arXiv subjects

G. Anglada

Publications and source records attributed to G. Anglada.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

CHEOPS geometric albedo of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b

We report the detection of the secondary eclipse of the hot Jupiter HD 209458b in optical/visible light using the CHEOPS space telescope. Our measurement of 20.4 +/- 3.3 ppm translates into a geometric albedo of A_g = 0.096 +/- 0.016. The previously estimated dayside temperature of about 1500 K implies that our geometric albedo measurement consists predominantly of reflected starlight and is largely uncontaminated by thermal emission. This makes the present result one of the most robust measurements of A_g for any exoplanet. Our calculations of the bandpass-integrated geometric albedo demonstrate that the measured value of A_g is consistent with a cloud-free atmosphere, where starlight is reflected via Rayleigh scattering by hydrogen molecules, and the water and sodium abundances are consistent with stellar metallicity. We predict that the bandpass-integrated TESS geometric albedo is too faint to detect and that a phase curve of HD 209458b observed by CHEOPS would have a distinct shape associated with Rayleigh scattering if the atmosphere is indeed cloud free.

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arXiv2022

Transit timing variations of AU Microscopii b and c

Here we report large-amplitude transit timing variations (TTVs) for AU\,Microcopii b and c as detected in combined TESS (2018, 2020) and CHEOPS (2020, 2021) transit observations. AU Mic is a young planetary system with a debris disk and two transiting warm Neptunes. A TTV on the order of several minutes was previously reported for AU Mic b, which was suggested to be an outcome of mutual perturbations between the planets in the system. In 2021, we observed AU Mic b (five transits) and c (three transits) with the CHEOPS space telescope to follow-up the TTV of AU Mic b and possibly detect a TTV for AU Mic c. When analyzing TESS and CHEOPS 2020--2021 measurements together, we find that a prominent TTV emerges with a full span of ~23 minutes between the two TTV extrema. Assuming that the period change results from a periodic process - such as mutual perturbations - we demonstrate that the times of transits in the summer of 2022 are expected to be 30--85 minutes later than predicted by the available linear ephemeris.

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arXiv2022

Investigating the architecture and internal structure of the TOI-561 system planets with CHEOPS, HARPS-N and TESS

We present a precise characterization of the TOI-561 planetary system obtained by combining previously published data with TESS and CHEOPS photometry, and a new set of $62$ HARPS-N radial velocities (RVs). Our joint analysis confirms the presence of four transiting planets, namely TOI-561 b ($P = 0.45$ d, $R = 1.42$ R$_\oplus$, $M = 2.0$ M$_\oplus$), c ($P = 10.78$ d, $R = 2.91$ R$_\oplus$, $M = 5.4$ M$_\oplus$), d ($P = 25.7$ d, $R = 2.82$ R$_\oplus$, $M = 13.2$ M$_\oplus$) and e ($P = 77$ d, $R = 2.55$ R$_\oplus$, $M = 12.6$ M$_\oplus$). Moreover, we identify an additional, long-period signal ($>450$ d) in the RVs, which could be due to either an external planetary companion or to stellar magnetic activity. The precise masses and radii obtained for the four planets allowed us to conduct interior structure and atmospheric escape modelling. TOI-561 b is confirmed to be the lowest density ($ρ_{\rm b} = 3.8 \pm 0.5$ g cm$^{-3}$) ultra-short period (USP) planet known to date, and the low metallicity of the host star makes it consistent with the general bulk density-stellar metallicity trend. According to our interior structure modelling, planet b has basically no gas envelope, and it could host a certain amount of water. In contrast, TOI-561 c, d, and e likely retained an H/He envelope, in addition to a possibly large water layer. The inferred planetary compositions suggest different atmospheric evolutionary paths, with planets b and c having experienced significant gas loss, and planets d and e showing an atmospheric content consistent with the original one. The uniqueness of the USP planet, the presence of the long-period planet TOI-561 e, and the complex architecture make this system an appealing target for follow-up studies.

