scholarly journals The Quest for X-Rays from Protostars

1998 ◽  
Vol 188 ◽  
pp. 17-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Montmerle

The field of low-mass star formation and early evolution has made rapid progress in recent years, thanks in particular to observations in the IR and mm ranges. The current evolutionary scheme calls for two main stages, themselves divided into two substages (e.g., André & Montmerle 1994): (i) protostars, comprizing the newly discovered so-called “Class 0 sources”, detected mostly or only in the mm range, which are young protostars with estimated ages ~ 104 yrs, and “Class I sources”, visible in the near- to mid-IR, which are evolved protostars with estimated ages ~ 105 yrs; (ii) T Tauri stars, which are visible in the IR but also in the optical, the younger being the “classical” T Tauri stars (called “Class II” in the IR), and the “weak-line” T Tauri stars (“Class III” in the IR), with a large age spread of ~ 106 – 107 yrs. According to current models (e.g., Shu et al. 1987), protostars consist of a forming star surrounded by an extended envelope (up to ~ 10,000 AU in radius); the star forms via an accretion disk inside a cavity ~ several 100 AU in radius. The disk probably plays an important role in generating molecular outflows, running through the envelope. Classical T Tauri stars are only surrounded by a disk, which disappears at the weak-line T Tauri stage.

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S328) ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
Colin A. Hill ◽  

AbstractT-Tauri stars (TTS) are late-type pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars that are gravitationally contracting towards the MS. Those that possess a massive accretion disc are known as classical T-Tauri stars (cTTSs), and those that have exhausted the gas in their inner discs are known as weak-line T-Tauri stars (wTTSs). Magnetic fields largely dictate the angular momentum evolution of TTS and can affect the formation and migration of planets. Thus, characterizing their magnetic fields is critical for testing and developing stellar dynamo models, and trialling scenarios currently invoked to explain low-mass star and planet formation. The MaTYSSE programme (Magnetic Topologies of Young Stars and the Survival of close-in Exoplanets) aims to determine the magnetic topologies of ~30 wTTSs and monitor the long-term topology variability of ~5 cTTSs. We present several wTTSs that have been magnetically mapped thus far (using Zeeman Doppler Imaging), where we find a much wider range of field topologies compared to cTTSs and MS dwarfs with similar internal structures.


1996 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Chiang ◽  
R. B. Phillips ◽  
C. J. Lonsdale

1980 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 165-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Silk ◽  
Colin Norman

Winds from T-Tauri stars may provide an important dynamical input into cold molecular clouds. If the frequency of T-Tauri stars exceeds 20 pc-3, wind-driven shells collide and form ram pressure confined clumps. The supersonic clump motions can account for cloud line widths. Clumps collide inelastically, coalescing and eventually becoming Jeans unstable. For characteristic dark cloud temperatures low mass stars form, and we speculate that in this manner clouds can be self-sustaining for 107 − 108 yr. Only when either the gas supply is exhausted or an external trigger stimulates massive star formation (for example, by heating the cloud or enhancing the clump collision rate), will the cloud eventually be disrupted. A natural consequence of this model is that dark cloud lifetimes are identified with the duration of low mass star formation, inferred to exceed 107 yr from studies of nearby star clusters. Other implications include the prediction of the existence of embedded low mass stars in turbulent cloud cores, the presence of an internal source of radiation in dark clouds, and a clumpy structure for cold molecular clouds.


1997 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 381-390
Author(s):  
Yoshimi Kitamura ◽  
Masao Saito ◽  
Ryohei Kawabe ◽  
Kazuyoshi Sunada

We are intensively studying low mass star formation with the radio telescopes at Nobeyama in Japan. Using both the Nobeyama 45 m dish equipped with a 2 × 2 array receiver and the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA), we can cover a very wide spatial range from overall molecular clouds down to compact protoplanetary disks. With the 45 m dish we are investigating hierarchical structures of molecular clouds including star-forming cores. With NMA we are imaging disklike structures (i.e., envelopes, accretion disks, and protoplanetary disks) around protostars and T Tauri stars. Recently, we have completed our survey for dense disklike envelopes around eleven Class 0 & I protostars by NMA. In this paper, we will present our recent results of the disklike envelopes in addition to the previous NMA results of the disks around three T Tauri stars. On the basis of the data, we will discuss the evolution of the disklike structures (dense envelopes → tenuous ones → dispersing ones → accretion disks → protoplanetary ones), and propose a new scenario for the formation of low mass stars.


