arXiv subjects

Lee Hartmann

Publications and source records attributed to Lee Hartmann.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

Accretion in Young Stellar/Substellar Objects

We present a study of accretion in a sample of 45 young, low mass objects in a variety of star forming regions and young associations, about half of which are likely substellar. Based primarily on the presence of broad, asymmetric Halpha emission, we have identified 13 objects (~30% of our sample) which are strong candidates for ongoing accretion. At least 3 of these are substellar. We do not detect significant continuum veiling in most of the accretors with late spectral types (M5-M7). Accretion shock models show that lack of measurable veiling allows us to place an upper limit to the mass accretion rates of <~ 10^{-10} Msun/yr. Using magnetospheric accretion models with appropriate (sub)stellar parameters, we can successfully explain the accretor Halpha emission line profiles, and derive quantitative estimates of accretion rates in the range 10^{-12} < Mdot < 10^{-9} Msun/yr. There is a clear trend of decreasing accretion rate with stellar mass, with mean accretion rates declining by 3-4 orders of magnitude over ~ 1 - 0.05 Msun.

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arXiv2002

Comments on Inferences of Star Formation Histories and Birthlines

Palla & Stahler have recently argued that star formation in Taurus and other nearby molecular clouds extends over a period of at least 10 Myr, implying quasi-static cloud evolution and star formation. Their conclusions contradict other recent results indicating that molecular clouds are transient objects and star formation proceeds rapidly. The Palla & Stahler picture implies that most molecular clouds should have extremely low rates of star formation, and that in such inactive stages the stellar initial mass function should be strongly skewed toward producing stars with masses $\gtrsim 1 \msun$; neither prediction is supported by observations. I show that the Palla & Stahler conclusions for Taurus depend almost entirely on a small number of stars with masses $\gtrsim 1 \msun$; the lower-mass stars show no evidence for such an extended period of star formation. I further show that most of the stars apparently older than 10 Myr in the direction of Taurus are probably foreground non-members. I also present birthline calculations which support the idea that the ages of the stars with masses $\gtrsim 1 \msun$ have been systematically overestimated because ``birthline'' age corrections have been underestimated; such birthlines would eliminate the need to postulate skewed initial mass functions. The simplest and most robust explanation of current observations characterizing the vast majority of young stars in molecular clouds is that cloud and star formation is rapid and dynamic.

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arXiv2002

Viscous diffusion and photoevaporation of stellar disks

The evolution of a stellar disk under the influence of viscous evolution, photoevaporation from the central source, and photoevaporation by external stars is studied. We take the typical parameters of TTSs and the Trapezium Cluster conditions. The photoionizing flux from the central source is assumed to arise both from the quiescent star and accretion shocks at the base of stellar magnetospheric columns, along which material from the disk accretes. The accretion flux is calculated self-consistently from the accretion mass loss rate. We find that the disk cannot be entirely removed using only viscous evolution and photoionization from the disk-star accretion shock. However, when FUV photoevaporation by external massive stars is included the disk is removed in 10^6 -10^7yr; and when EUV photoevaporation by external massive stars is included the disk is removed in 10^5 - 10^6yr. An intriguing feature of photoevaporation by the central star is the formation of a gap in the disk at late stages of the disk evolution. As the gap starts forming, viscous spreading and photoevaporation work in resonance. There is no gap formation for disks nearby external massive stars because the outer annuli are quickly removed by the dominant EUV flux. On the other hand, at larger, more typical distances (d>>0.03pc) from the external stars the flux is FUV dominated. As a consequence, the disk is efficiently evaporated at two different locations; forming a gap during the last stages of the disk evolution.

