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At least 271 records · Page 15

Wide Dust Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks Induced by Eccentric Planets: A Mass-eccentricity Degeneracy

The tidal perturbation of embedded protoplanets on their natal disks has been widely attributed to be the cause of gap-ring structures in submillimeter images of protoplanetary disks around T Tauri stars. Numerical simulations of this process have been used to propose scaling of characteristic dust-gap width/gap-ring distance with respect to planet mass. Applying such scaling to analyze observed gap samples yields a continuous mass distribution for a rich population of hypothetical planets in the range of several Earth to Jupiter masses. In contrast, the conventional core-accretion scenario of planet formation predicts a bimodal mass function due to (1) the onset of runaway gas accretion above ~20 Earth masses and (2) suppression of accretion induced by gap opening. Here, we examine the dust disk response to the tidal perturbation of eccentric planets as a possible resolution of this paradox. Based on simulated gas and dust distributions, we show the gap-ring separation of Neptune-mass planets with small eccentricities might become comparable to that induced by Saturn-mass planets on circular orbits. Furthermore, this degeneracy may obliterate the discrepancy between the theoretical bimodal mass distribution and the observed continuous gap width distribution. Despite damping due to planet–disk interaction, modest eccentricity may be sustained either in the outer regions of relatively thick disks or through resonant excitation among multiple super Earths. Moreover, the ring-like dust distribution induced by planets with small eccentricities is axisymmetric even in low viscosity environments, consistent with the paucity of vortices in Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array images.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The rv tauri population.

Analysis of spatial distribution of rv tauri stars in field and comparison with similar stars found in globular clusters

VARIABLE STAR↗

Infrared emission by dust in NGC 1068 and three planetary nebulae

Photometric observations of NGC 1068, NGC 7027, IC 418, and BD + 30.3639 deg between 5 and 27 microns are reported. The observations are explained as thermal radiation from a form of dust that shows spectral features, but which has not yet been identified, and resembles that in the carbon-rich RV Tauri star AC Her. Arguments are deduced for its being a condensate from a carbon- and nitrogen-rich gas in an excited environment.

Jameson, R. F.↗

Comments on the optical counterpart of the X-ray source 3U 0352 + 30

Spectral and photometric observations of ADS 2859 B, the faint companion to X Per, show it to be a normal M giant rather than a T Tauri star as previously reported in the literature. Consequently, there is no substantive reason to associate it with the X-ray source 3U 0352 + 30. A search for rapid light variations of X Per itself proved negative.

Moffett, T. J.↗

The spiral field inhibition of thermal conduction in two-fluid solar wind models

The paper reports on two-field models which include the inhibition of thermal conduction by the spiraling interplanetary field to determine whether any of the major conclusions obtained by Nerney and Barnes (1977) needs to be modified. Comparisons with straight field line models reveal that for most base conditions, the primary effect of the inhibition of thermal conduction is the bottling-up of heat in the electrons as well as the quite different temperature profiles at a large heliocentric radius. The spiral field solutions show that coronal hole boundary conditions do not correspond to states of high-speed streams as observed at 1 AU. The two-fluid models suggest that the spiral field inhibition of thermal conduction in the equatorial plane will generate higher gas pressures in comparison with flows along the solar rotation axis (between 1 and 10 AU). In particular, massive outflows of stellar winds, such as outflow from T Tauri stars, cannot be driven by thermal conduction. The conclusions of Nerney and Barnes remain essentially unchanged.

Nerney, S.↗

Red and nebulous objects in dark clouds - A survey

A search on the NGS-PO Sky Survey photographs has revealed 150 interesting nebulous and/or red objects, mostly lying in dark clouds and not previously catalogued. Spectral classifications are presented for 55 objects. These indicate a small number of new members of the class of Herbig-Haro objects, a significant number of new T Tauri stars, and a few emission-line hot stars. It is argued that hot, high-mass stars form preferentially in the dense cores of dark clouds. The possible symbiosis of high and low mass stars is considered. A new morphology class is defined for cometary nebulae, in which a star lies on the periphery of a nebulous ring.

Cohen, M.↗

UV radiation from the young sun and oxygen and ozone levels in the prebiological palaeoatmosphere

UV measurements of young T-Tauri stars, resembling the sun at an age of a few million years, have recently been made with the International Ultraviolet Explorer. They indicate that young stars emit up to 10,000 times more UV than the present sun. The implications for the origin and evolution of O2 and O3 in the prebiological palaeoatmosphere are presented here. The results of photochemical calculations indicate that the O2 surface mixing ratio was a factor 10,000-1,000,000 times greater than the standard value of 10 to the -15. This new value reconciles the simultaneous existence of oxidized iron and reduced uranium.

Canuto, V. M.↗

Mass loss from the proto-sun - Formation and evolution of the solar nebula

It is argued that the solar nebula and hence the planetary system were formed from the mass ejected by the protosun, whose strong magnetic field controlled the azimuthal and radial flow of the ejected material. The formation and evolution of the solar nebula is discussed in the light of observations of T Tauri stars, oxygen-isotopic anomalies in meteorites, and the mass and angular momentum distribution in the present solar system.