1992 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 653-654
Author(s):  
T. Montmerle

T Tauri stars (TTS) are low-mass (M ≲ 1M⊙) pre-main sequence (PMS) stars (for a general review, see Bertout 1989). They have long been known to be variable from near-TIV to near-IR wavelengths, on timescales ranging from a few minutes to a few decades. They are observed to flare in many wavenlength rages, from X-rays to the radio, and all the existing evidence is consistent with a very strong magnetic activity, in many ways analogous to solar activity (for a review, see, e.g., Montmerle et al. 1991).


1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 423-424
Author(s):  
Motohide Tamura ◽  
Yoichi Itoh ◽  
Yumiko Oasa ◽  
Alan Tokunaga ◽  
Koji Sugitani

Abstract In order to tackle the problems of low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) in star-forming regions and the formation mechanisms of brown dwarfs, we have conducted deep infrared surveys of nearby molecular clouds. We have found a significant population of very low-luminosity sources with IR excesses in the Taurus cloud and the Chamaeleon cloud core regions whose extinction corrected J magnitudes are 3 to 8 mag fainter than those of typical T Tauri stars in the same cloud. Some of them are associated with even fainter companions. Follow-up IR spectroscopy has confirmed for the selected sources that their photospheric temperature is around 2000 to 3000 K. Thus, these very low-luminosity young stellar sources are most likely very low-mass T Tauri stars, and some of them might even be young brown dwarfs.


2009 ◽  
Vol 330 (5) ◽  
pp. 482-492
Author(s):  
A. Koeltzsch ◽  
M. Mugrauer ◽  
St. Raetz ◽  
T.O.B. Schmidt ◽  
T. Roell ◽  
...  

1987 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 64-66
Author(s):  
Yoshio Tomita ◽  
Hiroshi Ohtani

To find evidence for collective star formation without massive stars in the dark cloud complex Kh141 (Saito 1980), a search for T-Tauri stars has been made.


1977 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 80-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Appenzeller

A list of 24 T Tauri stars belonging to the YY Orionis subclass is presented. From a statistical analysis it is estimated that at least 75% (and possibly all) UV-excess T Tauri stars are YY Orionis stars. Since about 50% of all known T Tauri stars show a strong UV-excess, the percentage of YY Orionis stars among the T Tauri stars is estimated to be 40 - 50%. This relative high percentage is in good agreement with the present theory of the formation and early evolution of low mass stars.


2019 ◽  
Vol 624 ◽  
pp. A101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Locci ◽  
Cesare Cecchi-Pestellini ◽  
Giuseppina Micela

Context. X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation impacting a gas produce a variety of effects that, depending on the electron content, may provide significant heating of the illuminated region. In a planetary atmosphere of solar composition, stellar high energy radiation can heat the gas to very high temperatures and this could affect the stability of planetary atmospheres, in particular for close-in planets. Aims. We investigate the variations with stellar age in the occurring frequency of gas giant planets orbiting G and M stars, taking into account that the high energy luminosity of a low mass star evolves in time, both in intensity and hardness. Methods. Using the energy-limited escape approach we investigated the effects induced by the atmospheric mass loss on giant exoplanet distribution that is initially flat, at several distances from the parent star. We followed the dynamical evolution of the planet atmosphere, tracking the departures from the initial profile due to the atmospheric escape, until it reaches the final mass-radius configuration. Results. We find that a significant fraction of low mass Jupiter-like planets orbiting with periods lower than ~3.5 days either vaporize during the first billion years or lose a relevant part of their atmospheres. The planetary initial mass profile is significantly distorted; in particular, the frequency of occurrence of gas giants, less massive than 2 MJ, around young stars can be considerably greater than their occurrence around older stellar counterparts.


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