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arXiv2002

The Brown Dwarf Deficit in Taurus: Evidence for a Non-Universal IMF

We present the results of a deep, optical/IR wide field imaging survey of selected fields in the nearby (d ~ 140 pc) Taurus star-forming region. We report the discovery of 9 new members with spectral types M5.75-M9.5. We derive an Initial Mass Function encompassing 54% of the known members in Taurus. Comparison with dense regions like the Trapezium Cluster in Orion shows that Taurus has produced x2 less brown dwarfs. We suggest that the lower frequency of brown dwarfs in Taurus may result from the low-density star-forming environment, leading to larger minimum Jeans masses.

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arXiv2002

Flows, Fragmentation, and Star Formation. I. Low-mass Stars in Taurus

The remarkably filamentary spatial distribution of young stars in the Taurus molecular cloud has significant implications for understanding low-mass star formation in relatively quiescent conditions. The large scale and regular spacing of the filaments suggests that small-scale turbulence is of limited importance, which could be consistent with driving on large scales by flows which produced the cloud. The small spatial dispersion of stars from gaseous filaments indicates that the low-mass stars are generally born with small velocity dispersions relative to their natal gas, of order the sound speed or less. The spatial distribution of the stars exhibits a mean separation of about 0.25 pc, comparable to the estimated Jeans length in the densest gaseous filaments, and is consistent with roughly uniform density along the filaments. The efficiency of star formation in filaments is much higher than elsewhere, with an associated higher frequency of protostars and accreting T Tauri stars. The protostellar cores generally are aligned with the filaments, suggesting that they are produced by gravitational fragmentation, resulting in initially quasi-prolate cores. Given the absence of massive stars which could strongly dominate cloud dynamics, Taurus provides important tests of theories of dispersed low-mass star formation and numerical simulations of molecular cloud structure and evolution.

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arXiv2002

Evidence for a developing gap in a 10 Myr old protoplanetary disk

We have developed a self-consistent model of the disk around the nearby 10 Myr old star TW Hya which matches the observed spectral energy distribution and 7mm images of the disk. The model requires a significant dust size evolution and a partially-evacuated inner disk region, as predicted by theories of planet formation. The outer disk, which extends to at least 140 AU in radius, is very optically thick at IR wavelengths and quite massive ~0.06 Msun for the relatively advanced age of this T Tauri star. This implies long viscous and dust evolution timescales, although dust must have grown to sizes of order ~1cm to explain the sub-mm and mm spectral slopes. In contrast, the negligible near-infrared excess emission of this system requires that the disk be optically thin inside ~4 AU.This inner region cannot be completely evacuated; we need ~0.5 lunar mass of ~1 micron particles remaining to produce the observed 10 micron silicate emission. Our model requires a distinct transition in disk properties at ~4 AU, separating the inner and outer disk. The inner edge of the optically-thick outer disk must be heated almost frontally by the star to account for the excess flux at mid-IR wavelengths. We speculate that this truncation of the outer disk may be the signpost of a developing gap due to the effects of a growing protoplanet; the gap is still presumably evolving because material still resides in it, as indicated by the silicate emission, the molecular hydrogen emission, and by the continued accretion onto the central star (albeit at a much lower rate than typical of younger T Tauri stars). TW Hya thus may become the Rosetta stone for our understanding of the evolution and dissipation of protoplanetary disks.

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arXiv2001

Rapid Formation of Molecular Clouds and Stars in the Solar Neighborhood

Observations of both star-forming regions and young, gas-free stellar associations indicate that most nearby molecular clouds form stars only over a short time span before dispersal; large-scale flows in the diffuse interstellar medium have the potential for forming clouds sufficiently rapidly, and for producing stellar populations with ages much less than the lateral crossing times of their host molecular clouds. We identify four important factors for understanding rapid star formation and short cloud lifetimes. First, much of the accumulation and dispersal of clouds near the solar circle might occur in the atomic phase; only the high-density portion of a cloud's lifecycle is spent in the molecular phase, thus helping to limit molecular cloud ``lifetimes''. Second, once a cloud achieves a high enough column density to form $\h2$ and CO, gravitational forces become larger than typical interstellar pressure forces; thus star formation can follow rapidly upon molecular gas formation and turbulent dissipation in limited areas of each cloud complex. Third, typical magnetic fields are not strong enough to prevent rapid cloud formation and gravitational collapse. Fourth, rapid dispersal of gas by newly-formed stars, and reduction of shielding by a small expansion of the cloud after the first events of star formation, might limit the length of the star formation epoch and the lifetime of a cloud in its molecular state. This picture emphasizes the importance of large-scale boundary conditions for understanding molecular cloud formation, and implies that star formation is a highly dynamic, rather than quasi-static, process.