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arXiv2021

GASKAP-HI Pilot Survey Science I: ASKAP Zoom Observations of HI Emission in the Small Magellanic Cloud

We present the most sensitive and detailed view of the neutral hydrogen (HI) emission associated with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), through the combination of data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and Parkes (Murriyang), as part of the Galactic Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (GASKAP) pilot survey. These GASKAP-HI pilot observations, for the first time, reveal HI in the SMC on similar physical scales as other important tracers of the interstellar medium, such as molecular gas and dust. The resultant image cube possesses an rms noise level of 1.1 K (1.6 mJy/beam) per 0.98 km s$^{-1}$ spectral channel with an angular resolution of 30$''$ ($\sim$10 pc). We discuss the calibration scheme and the custom imaging pipeline that utilizes a joint deconvolution approach, efficiently distributed across a computing cluster, to accurately recover the emission extending across the entire $\sim$25 deg$^2$ field-of-view. We provide an overview of the data products and characterize several aspects including the noise properties as a function of angular resolution and the represented spatial scales by deriving the global transfer function over the full spectral range. A preliminary spatial power spectrum analysis on individual spectral channels reveals that the power-law nature of the density distribution extends down to scales of 10 pc. We highlight the scientific potential of these data by comparing the properties of an outflowing high velocity cloud with previous ASKAP+Parkes HI test observations.

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arXiv2019

ALMA resolves the hourglass magnetic field in G31.41+0.31

Context. Submillimeter Array (SMA) 870 micron polarization observations of the hot molecular core G31.41+0.31 revealed one of the clearest examples up to date of an hourglass-shaped magnetic field morphology in a high-mass star-forming region. Aims. To better establish the role that the magnetic field plays in the collapse of G31.41+0.31, we carried out Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the polarized dust continuum emission at 1.3 mm with an angular resolution four times higher than that of the previous (sub)millimeter observations to achieve an unprecedented image of the magnetic field morphology. Methods. We used ALMA to perform full polarization observations at 233 GHz (Band 6). The resulting synthesized beam is 0.28"x0"20 which, at the distance of the source, corresponds to a spatial resolution of ~875 au. Results. The observations resolve the structure of the magnetic field in G31.41+0.31 and allow us to study the field in detail. The polarized emission in the Main core of G31.41+0.41is successfully fit with a semi-analytical magnetostatic model of a toroid supported by magnetic fields. The best fit model suggests that the magnetic field is well represented by a poloidal field with a possible contribution of a toroidal component of ~10% of the poloidal component, oriented southeast to northwest at ~ -44 deg and with an inclination of ~-45 degr. The magnetic field is oriented perpendicular to the northeast to southwest velocity gradient detected in this core on scales from 1E3-1E4 au. This supports the hypothesis that the velocity gradient is due to rotation and suggests that such a rotation has little effect on the magnetic field. The strength of the magnetic field estimated in the central region of the core with the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method is ~8-13 mG and implies that the mass-to-flux ratio in this region is slightly supercritical ...

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arXiv2019

Analysis and test of the central-blue-spot infall hallmark

The infall of material onto a protostar, in the case of optically thick line emission, produces an asymmetry in the blue- and red-wing line emission. For an angularly resolved emission, this translates in a blue central spot in the first-order moment (intensity weighted velocity) map. An analytical expression for the first-order moment intensity as a function of the projected distance was derived, for the cases of infinite and finite infall radius. The effect of a finite angular resolution, which requires the numerical convolution with the beam, was also studied. This method was applied to existing data of several star-forming regions, namely G31.41+0.31 HMC, B335, and LDN 1287, obtaining good fits to the first-order moment intensity maps, and deriving values of the central masses onto which the infall is taking place (G31.41+0.31 HMC: 70-120 $M_\odot$; B335: 0.1 $M_\odot$; Guitar Core of LDN 1287: 4.8 $M_\odot$). The central-blue-spot infall hallmark appears to be a robust and reliable indicator of infall.

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arXiv2019

Unveiling a cluster of protostellar disks around the massive protostar GGD27 MM1

We used ALMA to observe the star-forming region GGD27 at 1.14 mm with an unprecedented angular resolution, 40 mas (56 au) and sensitivity (0.002 Msun). We detected a cluster of 25 continuum sources, most of which are likely tracing disks around Class 0/I protostars. Excluding the two most massive objects, disks masses are in the range 0.003-0.05 Msun. The analysis of the cluster properties indicates that GGD27 displays moderate subclustering. This result combined with the dynamical timescale of the radio jet (10000 years) suggests the youthfulness of the cluster. The lack of disk mass segregation signatures may support this too. We found a clear paucity of disks with Rdisk >100 au. The median value of the radius is 34 au, smaller than the median of 92 au for Taurus but comparable to the value found in Ophiuchus and in the Orion Nebula Cluster. In GGD27 there is no evidence of a distance-dependent disk mass distribution (i. e., disk mass depletion due to external photoevaporation), most likely due to the cluster youth. There is a clear deficit of disks for distances <0.02 pc. Only for distances >0.04 pc stars can form larger and more massive disks, suggesting that dynamical interactions far from the cluster center are weaker, although the small disks found could be the result of disk truncation. This work demonstrates the potential to characterize disks from low-mass YSOs in distant and massive (still deeply embedded) clustered environments.

