arXiv subjects

S. Lizano

Publications and source records attributed to S. Lizano.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

A high-resolution radio study of the L1551 IRS 5 and L1551 NE jets

Using observations with e-MERLIN and the VLA, together with archival data from ALMA, we obtain high-resolution radio images of two binary YSOs: L1551 IRS 5 and L1551 NE, covering a wide range of frequencies from 5 - 336 GHz, and resolving emission from the radio jet on scales of only ~15 au. By comparing these observations to those from a previous epoch, it is shown that there is a high degree of variability in the free-free emission from the jets of these sources. In particular, the northern component of L1551 IRS 5 shows a remarkable decline in flux density of a factor of ~5, suggesting that the free-free emission of this source has almost disappeared. By fitting the spectra of the sources, the ionised mass-loss rates of the jets are derived and it is shown that there is significant variability of up to a factor of ~6 on timescales of ~20 years. Using radiative transfer modelling, we also obtained a model image for the jet of the southern component of L1551 IRS 5 to help study the inner region of the ionised high-density jet. The findings favour the X-wind model launched from a very small innermost region.

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arXiv2019

Angular momentum in bipolar outflows: dynamical evolutionary model

We model molecular outflows produced by the time dependent interaction between a stellar wind and a rotating cloud envelope in gravitational collapse, studied by Ulrich. We consider spherical and anisotropic stellar winds. We assume that the bipolar outflow is a thin shocked shell, with axial symmetry around the cloud rotation axis and obtain the mass and momentum fluxes into the shell. We solve numerically a set of partial differential equations in space and time, and obtain the shape of the shell, the mass surface density, the velocity field, and the angular momentum of the material in the shell. We find that there is a critical value of the ratio between the wind and the accretion flow momentum rates $β$ that allows the shell to expand. As expected, the elongation of the shells increase with the stellar wind anisotropy. In our models, the rotation velocity of the shell is the order to 0.1 - 0.2 km s$^{-1}$, a factor of 5-10 lower than the values measured in several sources. We compare our models with those of Wilkin and Stahler for early evolutionary times and find that our shells have the same sizes at the pole, although we use different boundary conditions at the equator.

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arXiv2017

Emission from Magnetized Accretion Disks around Young Stars

We calculate the emission of protoplanetary disks threaded by a poloidal magnetic field and irradiated by the central star. The radial structure of these disks was studied by Shu and collaborators and the vertical structure was studied by Lizano and collaborators. We consider disks around low mass protostars, T Tauri stars, and FU Ori stars with different mass-to-flux ratios $λ_{\rm sys}$. We calculate the spectral energy distribution and the antenna temperature profiles at 1 mm and 7 mm convolved with the ALMA and VLA beams. We find that disks with weaker magnetization (high values of $λ_{\rm sys}$) emit more than disks with stronger magnetization (low values of $λ_{\rm sys}$). This happens because the former are denser, hotter and have larger aspect ratios, receiving more irradiation from the central star. The level of magnetization also affects the optical depth at millimeter wavelengths, being larger for disks with high $λ_{\rm sys}$. In general, disks around low mass protostars and T Tauri stars are optically thin at 7 mm while disks around FU Ori are optically thick. A qualitative comparison of the emission of these magnetized disks, including heating by an external envelope, with the observed millimeter antenna temperature profiles of HL Tau indicates that large cm grains are required to increase the optical depth and reproduce the observed 7 mm emission at large radii.

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arXiv2017

Early Science with the Large Millimetre Telescope: Fragmentation of molecular clumps in the Galaxy

Sensitive, imaging observations of the 1.1 mm dust continuum emission from a 1 deg^2 area collected with the AzTEC bolometer camera on the Large Millimeter Telescope are presented. A catalog of 1545 compact sources is constructed based on a Wiener-optimization filter. These sources are linked to larger clump structures identified in the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey. Hydrogen column densities are calculated for all sources and mass and mean volume densities are derived for the subset of sources for which kinematic distances can be assigned. The AzTEC sources are localized, high density peaks within the massive clumps of molecular clouds and comprise 5-15% of the clump mass. We examine the role of the gravitational instability in generating these fragments by comparing the mass of embedded AzTEC sources to the Jeans' mass of the parent BGPS object. For sources with distances less than 6 kpc the fragment masses are comparable to the clump Jeans' mass, despite having isothermal Mach numbers between 1.6 and 7.2. AzTEC sources linked to ultra-compact HII regions have mass surface densities greater than the critical value implied by the mass-size relationship of infrared dark clouds with high mass star formation while AzTEC sources associated with Class II methanol masers have mass surface densities greater than 0.7 g cm^{-2} that approaches the proposed threshold required to form massive stars.

