SETI bioastro: Three papers on T-Tauri stars, circumstella disks, and protoplanet formation

From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Thu Sep 22 2005 - 14:56:06 UTC

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    Paper: astro-ph/0509613
    Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 23:55:33 GMT (353kb)

    Title: S Ori J053825.4-024241: A Classical T Tauri-like object at the
    substellar boundary

    Authors: J. A. Caballero, E. L. Mart\'{\i}n, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, V. J. S.
    B\'ejar, R. Rebolo, Ya. Pavlenko, R. Wainscoat

    Categories: astro-ph

    Comments: 12 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
    Astrophysics, section 5. Galactic structure, stellar clusters and
    populations.
    The official date of acceptance is 24/08/2005. Acknowledgements of the use
    of
    telescopes, instruments, catalogues and software are also given
    \\
    We present a spectrophotometric analysis of S Ori J053825.4-024241, a
    candidate member close to the substellar boundary of the young (1-8 Myr),
    nearby (~360 pc) sigma Orionis star cluster. Our optical and near-infrared
    photometry and low-resolution spectroscopy indicate that S Ori
    J053825.4-024241
    is a likely cluster member with a mass estimated from evolutionary models at
    0.06+0.07-0.02 Msol, which makes the object a probable brown dwarf. The
    radial
    velocity of S Ori J053825.4-024241 is similar to the cluster systemic
    velocity.
    This target, which we have classified as an M 6.0+-1.0 low-gravity object,
    shows excessemission in the near-infrared and anomalously strong photometric
    variability for its type (from the blue to the J band), suggesting the
    presence
    of a surrounding disc. The optical spectroscopic observations show a
    continuum
    excess at short wavelengths and a persistent and resolved Halpha emission
    (pseudo-equivalent width of ~-250 AA) in addition to the presence of other
    forbidden and permitted emission lines, which we interpret as indicating
    accretion from the disc and possibly mass loss. We conclude that despite the
    low mass of S Ori J053825.4-024241, this object exhibits some of the
    properties
    typical of active classical T Tauri stars.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509613 , 353kb)

    Paper: astro-ph/0509643
    Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 18:15:30 GMT (309kb)

    Title: Chemistry and line emission of outer protoplanetary disks

    Authors: Inga Kamp, Cornelis P. Dullemond, Michiel Hogerheijde, Jesus Emilio
    Enriquez

    Categories: astro-ph

    Comments: 10 pages, 6 figures, to be published in the conferences
    proceedings
    of the IAU Symposium 231 on Astrochemistry
    \\
    The structure and chemistry of protoplanetary disks depends strongly on the
    nature of the central star around which it has formed. The dust temperature
    is
    mainly set by the stellar luminosity, while the chemistry of the upper disk
    layers depends on the amount of intercepted UV and X-ray flux. We will study
    the differences in chemistry, thermal sturcture and line emission around
    Herbig
    Ae/Be, T Tauri stars and low mass M dwarfs. Predictions will be made for
    future
    observations with SOFIA and Herschel.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509643 , 309kb)

    Paper: astro-ph/0509637
    Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 15:36:06 GMT (53kb)

    Title: A disk of dust and molecular gas around a high-mass protostar

    Authors: Nimesh A. Patel, Salvador Curiel, T. K. Sridharan, Qizhou Zhang,
    Todd
    R. Hunter, Paul T. P. Ho, Jose M. Torrelles, James M. Moran, Jose F. Gomez &
    Guillem Anglada

    Categories: astro-ph

    Journal-ref: Nature 437, 109, (2005)
    \\
    The processes leading to the birth of low-mass stars such as our Sun have
    been well studied, but the formation of high-mass (> 8 x Sun's mass) stars
    has
    heretofore remained poorly understood. Recent observational studies suggest
    that high-mass stars may form in essentially the same way as low-mass stars,
    namely via an accretion process, instead of via merging of several low-mass
    (<
    8 Msun) stars. However, there is as yet no conclusive evidence. Here, we
    report
    the discovery of a flattened disk-like structure observed at submillimeter
    wavelengths, centered on a massive 15 Msun protostar in the Cepheus-A
    region.
    The disk, with a radius of about 330 astronomical units (AU) and a mass of 1
    to
    8 Msun, is detected in dust continuum as well as in molecular line emission.
    Its perpendicular orientation to, and spatial coincidence with the central
    embedded powerful bipolar radio jet, provides the best evidence yet that
    massive stars form via disk accretion in direct analogy to the formation of
    low-mass stars.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509637 , 53kb)


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