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arXiv2018

Resolving the polarized dust emission of the disk around the massive star powering the HH~80-81 radio jet

Here we present deep (16 mumJy), very high (40 mas) angular resolution 1.14 mm, polarimetric, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations towards the massive protostar driving the HH 80-81 radio jet. The observations clearly resolve the disk oriented perpendicular to the radio jet, with a radius of ~0.171 arcsec (~291 au at 1.7 kpc distance). The continuum brightness temperature, the intensity profile, and the polarization properties clearly indicate that the disk is optically thick for a radius of R<170 au. The linear polarization of the dust emission is detected almost all along the disk and its properties suggest that dust polarization is produced mainly by self-scattering. However, the polarization pattern presents a clear differentiation between the inner (optically thick) part of the disk and the outer (optically thin) region of the disk, with a sharp transition that occurs at a radius of 0.1 arcsec (~170 au). The polarization characteristics of the inner disk suggest that dust settling has not occurred yet with a maximum dust grain size between 50 and 500 mum. The outer part of the disk has a clear azimuthal pattern but with a significantly higher polarization fraction compared to the inner disk. This pattern is broadly consistent with self-scattering of a radiation field that is beamed radially outward, as expected in the optically thin outer region, although contribution from non-spherical grains aligned with respect to the radiative flux cannot be excluded.

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arXiv2017

HOPS 108: Star-formation triggered by a non-thermal jet?

The nature of the far-IR source HOPS 108 has been a matter of debate in the last years. Previous radio observations detected a 3.6 cm source (VLA 12), coincident with HOPS 108, that was interpreted as a radio jet from this protostar. We present new multi-wavelength (0.7-5 cm), multi-configuration VLA observations as well as archive data (3.6 cm) that reveal VLA 12 as three knots of non-thermal emission, with HOPS 108 close to the central knot. We show that these knots have not been ejected by HOPS 108. We propose that the VLA 12 knots are actually part of a radio jet driven by VLA 11 (HOPS 370), a strong nearby source clearly elongated in the direction of the knots. The position of HOPS 108 in the path of the VLA 11-VLA 12 jet suggests an appealing new scenario: the triggered formation of HOPS 108 by the interaction of the jet with the surrounding medium.

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arXiv2016

SMA observations towards the compact, short-lived bipolar water maser outflow in the LkHα 234 region

We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) 1.35 mm subarcsecond angular resolution observations toward the LkHα 234 intermediate-mass star-forming region. The dust emission arises from a filamentary structure of $\sim$5 arcsec ($\sim$4500 au) enclosing VLA 1-3 and MM 1, perpendicular to the different outflows detected in the region. The most evolved objects are located at the southeastern edge of the dust filamentary structure and the youngest ones at the northeastern edge. The circumstellar structures around VLA 1, VLA 3, and MM 1 have radii between $\sim$200 and $\sim$375 au and masses in the $\sim$0.08-0.3 M$_{\odot}$ range. The 1.35 mm emission of VLA 2 arises from an unresolved (r$< 135$ au) circumstellar disk with a mass of $\sim$0.02 M$_{\odot}$. This source is powering a compact ($\sim$4000 au), low radial velocity ($\sim$7 km s$^{-1}$) SiO bipolar outflow, close to the plane of the sky. We conclude that this outflow is the "large-scale" counterpart of the short-lived, episodic, bipolar outflow observed through H$_2$O masers at much smaller scales ($\sim $180 au), and that has been created by the accumulation of the ejection of several episodic collimated events of material. The circumstellar gas around VLA 2 and VLA 3 is hot ($\sim$130 K) and exhibits velocity gradients that could trace rotation. There is a bridge of warm and dense molecular gas connecting VLA 2 and VLA 3. We discuss the possibility that this bridge could trace a stream of gas between VLA 3 and VLA 2, increasing the accretion rate onto VLA 2 to explain why this source has an important outflow activity.