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arXiv2016

Deep LMT/AzTEC millimeter observations of Epsilon Eridani and its surroundings

Epsilon Eridani is a nearby, young Sun-like star that hosts a ring of cool debris analogous to the solar system's Edgeworth-Kuiper belt. Early observations at (sub-)mm wavelengths gave tentative evidence of the presence of inhomogeneities in the ring, which have been ascribed to the effect of a putative low eccentricity planet, orbiting close to the ring. The existence of these structures have been recently challenged by high resolution interferometric millimeter observations. Here we present the deepest single-dish image of Epsilon Eridani at millimeter wavelengths, obtained with the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano (LMT). The main goal of these LMT observations is to confirm (or refute) the presence of non-axisymmetric structure in the disk. The dusty ring is detected for the first time along its full projected elliptical shape. The radial extent of the ring is not spatially resolved and shows no evidence, to within the uncertainties, of dust density enhancements. Additional features of the 1.1 mm map are: (i) the presence of significant flux in the gap between the ring and the star, probably providing the first exo-solar evidence of Poynting-Robertson drag, (ii) an unambiguous detection of emission at the stellar position with a flux significantly above that expected from Epsilon Eridani's photosphere, and (iii) the identification of numerous unresolved sources which could correspond to background dusty star-forming galaxies.

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arXiv2015

Vertical Structure of Magnetized Accretion Disks around Young Stars

We model the vertical structure of magnetized accretion disks subject to viscous and resistive heating, and irradiation by the central star. We apply our formalism to the radial structure of magnetized accretion disks threaded by a poloidal magnetic field dragged during the process of star formation developed by Shu and coworkers. We consider disks around low mass protostars, T Tauri, and FU Orionis stars. We consider two levels of disk magnetization, $λ_{sys} = 4$ (strongly magnetized disks), and $λ_{sys} = 12$ (weakly magnetized disks). The rotation rates of strongly magnetized disks have large deviations from Keplerian rotation. In these models, resistive heating dominates the thermal structure for the FU Ori disk. The T Tauri disk is very thin and cold because it is strongly compressed by magnetic pressure; it may be too thin compared with observations. Instead, in the weakly magnetized disks, rotation velocities are close to Keplerian, and resistive heating is always less than 7\% of the viscous heating. In these models, the T Tauri disk has a larger aspect ratio, consistent with that inferred from observations. All the disks have spatially extended hot atmospheres where the irradiation flux is absorbed, although most of the mass ($\sim 90-95$ \%) is in the disk midplane. With the advent of ALMA one expects direct measurements of magnetic fields and their morphology at disk scales. It will then be possible to determine the mass-to-flux ratio of magnetized accretion disks around young stars, an essential parameter for their structure and evolution. Our models contribute to the understanding of the vertical structure and emission of these disks.

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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

Shock Dynamics In Relativistic Jets

We present a formalism of the dynamics of internal shocks in relativistic jets where the source has a time-dependent injection velocity and mass-loss rate. The variation of the injection velocity produces a two-shock wave structure, the working surface, that moves along the jet. This new formalism takes into account the fact that momentum conservation is not valid for relativistic flows where the relativistic mass lost by radiation must be taken into account, in contrast to the classic regime. We find analytic solutions for the working surface velocity and radiated energy for the particular case of a step function variability of the injection parameters. We model two cases: a pulse of fast material and a pulse of slow material (with respect to the mean flow). Applying these models to gamma ray burst light curves, one can determine the ratio of the Lorentz factors gamma_2 / gamma_1 and the ratio of the mass-loss rates dot{m_2} / dot{m_1} of the upstream and downstream flows. As an example, we apply this model to the sources GRB 080413B and GRB 070318 and find the values of these ratios. Assuming a Lorentz factor gamma_1=100, we further estimate jet mass-loss rates between dot{m_1} ~ 10^{-5}-1 Msun.yr^{-1}. We also calculate the fraction of the injected mass lost by radiation. For GRB 070318 this fraction is ~7%. In contrast, for GRB 080413B this fraction is larger than 50%; in this case radiation losses clearly affect the dynamics of the internal shocks.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

Four Highly Luminous Massive Star Forming Regions in the Norma Spiral Arm II. Deep NIR imaging

We present sensitive NIR (J, H and K) imaging observations toward four luminous massive star forming regions in the Norma Spiral Arm: G324.201+0.119, G328.307+0.432, G329.337+0.147 and G330.949-0.174. We identify three clusters of young stellar objects (YSO) based on surface density diagnostics. We also find that sources detected only in the H and K-bands and with colors corresponding to spectral types earlier than B2, are likely YSOs. We analyze the spatial distribution of stars of different masses and find signatures in two clusters of primordial mass segregation which can't be explained as due to incompleteness effects. We show that dynamic interactions of cluster members with the dense gas from the parent core can explain the observed mass segregation, indicating that the gas plays an important role in the dynamics of young clusters.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2006