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arXiv2001

Disk Accretion at 10 Myr: Results from the TW Hydrae Association

We present an analysis of the accretion properties of the members of the TW Hydrae association. The Halpha emission line profile provides explicit evidence of an active accretion flow in 3 out of 23 observed members of the association; we use radiative transfer models to derive approximate accretion rates for these 3 objects. The resulting accretion rates for these 10 Myr-old stars (<10^-9 Msun/yr) are well over an order of magnitude lower than typical values in 1 Myr-old T Tauri stars. The small fraction of TW Hydrae association objects still accreting (13%, compared with ~70% in 1 Myr-old regions like Taurus), along with the very small accretion rates, points to significant disk evolution over 10 Myr, providing an important constraint on the timescales for planet formation.

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arXiv2001

Accretion Disks Around Young Objects. III. Grain Growth

We present detailed models of irradiated T Tauri disks including dust grain growth with power-law size distributions. The models assume complete mixing between dust and gas and solve for the vertical disk structure self-consistentlyincluding the heating effects of stellar irradiation as well as local viscous heating. For a given total dust mass, grain growth is found to decrease the vertical height of the surface where the optical depth to the stellar radiation becomes unit and thus the local irradiation heating, while increasing the disk emission at mm and sub-mm wavelengths. The resulting disk models are less geometrically thick than our previous models assuming interstellar medium dust, and agree better with observed spectral energy distributions and images of edge-on disks, like HK Tau/c and HH 30. The implications of models with grain growth for determining disk masses from long-wavelength emission are considered.

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arXiv2000

Infall models of Class 0 protostars

We have carried out radiative transfer calculations of infalling, dusty envelopes surrounding embedded protostars to understand the observed properties of the recently identified ``Class 0'' sources. To match the far-infrared peaks in the spectral energy distributions of objects such as the prototype Class 0 source VLA 1623, pure collapse models require mass infall rates $\sim10^{-4}\msun$yr$^{-1}$. The radial intensity distributions predicted by such infall models are inconsistent with observations of VLA 1623 at sub-mm wavelengths, in agreement with the results of Andre et al. (1993) who found a density profile of $ρ\propto r^{-1/2}$ rather than the expected $ρ\propto r^{-3/2}$ gradient. To resolve this conflict, while still invoking infall to produce the outflow source at the center of VLA 1623, we suggest that the observed sub-mm intensity distribution is the sum of two components: an inner infall zone, plus an outer, more nearly constant-density region. This explanation of the observations requires that roughly half the total mass observed within 2000 AU radius of the source lies in a region external to the infall zone. The column densities for this external region are comparable to those found in the larger Oph A cloud within which VLA 1623 is embedded. The extreme environments of Class 0 sources lead us to suggest an alternative or additional interpretation of these objects: rather than simply concluding with Andre et al. that Class 0 objects only represent the earliest phases of protostellar collapse, and ultimately evolve into older ``Class I'' protostars, we suggest that many Class 0 sources could be the protostars of very dense regions. (Shortened)

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arXiv2000

The Structure and Emission of the Accretion Shock in T Tauri Stars II: the Ultraviolet Continuum Emission

We compare accretion shock models with optical and ultraviolet spectra of pre-main sequence stars to (1) make the first determinations of accretion rates in intermediate mass T Tauri stars from continuum emission, and (2) derive improved estimates of accretion rates and extinctions for continuum T Tauri stars. Our method extends the shock models developed by Calvet and Gullbring to enable comparisons with optical and archival International Ultraviolet Explorer ultraviolet spectra. We find good agreement between the observations and the model predictions, supporting the basic model of magnetospheric accretion shocks as well as previous determinations of accretion rates and interstellar reddening for the low mass T Tauri stars. The accretion rates determined for the intermediate-mass T Tauri stars agree well with values obtained through other methods that use near-infrared hydrogen line strengths (Muzerolle et al. 1998).