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arXiv2016

The Radio Jet Associated with the Multiple V380 Ori System

The giant Herbig-Haro object 222 extends over $\sim$6$'$ in the plane of the sky, with a bow shock morphology. The identification of its exciting source has remained uncertain over the years. A non-thermal radio source located at the core of the shock structure was proposed to be the exciting source. However, Very Large Array studies showed that the radio source has a clear morphology of radio galaxy and a lack of flux variations or proper motions, favoring an extragalactic origin. Recently, an optical-IR study proposed that this giant HH object is driven by the multiple stellar system V380 Ori, located about 23$'$ to the SE of HH 222. The exciting sources of HH systems are usually detected as weak free-free emitters at centimeter wavelengths. Here we report the detection of an elongated radio source associated with the Herbig Be star or with its close infrared companion in the multiple V380 Ori system. This radio source has the characteristics of a thermal radio jet and is aligned with the direction of the giant outflow defined by HH~222 and its suggested counterpart to the SE, HH~1041. We propose that this radio jet traces the origin of the large scale HH outflow. Assuming that the jet arises from the Herbig Be star, the radio luminosity is a few times smaller than the value expected from the radio-bolometric correlation for radio jets, confirming that this is a more evolved object than those used to establish the correlation.

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arXiv2016

What is controlling the fragmentation process in the Infrared Dark Cloud G14.225-0.506? Differet level of fragmentation in twin hubs

We present observations of the 1.3 mm continuum emission toward hub-N and hub-S of the infrared dark cloud G14.225-0.506 carried out with the Submillimeter Array, together with observations of the dust emission at 870 and 350 microns obtained with APEX and CSO telescopes. The large scale dust emission of both hubs consists of a single peaked clump elongated in the direction of the associated filament. At small scales, the SMA images reveal that both hubs fragment into several dust condensations. The fragmentation level was assessed under the same conditions and we found that hub-N presents 4 fragments while hub-S is more fragmented, with 13 fragments identified. We studied the density structure by means of a simultaneous fit of the radial intensity profile at 870 and 350 microns and the spectral energy distribution adopting a Plummer-like function to describe the density structure. The parameters inferred from the model are remarkably similar in both hubs, suggesting that density structure could not be responsible in determining the fragmentation level. We estimated several physical parameters such as the level of turbulence and the magnetic field strength, and we found no significant differences between these hubs. The Jeans analysis indicates that the observed fragmentation is more consistent with thermal Jeans fragmentation compared with a scenario that turbulent support is included. The lower fragmentation level observed in hub-N could be explained in terms of stronger UV radiation effects from a nearby HII region, evolutionary effects, and/or stronger magnetic fields at small scales, a scenario that should be further investigated.

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arXiv2015

Observing the onset of outflow collimation in a massive protostar

The current paradigm of star formation through accretion disks, and magnetohydrodynamically driven gas ejections, predicts the development of collimated outflows, rather than expansion without any preferential direction. We present radio continuum observations of the massive protostar W75N(B)-VLA 2, showing that it is a thermal, collimated ionized wind and that it has evolved in 18 years from a compact source into an elongated one. This is consistent with the evolution of the associated expanding water-vapor maser shell, which changed from a nearly circular morphology, tracing an almost isotropic outflow, to an elliptical one outlining collimated motions. We model this behavior in terms of an episodic, short-lived, originally isotropic, ionized wind whose morphology evolves as it moves within a toroidal density stratification.

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arXiv2015

The Spanish Square Kilometre Array White Book

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is called to revolutionise essentially all areas of Astrophysics. With a collecting area of about a square kilometre, the SKA will be a transformational instrument, and its scientific potential will go beyond the interests of astronomers. Its technological challenges and huge cost requires a multinational effort, and Europe has recognised this by putting the SKA on the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The Spanish SKA White Book is the result of the coordinated effort of 120 astronomers from 40 different research centers. The book shows the enormous scientific interest of the Spanish astronomical community in the SKA and warrants an optimum scientific exploitation of the SKA by Spanish researchers, if Spain enters the SKA project.

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arXiv2014

H$_2$O maser emission associated with the planetary nebula IRAS 16333$-$4807

We present simultaneous observations of H$_2$O maser emission and radio continuum at 1.3 cm carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array towards two sources, IRAS 16333$-$4807 and IRAS 12405$-$6219, catalogued as planetary nebula (PN) candidates, and where single-dish detections of H$_2$O masers have been previously reported. Our goal was to unambiguously confirm the spatial association of the H$_2$O masers with these two PN candidates. We detected and mapped H$_2$O maser emission in both fields, but only in IRAS 16333$-$4807 the maser emission is spatially associated with the radio continuum emission. The properties of IRAS 16333$-$4807 provide strong support for the PN nature of the object, hereby confirming it as the fifth known case of a H$_2$O maser-emitting PN. This source is bipolar, like the other four known H$_2$O maser-emitting PNe, indicating that these sources might pertain to a usual, but short phase in the evolution of bipolar PNe. In IRAS 12405$-$6219, the H$_2$O maser and radio continuum emission are not associated with each other and, in addition, the available data indicate that this source is an H II region rather than a PN.

