lines, originating from energy levels 200-750 K above ground. Fabry-Perot spectra of 5 transitions resolve the line profiles and reveal the water gas kinematics. The fact that all lines are seen in absorption is in striking contrast with data from the ISO Long Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS), where the water lines appear in emission. At least one line displays a P-Cygni type profile, which suggests that the water is located in an expanding shell centered on or near IRc2. The expansion velocity is 18 km per second, in agreement with the value inferred from water maser observations by Genzel et al. (1981). Because the continuum is intense and likely formed in or near the water-containing gas, the excitation of the observed transitions is dominated by radiative processes. A simple, generalised curve-of-growth method is presented and used to analyze the data. A mean excitation temperature of 72 K and a total water column density of 1.5e18 molecules per cm squared are inferred, each with an estimated maximum uncertainty of 20%. Combined with the molecular hydrogen column density derived from ISO observations of the pure rotational lines, and an assumed temperature of 200-350 K, the inferred water abundance is 2e-4 to 5e-4 in the warm shocked gas. This abundance is similar to that found recently by Harwit et al. (1998) toward Orion using data from the LWS, but higher than that found for most other shocked regions by, for example, Liseau et al. (1996).

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

ISOCAM spectro-imaging of the H2 rotational lines in the supernova remnant IC443

We report spectro-imaging observations of the bright western ridge of the supernova remnant IC 443 obtained with the ISOCAM circular variable filter (CVF) on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). This ridge corresponds to a location where the interaction between the blast wave of the supernova and ambient molecular gas is amongst the strongest. The CVF data show that the 5 to 14 micron spectrum is dominated by the pure rotational lines of molecular hydrogen (v = 0--0, S(2) to S(8) transitions). At all positions along the ridge, the H2 rotational lines are very strong with typical line fluxes of 10^{-4} to 10^{-3} erg/sec/cm2/sr. We compare the data to a new time-dependent shock model; the rotational line fluxes in IC 443 are reproduced within factors of 2 for evolutionary times between 1,000 and 2,000 years with a shock velocity of 30 km/sec and a pre-shock density of 10^4 /cm3.

astro-ph↗