arXiv subjects

Hsien Shang

Publications and source records attributed to Hsien Shang.

101 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

The reflection-symmetric wiggle of the young protostellar jet HH 211

HH 211 is a highly collimated jet originating from a nearby young Class 0 protostar. Here is a follow-up study of the jet with our previous observations at unprecedented resolution up to ~ 0.3" in SiO (J=8-7), CO (J=3-2), and SO (N_J=8_9-7_8). SiO, CO, and SO can all be a good tracer of the HH 211 jet, tracing the internal shocks in the jet. Although the emissions of these molecules show roughly the same morphology of the jet, there are detailed differences. In particular, the CO emission traces the jet closer to the source than the SiO and SO emissions. In addition, in the better resolved internal shocks, both the CO and SO emission are seen slightly ahead of the SiO emission. The jet is clearly seen on both sides of the source with more than one cycle of wiggle. The wiggle is reflection-symmetric about the source and can be reasonably fitted by an orbiting source jet model. The best-fit parameters suggest that the source itself could be a very low-mass protobinary with a total mass of ~ 60 M_Jup and a binary separation of ~ 4.6 AU. The abundances of SiO and SO in the gas phase are found to be highly enhanced in the jet as compared to the quiescent molecular clouds, even close to within 300 AU from the source where the dynamical time scale is <10 yrs. The abundance enhancements of these molecules are closely related to the internal shocks. The detected SiO is either the consequence of the release of Si-bearing material from dust grains or of its formation via gas chemistry in the shocks. The SO, on the other hand, seems to form via gas chemistry in the shocks.

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arXiv2009

Resistive MHD Simulations of Star-Disk-Jet System

Stellar magnetosphere and accretion disk interact, and a result should be outflow launched from the innermost vicinity of a protostellar object. We simulated physical conditions in this region by resistive MHD simulations. Outflows resembling the observed ones do not happen in the closest vicinity, except for quasi-stationary funnel flows onto the star, but could occur at few tens of stellar radii above the star. Numerical simulations we performed using our resistive version of ZEUS-3D code, ZEUS347.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2009

Rotation and Outflow motions in the very low-mass Class 0 protostellar system HH 211 at subarcsecond resolution

HH 211 is a nearby young protostellar system with a highly collimated jet. We have mapped it in 352 GHz continuum, SiO (J=8-7), and HCO+ (J=4-3) emission at up to ~ 0.2" resolution with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). The continuum source is now resolved into two sources, SMM1 and SMM2, with a separation of ~ 84 AU. SMM1 is seen at the center of the jet, probably tracing a (inner) dusty disk around the protostar driving the jet. SMM2 is seen to the southwest of SMM1 and may trace an envelope-disk around a small binary companion. A flattened envelope-disk is seen in HCO+ around SMM1 with a radius of ~ 80 AU perpendicular to the jet axis. Its velocity structure is consistent with a rotation motion and can be fitted with a Keplerian law that yields a mass of ~ 50+-15 Jupiter mass (a mass of a brown dwarf) for the protostar. Thus, the protostar could be the lowest mass source known to have a collimated jet and a rotating flattened envelope-disk. A small-scale (~ 200 AU) low-speed (~ 2 km/s) outflow is seen in HCOP+ around the jet axis extending from the envelope-disk. It seems to rotate in the same direction as the envelope-disk and may carry away part of the angular momentum from the envelope-disk. The jet is seen in SiO close to ~ 100 AU from SMM1. It is seen with a "C-shaped" bending. It has a transverse width of <~ 40 AU and a velocity of ~ 170+-60 km/s. A possible velocity gradient is seen consistently across its innermost pair of knots, with ~ 0.5 km/s at ~ 10 AU, consistent with the sense of rotation of the envelope-disk. If this gradient is an upper limit of the true rotational gradient of the jet, then the jet carries away a very small amount of angular momentum of ~ 5 AU km/s and thus must be launched from the very inner edge of the disk near the corotation radius.