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arXiv2000

Star Formation: Lessons from Taurus

The Taurus molecular cloud complex is the paradigm for quiescent, low-density, isolated star formation. Yet the age distribution of its stellar population indicates that star formation is a rapid and dynamic process, inconsistent with the old picture of magnetically-controlled protostellar cloud collapse. Instead, Taurus seems to have formed stars in a manner qualitatively consistent with the rapid cloud formation and dispersal inferred for other, higher-density star-forming regions. I suggest that the Taurus clouds were formed rapidly by the collision of atomic gas streams in the interstellar medium, and that star formation ensued immediately afterward.

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arXiv1999

The CIDA-QUEST Large Scale Variability Survey in the Orion OB Association: initial results

Using the 8k x 8k CCD Mosaic Camera on the 1m Schmidt telescope in Venezuela, we are conducting a large-scale, deep optical, multiepoch, photometric (BVRIHa) survey over 120 sq.deg. in the Orion OB association, aimed at identifying the low mass stellar populations with ages less than about 10 Myr. We present initial results for a 34 sq.deg. area spanning Orion 1b, 1a and the B Cloud. Using variability as our main selection criterion we derive much cleaner samples than with the usual single-epoch photometric selection, allowing us to attain a much higher efficiency in follow up spectroscopy and resulting in an preliminary list of 74 new low-mass (~ 0.4 Msun) pre-main sequence stars. Though preliminary, this list of new T Tauri stars already suggests that the fraction of accreting young stars in 1a is much lower than in 1b, which would be expected if 1a is indeed older than 1b. We are analyzing in detail the light curves of these new stars, and spectroscopy of further candidates is under way.

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arXiv1999

Accretion Disks Around Young Objects. II. Tests of Well-Mixed Models with Ism Dust

We construct detailed vertical structure models of irradiated accretion disks around T Tauri stars with interstellar medium dust uniformly mixed with gas. The dependence of the structure and emission properties on mass accretion rate, viscosity parameter, and disk radius is explored using these models. The theoretical spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and images for all inclinations are compared with observations of the entire population of Classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) and Class I objects in Taurus. In particular, we find that the median near-infrared fluxes can be explained within the errors with the most recent values for the median accretion rates for CTTS. We further show that the majority of the Class I sources in Taurus cannot be Class II sources viewed edge-on because they are too luminous and their colors would be consistent with disks seen only in a narrow range of inclinations. Our models appear to be too geometrically thick at large radii, as suggested by: (a) larger far-infrared disk emission than in the typical SEDs of T Tauri stars; (b) wider dark dust lanes in the model images than in the images of HH30 and HK Tau/c; and (c) larger predicted number of stars extincted by edge-on disks than consistent with current surveys. The large thickness of the model is a consequence of the assumption that dust and gas are well-mixed, suggesting that some degree of dust settling may be required to explain the observations.

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arXiv1999

Turbulent Flow-Driven Molecular Cloud Formation: A Solution to the Post-T Tauri Problem?