Gravitational collapse of magnetized clouds. I. Ideal MHD accretion flow

We study the self-similar collapse of an isothermal magnetized rotating cloud in the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) regime. In the limit of small distance from the accreting protostar we find an analytic solution that corresponds to free-fall onto a central mass point. The density distribution is not spherically symmetric but depends on the mass loading of magnetic field lines, which can be obtained by matching our inner solution to an outer collapse solution previously computed by Allen, Shu & Li. The concentration of magnetic field trapped by the central mass point under field-freezing, independent on the details of the starting state, creates a split monopole configuration where the magnetic field strength increases as the inverse square of the distance from the center. Under such conditions, the inflow eventually becomes subalfvenic and the outward transfer of angular momentum by magnetic braking very efficient, thus preventing the formation of a centrifugally supported disk. Instead, the azimuthal velocity of the infalling gas decreases to zero at the center, and the gas spirals into the star. Therefore, the dissipation of dynamically important levels of magnetic field is a fundamental requisite for the formation of protoplanetary disks around young stars.

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arXiv2006

Gravitational collapse of magnetized clouds II. The role of Ohmic dissipation

We formulate the problem of magnetic field dissipation during the accretion phase of low-mass star formation, and we carry out the first step of an iterative solution procedure by assuming that the gas is in free-fall along radial field lines. This so-called ``kinematic approximation'' ignores the back reaction of the Lorentz force on the accretion flow. In quasi steady-state, and assuming the resistivity coefficient to be spatially uniform, the problem is analytically soluble in terms of Legendre's polynomials and confluent hypergeometric functions. The dissipation of the magnetic field occurs inside a region of radius inversely proportional to the mass of the central star (the ``Ohm radius''), where the magnetic field becomes asymptotically straight and uniform. In our solution, the magnetic flux problem of star formation is avoided because the magnetic flux dragged in the accreting protostar is always zero. Our results imply that the effective resistivity of the infalling gas must be higher by several orders of magnitude than the microscopic electric resistivity, to avoid conflict with measurements of paleomagnetism in meteorites and with the observed luminosity of regions of low-mass star formation.

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arXiv2006

Ultra-Compact H II Regions and the Early Lives of Massive Stars

We review the phenomenon of ultra-compact H II regions (UCHIIs) as a key phase in the early lives of massive stars. This most visible manifestation of massive star formation begins when the Lyman continuum output from the massive young stellar object becomes sufficient to ionize the surroundings from which it was born. Knowledge of this environment is gained through an understanding of the morphologies of UCHII regions and we examine the latest developments in deep radio and mid-IR imaging. SPITZER data from the GLIMPSE survey are an important new resource in which PAH emission and the ionizing stars can be seen. We review the role played by strong stellar winds from the central stars in sweeping out central cavities and causing the limb-brightened appearance. A range of evidence from velocity structure, proper motions, the molecular environment and recent hydrodynamical modeling indicates that cometary UCHII regions require a combination of champagne flow and bow shock motion. Finally, we discuss the class of hyper-compact H II regions or broad recombination line objects. They are likely to mark the transition soon after the breakout of the Lyman continuum radiation from the young star. Models for these objects are presented, including photo-evaporating disks and ionized accretion flows that are gravitationally trapped. Evolutionary scenarios tracing young massive stars passage through these ionized phases are discussed.

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arXiv2002

Self-similar champagne flows in HII regions

(Abridged) We consider the expansion of an initially self-gravitating, static, singular, isothermal cloud core. For t>0, the gas is ionized and heated to a higher uniform temperature by the formation of a luminous, but massless, star in its center. The approximation that the mass and gravity of the central star is negligible for the subsequent motion of the HII region holds for distances much greater than about 100 AU and for the massive cloud cores that give rise to high-mass stars. If the initial ionization and heating is approximated to occur instantaneously at t=0, then the subsequent flow (for r >> 100 AU) caused by the resulting imbalance between self-gravity and thermal pressure is self-similar. Because of the steep density profile, pressure gradients produce a shock front that travels into the cloud, accelerating the gas to supersonic velocities in what has been called the ``champagne phase.'' We then study the self-similar solutions of the expansion of HII regions embedded in molecular clouds characterized by more general power-law density distributions with exponent 3/2 < n < 3. In these cases, the shock velocity is an increasing function of the exponent n, and diverges as n tends to 3. We show that this happens because the model includes an origin, where the pressure driving the shock diverges because the enclosed heated mass is infinite. Our results imply that the continued photoevaporation of massive reservoirs of neutral gas (e.g., surrounding disks and/or globules) nearby to the embedded ionizing source is required in order to maintain over a significant timescale the emission measure observed in champagne flows.