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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.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

X-winds in Action

The interaction of accretion disks with the magnetospheres of young stars can produce X-winds and funnel flows. With the assumption of axial symmetry and steady state flow, the problem can be formulated in terms of quantities that are conserved along streamlines, such as the Bernoulli integral (BI), plus a partial differential equation (PDE), called the Grad-Shafranov equation (GSE), that governs the distribution of streamlines in the meridional plane. The GSE plus BI yields a PDE of mixed type, elliptic before critical surfaces where the flow speed equals certain characteristic wave speeds are crossed and hyperbolic afterward. The computational difficulties are exacerbated by the locations of the critical surfaces not being known in advance. To overcome these obstacles, we consider a variational principle by which the GSE can be attacked by extremizing an action integral, with all other conserved quantities of the problem explicitly included as part of the overall formulation. To simplify actual applications we adopt the cold limit of a negligibly small ratio of the sound speed to the speed of Keplerian rotation in the disk where the X-wind is launched. We also ignore the obstructing effects of any magnetic fields that might thread a disk approximated to be infinitesimally thin. We then introduce trial functions with adjustable coefficients to minimize the variations that give the GSE. We tabulate the resulting coefficients so that other workers can have analytic forms to reconstruct X-wind solutions for various astronomical, cosmochemical, and meteoritical applications.

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arXiv2007

Submillimeter arcsecond-resolution mapping of the highly collimated protostellar jet HH 211

We have mapped the protostellar jet HH 211 in 342 GHz continuum, SiO ($J=8-7$), and CO ($J=3-2$) emission at $\sim$ \arcs{1} resolution with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Thermal dust emission is seen in continuum at the center of the jet, tracing an envelope and a possible optically thick compact disk (with a size $<$ 130 AU) around the protostar. A knotty jet is seen in CO and SiO as in \H2{}, but extending closer to the protostar. It consists of a chain of knots on each side of the protostar, with an interknot spacing of $\sim$ \arcs{2}$-$\arcs{3} or 600$-$900 AU and the innermost pair of knots at only $\sim$ \arcsa{1}{7} or 535 AU from the protostar. These knots likely trace unresolved internal (bow) shocks (i.e., working surfaces) in the jet, with a velocity range up to $\sim$ 25 \vkm{}. The two-sided mass-loss rate of the jet is estimated to be $\sim (0.7-2.8)\times 10^{-6}$ \solarmass{} yr$^{-1}$. The jet is episodic, precessing, and bending. A velocity gradient is seen consistently across two bright SiO knots (BK3 and RK2) perpendicular to the jet axis, with $\sim$ 1.5$\pm$0.8 \vkm{} at $\sim$ 30$\pm$15 AU, suggesting a presence of a jet rotation. The launching radius of the jet, derived from the potential jet rotation, is $\sim$ 0.15$-$0.06 AU in the inner disk.

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arXiv2007

HH 212: SMA Observations of a Remarkable Protostellar Jet

HH 212 is a nearby (460 pc) protostellar jet discovered in H$_2$ powered by a Class 0 source, IRAS 05413-0104, in the L1630 cloud of Orion. It is highly collimated and symmetric with matched pairs of bow shocks on either side of the source. We have mapped it in 850 $μ$m continuum, SiO ($J=8-7$), CO ($J=3-2$), SO ($N_J=8_9-7_8$), HCO$^+$ ($J = 4-3$), and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ ($J = 4-3$) emission simultaneously at $\sim$ 1$''$ resolution with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Thermal dust emission is seen in continuum around the source, mainly arising from an inner envelope (i.e., the inner part of a previously seen flattened envelope) and a possible disk. The inner envelope is also seen with rotation in CO, HCO$^+$, and probably SO. Like H$_2$ emission, CO and SiO emission are seen along the jet axis but extending closer to the source, tracing the bow shocks with a broad range of velocities and the continuous structures in between. SO emission is seen only around the source, forming a jetlike structure extending along the jet axis from the source, likely tracing the jet near the launching region. The jet is episodic and bending. It may also be slightly precessing as the jetlike SO structure shows a slight S-shaped symmetry about the source. A hint of jet rotation is also seen across the jet axis. Internal outflow shells are seen in CO and HCO$^+$, associated with the bow shocks in the inner part of the jet. The bases of the HCO$^+$ shells are seen with a hint of rotation similar to that seen in the inner envelope, probably consisted mainly of the material extended from the inner envelope and even the possible disk.