We suggest that molecular clouds can be formed on short time scales by compressions from large scale streams in the interstellar medium (ISM). In particular, we argue that the Taurus-Auriga complex, with filaments of 10-20 pc $\times$ 2-5 pc, most have been formed by H I flows in $\lesssim 3$Myr, explaining the absence of post-T Tauri stars in the region with ages $\gtrsim 3$ Myr. Observations in the 21 cm line of the H I `halos' around the Taurus molecular gas show many features (broad asymmetric profiles, velocity shifts of H I relative to $^{12}$CO) predicted by our MHD numerical simulations, in which large-scale H I streams collide to produce dense filamentary structures. This rapid evolution is possible because the H I flows producing and disrupting the cloud have much higher velocities (5-10 kms) than present in the molecular gas resulting from the colliding flows. The simulations suggest that such flows can occur from the global ISM turbulence without requiring a single triggering event such as a SN explosion.

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arXiv1999

A disk census for the nearest group of young stars: Mid-infrared observations of the TW Hydrae Association

A group of young, active stars in the vicinity of TW Hydrae has recently been identified as a possible physical association with a common origin. Given its proximity ($\sim$50 pc), age ($\sim$10 Myr) and abundance of binary systems, the TW Hya Association is ideally suited to studies of diversity and evolution of circumstellar disks. Here we present mid-infrared observations of 15 candidate members of the group, 11 of which have no previous flux measurements at wavelengths longer than 2$μ$m. We report the discovery of a possible 10$μ$m excess in CD -33$^{\circ}$7795, which may be due to a circumstellar disk or a faint, as yet undetected binary companion. Of the other stars, only TW Hya, HD 98800, Hen 3-600A, and HR 4796A -- all of which were detected by IRAS -- show excess thermal emission. Our 10$μ$m flux measurements for the remaining members of the Association are consistent with photospheric emission, allowing us to rule out dusty inner disks. In light of these findings, we discuss the origin and age of the TW Hya Association as well as implications for disk evolution timescales.

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arXiv1999

The complex protostellar source IRAS 04325+2402

We report Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared NICMOS observations of a remarkable low-luminosity Class I (protostellar) source in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. IRAS 04325+2402 exhibits a complex bipolar scattered light nebula. The central continuum source is resolved and may be multiple, or may be crossed by a small dust lane. Complex arcs seen in scattered light surround the central source; the physical nature of these structures is not clear, but they may reflect perturbations from multiple stellar sources or from time-dependent mass ejection. A second, resolved continuum source is found at a projected distance of approximately 1150 AU from the central region, near the edge of a nebular lobe probably produced by outflow. The images indicate that this second source is another low-luminosity young stellar object, seen nearly edge-on through a dusty disk and envelope system with disk diameter $\sim 60$ AU. We suggest that the scattered light ``streaks'' associated with this second source are limb-brightened outflow cavities in the dusty envelope, possibly perturbed by interaction with the outflow lobes of the main source. The nature of the companion is uncertain, since it is observed mostly in scattered light, but is most probably a very low mass star or brown dwarf, with a minimum luminosity of $\sim 10^{-2} \lsun$. Our results show that protostellar sources may have multiple centers of infall and non-aligned disks and outflows, even on relatively small scales.

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arXiv1999

Mid-infrared imaging of the young binary star Hen 3-600: Evidence for a dust disk around the primary

We present high-resolution mid-infrared observations of the nearby late-type young binary system Hen 3-600. The binary, at a distance of $\sim$ 50 pc, could be a member of the TW Hydrae Association, the nearest known group of young stars, with an age of a few million years. Our images make it possible for the first time to determine which star in the pair, separated by 1.4'', harbors the mid-infrared excess detected by IRAS. In the near-infrared, where the radiation is primarily photospheric, Hen 3-600A (M3) and Hen 3-600B (M3.5) have a flux ratio of 1.6. At 4.8$μ$m, 10.8$μ$m, and 18.2$μ$m, the primary becomes increasingly dominant over the secondary, suggesting that most of the circumstellar dust in the system resides around Hen 3-600A. Comparison of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of Hen 3-600A to the median SED of classical T Tauri stars suggests that its disk may be truncated by the secondary and provides tentative evidence for a central disk hole. The distribution of dust in the Hen 3-600 system may provide important clues to the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks in close binaries.

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