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Kenji Hamaguchi

Publications and source records attributed to Kenji Hamaguchi.

93 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

X-ray Study of the Intermediate-Mass Young Stars Herbig Ae/Be Stars

We present the ASCA results of intermediate-mass pre-main-sequence stars (PMSs), or Herbig Ae/Be stars (HAeBes). Among the 35 ASCA pointed-sources, we detect 11 plausible X-ray counterparts. X-ray luminosities of the detected sources in the 0.5-10 keV band are in the range of log LX ~30-32 ergs s-1, which is systematically higher than those of low-mass PMSs. This fact suggests that the contribution of a possible low-mass companion is not large. Most of the bright sources show significant time variation, particularly, two HAeBes - MWC 297 and TY CrA - exhibit flare-like events with long decay timescales (e-folding time ~ 10-60 ksec). These flare shapes are similar to those of low-mass PMSs. The X-ray spectra are successfully reproduced by an absorbed one or two-temperature thin-thermal plasma model. The temperatures are in the range of kT ~1-5 keV, which are significantly higher than those of main-sequence OB stars (kT < 1 keV). These X-ray properties are not explained by wind driven shocks, but are more likely due to magnetic activity. On the other hand, the plasma temperature rises as absorption column density increases, or as HAeBes ascend to earlier phases. The X-ray luminosity reduces after stellar age of a few x10^6 years. X-ray activity may be related to stellar evolution. The age of the activity decay is apparently near the termination of jet or outflow activity. We thus hypothesize that magnetic activity originates from the interaction of the large scale magnetic fields coupled to the circumstellar disk. We also discuss differences in X-ray properties between HAeBes and main-sequence OB stars.

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Chandra Observations of a Young Embedded Magnetic B Star in the rho Ophiuchus Cloud

This paper reports on an analysis of two Chandra X-ray observations of the young magnetic B star rho Ophiuchus S1. X-ray emission from the star was detected in both observations. The average flux was almost the same in both, but during each observation the flux showed significant time variations by a factor of two on timescales of 20-40 ks. Each spectrum could be fit by either an absorbed power-law model with a photon index of ~3 or a thin-thermal plasma model with a temperature of ~2 keV and an extremely low metal abundance (<~0.1 solar). The spectrum of the first observation has a weak-line feature at about 6.8 keV, which might correspond to highly ionized iron Kalpha. In contrast, the spectrum of the second observation apparently shows a weak edge absorption component at E~4 keV. The continuum emission and log LX/Lbol ~ -6 are similar to those of young intermediate-mass stars (Herbig Ae/Be stars), although the presence of a strong magnetic field (inferred from the detection of non-thermal radio emission) has drawn an analogy between rho Ophiuchus S1 and magnetic chemically peculiar (MCP) stars. If the X-ray emission is thermal, the small abundances that we derived might be related to the inverse first-ionization potential (FIP) effect, though there is no significant trend as a function of FIP from our model fits. If the emission is non-thermal, it might be produced by high-energy electrons in the magnetosphere.

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Discovery of X rays from Class 0 protostar candidates in OMC-3

We have observed the Orion Molecular Clouds 2 and 3 (OMC-2 and OMC-3) with the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO). The northern part of OMC-3 is found to be particularly rich in new X-ray features; four hard X-ray sources are located in and along the filament of cloud cores. Two sources coincide positionally with the sub$mm$-$mm$ dust condensations of MMS 2 and 3 or an outflow radio source VLA 1, which are in a very early phase of star formation. The X-ray spectra of these sources show an absorption column of (1-3) x 10^23 H cm-2. Assuming a moderate temperature plasma, the X-ray luminosity in the 0.5-10 keV band is estimated to be ~10^30 erg s^-1 at a distance of 450 pc. From the large absorption, positional coincidence and moderate luminosity, we infer that the hard X-rays are coming from very young stellar objects embedded in the molecular cloud cores. We found another hard X-ray source near the edge of the dust filament. The extremely high absorption of 3 x 10^23 H cm^-2 indicates that the source must be surrounded by dense gas, suggesting that it is either a YSO in an early accretion phase or a Type II AGN (e.g. a Seyfert 2), although no counterpart is found at any other wavelength. In contrast to the hard X-ray sources, soft X-ray sources are found spread around the dust filaments, most of which are identified with IR sources in the T Tauri phase.

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