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arXiv2005

The Irradiation Origin of Beryllium Radioisotopes and Other Short-lived Radionuclides

Two explanations exist for the short-lived radionuclides present in the solar system when the CAIs first formed. They originated either from the ejecta of a supernova or by the in situ irradiation of nebular dust by energetic particles. With a half-life of only 53 days, Beryllium-7 is then the key discriminant, since it can be made only by irradiation. We calculate the yield of Be-7. Within model uncertainties associated mainly with nuclear cross sections, we obtain agreement with the experimental value. Moreover, if Be-7 and Be-10 have the same origin, the irradiation time must be short. The x-wind model provides a natural astrophysical setting that gives the requisite conditions. The decoupling of the Al-26 and Be-10 observed in some rare CAIs receives a quantitative explanation when rare gradual events are considered. Finally, we show that the presence of supernova-produced Fe-60 in the solar accretion disk does not necessarily mean that other short-lived radionuclides have a stellar origin.

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arXiv2005

SiO J=5--4 in the HH211 Protostellar Jet Imaged with the SMA

We have mapped the SiO J=5-4 line at 217GHz from the HH211 molecular outflow with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). The high resolution map (1.6''x0.9'') shows that the SiO J=5-4 emission comes from the central narrow jet along the outflow axis with a width of ~0.8'' (~250 AU) FWHM. The SiO jet consists of a chain of knots separated by 3-4'' (~1000 AU) and most of the SiO knots have counterparts in shocked H_2 emission seen in a new, deep VLT near-infrared image of the outflow. A new, innermost pair of knots are discovered at just +/-2'' from the central star. The line ratio between the SiO J=5-4 data and upper limits from the SiO J=1-0 data of Chandler & Richer (2001) suggests that these knots have a temperature in excess of 300-500 K and a density of (0.5-1) x10^7 cm^{-3}. The radial velocity measured for these knots is ~30 km/s, comparable to the maximum velocity seen in the entire jet. The high temperature, high density, and velocity structure observed in this pair of SiO knots suggest that they are closely related to the primary jet launched close to the protostar.

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arXiv2005

Infall and Outflow around the HH 212 protostellar system

HH 212 is a highly collimated jet discovered in H2 powered by a young Class 0 source, IRAS 05413-0104, in the L1630 cloud of Orion. We have mapped around it in 1.33 mm continuum, 12CO ($J=2-1$), 13CO ($J=2-1$), C18O ($J=2-1$), and SO ($J_K = 6_5-5_4$) emission at $\sim$ \arcs{2.5} resolution with the Submillimeter Array. A dust core is seen in the continuum around the source. A flattened envelope is seen in C18O around the source in the equator perpendicular to the jet axis, with its inner part seen in 13CO. The structure and kinematics of the envelope can be roughly reproduced by a simple edge-on disk model with both infall and rotation. In this model, the density of the disk is assumed to have a power-law index of $p=-1.5$ or -2, as found in other low-mass envelopes. The envelope seems dynamically infalling toward the source with slow rotation because the kinematics is found to be roughly consistent with a free fall toward the source plus a rotation of a constant specific angular momentum. A 12CO outflow is seen surrounding the H2 jet, with a narrow waist around the source. Jetlike structures are also seen in 12CO near the source aligned with the H2 jet at high velocities. The morphological relationship between the H2 jet and the 12CO outflow, and the kinematics of the 12CO outflow along the jet axis are both consistent with those seen in a jet-driven bow shock model. SO emission is seen around the source and the H2 knotty shocks in the south, tracing shocked emission around them.

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arXiv2001

Structure and Physical Conditions in MHD Jets from Young Stars

We have constructed the foundations to a series of theoretical diagnostic methods to probe the jet phenomenon in young stars as observed at various optical forbidden lines. We calculate and model in a self-consistent manner the physical and radiative processes which arise within an inner disk-wind driven magnetocentrifugally from the circumstellar accretion disk of a young sun-like star. Comparing with real data taken at high angular resolution, our approach will provide the basis of systematic diagnostics for jets and their related young stellar objects, to attest the emission mechanisms of such phenomena. This work can help bring first-principle theoretical predictions to confront actual multi-wavelength observations, and will bridge the link between many very sophiscated numerical simulations and observational data. Analysis methods discussed here are immediately applicable to new high-resolution data obtained with HST and Adaptic Optics.

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