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arXiv2014

A very young, compact bipolar H$_2$O maser outflow in the intermediate-mass star-forming LkH$α$ 234 region

We report multi-epoch VLBI H$_2$O maser observations towards the compact cluster of YSOs close to the Herbig Be star LkH$α$ 234. This cluster includes LkH$α$ 234 and at least nine more YSOs that are formed within projected distances of $\sim$10 arcsec ($\sim$9,000 au). We detect H$_2$O maser emission towards four of these YSOs. In particular, our VLBI observations (including proper motion measurements) reveal a remarkable very compact ($\sim$0.2 arcsec = $\sim$180 au), bipolar H$_2$O maser outflow emerging from the embedded YSO VLA 2. We estimate a kinematic age of $\sim$40 yr for this bipolar outflow, with expanding velocities of $\sim$20 km s$^{-1}$ and momentum rate $\dot M_w V_w$ $\simeq$ $10^{-4}-10^{-3}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ km s$^{-1}$$\times (Ω$/$4π)$, powered by a YSO of a few solar masses. We propose that the outflow is produced by recurrent episodic jet ejections associated with the formation of this YSO. Short-lived episodic ejection events have previously been found towards high-mass YSOs. We show now that this behaviour is also present in intermediate-mass YSOs. These short-lived episodic ejections are probably related to episodic increases in the accretion rate, as observed in low-mass YSOs. We predict the presence of an accretion disk associated with VLA 2. If detected, this would represent one of the few known examples of intermediate-mass stars with a disk-YSO-jet system at scales of a few hundred au.

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arXiv2013

Signatures of infall motions in the images of the molecular emission of G31 HMC

Although gravitational collapse is supposed to play an essential role in the star formation process, infall motions have been always elusive to detect. So far, only a few observational signatures have been commonly used to claim for the presence of infall. Often these features consist in either "blue-asymmetries" or absorption at red-shifted velocities (e.g., inverse P-Cygni profiles). Both signatures are based only on the shape of the line profile and they do not guarantee by themselves the presence of dominant infall motions. More robust "mapping signatures" can be obtained from images that angularly resolve the infalling gas. Here we present VLA observations of the ammonia inversion transitions (2,2), (3,3), (4,4), (5,5), and (6,6) towards the hot molecular core (HMC) near G31.41+0.31 that show the signatures of protostellar infall theoretically predicted by Anglada et al. (1991). The intensity of the ammonia emission is compact and sharply increases towards the centre in the blue-shifted velocity channel maps, while it shows a more flattened distribution in the red-shifted velocity channels. Additionally, the emission becomes more compact with increasing (relative) velocity for both red and blue-shifted channels. We introduce a new infall signature, the "central blue spot", easily identifiable in the first-order moment maps. We show that rotation produces an additional, independent signature, making the distribution of the emission in the channel maps asymmetric with respect to the central position, but without masking the infall signatures. All these mapping signatures, which are identified here for the first time, are present in the observed ammonia transitions of G31 HMC.

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arXiv2013

Multi-epoch VLBA H$_2$O maser observations toward the massive YSOs AFGL 2591 VLA 2 and VLA 3

We present multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) H$_2$O maser observations toward the massive young stellar objects (YSOs) VLA 2 and VLA 3 in the star-forming region AFGL 2591. Through these observations, we have extended the study of the evolution of the masers towards these objects up to a time span of $\sim$ 10 yrs, measuring their radial velocities and proper motions. The H$_2$O masers in VLA 3, the most massive YSO in AFGL 2591 ($\sim$ 30--40~M$_{\odot}$), are grouped within projected distances of $\lesssim$ 40 mas ($\lesssim$ 130 AU) from VLA 3. In contrast to other H$_2$O masers in AFGL 2591, the masers associated with VLA 3 are significantly blueshifted (up to $\sim$ 30 km s$^{-1}$) with respect to the velocity of the ambient molecular cloud. We find that the H$_2$O maser cluster as a whole, has moved westwards of VLA~3 between the 2001 and 2009 observations, with a proper motion of $\sim$ 1.2 mas yr$^{-1}$ ($\sim$ 20 km s$^{-1}$). We conclude that these masers are tracing blueshifted outflowing material, shock excited at the inner parts of a cavity seen previously in ammonia molecular lines and infrared images, and proposed to be evacuated by the outflow associated with the massive VLA 3 source. The masers in the region of VLA 2 are located at projected distances of $\sim$ 0.7$''$ ($\sim$ 2300 AU) north from this source, with their kinematics suggesting that they are excited by a YSO other than VLA 2. This driving source has not yet been identified.

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