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arXiv2001

Heating and Ionization of X-Winds

In order to compare the x-wind with observations, one needs to be able to calculate its thermal and ionization properties. We formulate the physical basis for the streamline-by-streamline integration of the ionization and heat equations of the steady x-wind. In addition to the well-known processes associated with the interaction of stellar and accretion-funnel hot-spot radiation with the wind, we include X-ray heating and ionization, mechanical heating, and a revised calculation of ambipolar diffusion heating. The mechanical heating arises from fluctuations produced by star-disk interactions of the time dependent x-wind that are carried by the wind to large distances where they are dissipated in shocks, MHD waves, and turbulent cascades. We model the time-averaged heating by the scale-free volumetric heating rate, $Γ_{\rm mech} = αρv^3 s^{-1}$, where $ρ$ and $v$ are the local mass density and wind speed, respectively, $s$ is the distance from the origin, and $α$ is a phenomenological constant. When we consider a partially-revealed but active young stellar object, we find that choosing $α\sim 10^{-3}$ in our numerical calculations produces temperatures and electron fractions that are high enough for the x-wind jet to radiate in the optical forbidden lines at the level and on the spatial scales that are observed. We also discuss a variety of applications of our thermal-chemical calculations that can lead to further observational checks of x-wind theory.

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arXiv2000

Singular Isothermal Disks and the Formation of Multiple Stars

A crucial missing ingredient in previous theoretical studies of fragmentation is the inclusion of dynamically important levels of magnetic fields. As a minimal model for a candidate presursor to the formation of binary and multiple stars, we therefore consider the equilibrium configuration of isopedically magnetized, scale-free, singular isothermal disks, without the assumption of axial symmetry. We find that lopsided (M=1) configurations exist at any dimensionless rotation rate, including zero. Multiple-lobed (M = 2, 3, 4, ...) configurations bifurcate from an underlying axisymmetric sequence at progressively higher dimensionless rates of rotation, but such nonaxisymmetric sequences always terminate in shockwaves before they have a chance to fission into separate bodies. We advance the hypothesis that binary and multiple star-formation from smooth (i.e., not highly turbulent) starting states that are supercritical but in unstable mechanical balance requires the rapid (i.e., dynamical) loss of magnetic flux at some stage of the ensuing gravitational collapse.

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arXiv1999

Scale-free Equilibria of Magnetized Polytropic Clouds

We investigate the equilibrium properties of self-gravitating magnetized clouds with polytropic equations of state with negative index n. In particular, we consider scale-free isopedic configurations that have constant dimensionless spherical mass-to-flux ratio lambda_r and that may constitute ``pivotal'' states for subsequent dynamical collapse to form groups or clusters of stars. For given Gamma = 1 + 1/n, equilibria with smaller values of lambda_r are more flattened, ranging from spherical configurations with lambda_r = infinity to completely flattened states for lambda_r=1. For a given amount of support provided by the magnetic field as measured by the dimensionless parameter H_0, equilibria with smaller values of Gamma are more flattened. However, logatropic (defined by Gamma = 0) disks do not exist. The only possible scale-free isopedic equilibria with logatropic equation of state are spherical uniformly magnetized clouds.

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arXiv1997

Does Turbulent Pressure Behave as a Logatrope?

We present numerical simulations of an isothermal turbulent gas undergoing gravitational collapse, aimed at testing for ``logatropic'' behavior of the form $P_t \sim \log ρ$, where $P_t$ is the ``turbulent pressure'' and $ρ$ is the density. To this end, we monitor the evolution of the turbulent velocity dispersion $σ$ as the density increases during the collapse. A logatropic behavior would require that $σ\propto ρ^{-1/2}$, a result which, however, is not verified in the simulations. Instead, the velocity dispersion increases with density, implying a polytropic behavior of $P_t$. This behavior is found both in purely hydrodynamic as well as hydromagnetic runs. For purely hydrodynamic and rapidly-collapsing magnetic cases, the velocity dispersion increases roughly as $σ\propto ρ^{1/2}$, implying $P_t\sim ρ^2$, where $P_t$ is the turbulent pressure. For slowly-collapsing magnetic cases the behavior is close to $σ\propto ρ^{1/4}$, which implies $P_t \sim ρ^{3/2}$. We thus suggest that the logatropic ``equation of state'' may represent only the statistically most probable state of an ensemble of clouds in equilibrium between self-gravity and kinetic support, but does not adequately represent the behavior of the ``turbulent pressure'' within a cloud undergoing a dynamic compression due to gravitational collapse. Finally, we discuss the importance of the underlying physical model for the clouds (in equilibrium vs. dynamic) on the results obtained.

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