Trivedi, B. M. P.↗

High spatial resolution IR observations of young stellar objects - A possible disk surrounding HL Tauri

High spatial resolution images of the T Tauri star HL Tau were obtained at 1.6 microns and 2.2 microns. The original images as well as maximum entropy image reconstructions reveal a circumstellar envelope structure, similar at both wavelenghts, and extended along P.A. = 112 deg; the 10 percent width of the structure is 1.9 sec (300 AU at 160 pc). The extended structure is interpreted as light scattered toward earth by dust in a disk surrounding this young stellar object. Polarization measurements made at 2.2 microns support this hypothesis. The total solid particle mass is, at minimum, 5 x 10 to the -7th solar mass.

Grasdalen, G. L.↗

CO emission structure in the Taurus molecular cloud complex

A survey is reported of the J = 1 - 0 2.6-mm transition of CO, covering 11.5 square degrees toward the Taurus dark cloud complex, including Heiles Cloud 2 and DL 2. The main finding is the presence of systematic velocity structure in the Barnard 18 region of DL 2. This structure is tentatively interpreted as an expanding shell of molecular gas of diameter about 3 pc centered on a cluster of young T Tauri stars. The estimated momentum of the shell is consistent with that expected from winds from the young stars seen in the shell.

Murphy, D. C.↗

Ultraviolet and optical variability of RY Tauri

Ultraviolet and optical observations of the T Tauri star RY Tau were analyzed. They show evidence for strong variability over 1985 to 1986. High dispersion IUE observations of the Mg II emission line profiles show significant changes in the wind of RY Tau, with the wind absorption almost disappearing on 1986 March 20. The behavior of the emission line flux variability when compared to the optical light curve shows evidence for changes in circumstellar extinction and changes in starspot/plage distribution on the visible hemisphere of the star.

Brown, A.↗

A hard X-ray source in the nearest molecular cloud

The previous unidentified hard X-ray source H 0253 + 193 is coincident with Lynds 1457, a dark nebula at high galactic latitude (l = 159 deg, b = -34 deg). The Einstein IPC position coincides with the peak in the CO map obtained by Hobbs, Blitz, and Magnani (1986). Using interstellar Na I absorption, these authors determined a distance to the cloud of 65 pc, making this the nearest known molecular cloud. The X-ray source can be explained as an embedded T Tauri star with a 2-10 keV luminosity of 1 x 10 to the 31st erg/s.

Halpern, J. P.↗

Analytical models of helical wind-type astrophysical flows

Three classes of analytic solutions of the basic hydrodynamic equations assumed to govern plasma flow in the atmosphere of a rotating astrophysical object are presented. Attention is focused on the balance of the inertial and gravitational forces with suitable pressure gradients in the presence of rotation. The solutions are written in terms of dimensionless physical parameters in order to facilitate their direct application to specific astrophysical flows, such as winds from massive premain sequence objects and T Tauri stars, and bipolar flows in young stellar objects.

Tsinganos, K.↗

On the relationship between early solar activity and the evolution of terrestrial planet atmospheres

Mass fractionation during hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen-rich primordial atmospheres form Venus, earth, and Mars can account for most of the salient features of mass distributions in their present-day atmospheres. The principal assumptions and results of an escape-fractionation model for the evolution of terrestrial planet atmospheres from primary to final states are qualitatively described, with emphasis on the astrophysical conditions needed to enable the loss process. A substantial and rapidly declining flux of energetic solar radiation into atmospheric exospheres is required, initially (at solar ages of about 1-10 million years) two to three orders of magnitude more intense than that supplied by extreme-ultraviolet emission from the contemporary sun. The solar accretion disk must have dissipated if such radiation is to penetrate the system midplane to planetray distances. On both criteria, hydrodynamic escape from planets appears plausible in the astrophysical environment of the naked T-Tauri stars.

Repin, Robert O.↗

Two protostar candidates in the bright-rimmed dark cloud LDN 1206

The discovery of several near IR objects associated with two IRAS point sources in the LDN 1206 region is reported. IRAS 22272 + 6358A is probably a 'protostar' which is seen only in scattered light at near-IR wavelengths because of heavy obscuration by an almost edge-on circumstellar disk. In contrast, IRAS 22272 + 6358B is directly visible at these wavelengths and is perhaps an object which lies between protostars and T-Tauri stars in its evolution. Both direct and polarimetric K-band images of the region are presented, as well as spectral energy distributions constructed from J, H, K, L, L-prime, and M data and published far-IR and mm data.

Ressler, Michael E.↗

Infrared speckle interferometry and spectroscopy of Io

The goal during the last year was to continue the speckle monitoring of volcanic hot spots on Io, and to begin observations of the 1991 series of mutual events between Io and Europa. The former provide a time history of the volcanic activity, while the latter give the highest spatial resolution and the best sensitivity to faint spots. A minor component of the program is lunar occultation observations of young T Tauri stars. The occultations provide milliarcsecond resolution which let us search for circumstellar material and determine which systems are multiple.

Howell, Robert R.↗

10 AU scale halo structure around DG Tauri

Lunar occultation observations of the active T Tauri star DG Tau show that in the infrared K band it has a core-halo structure: 20-25 percent of the flux comes from a region 10 AU in extent and the rest from an unresolved core smaller than an AU. These results are consistent with those reported by Leinert et al. from a separate observation. The results obtained here and those of Leinert et al., measuring the intensity distribution projected along directions spanning roughly 40 deg, indicate that the resolved structure is not highly elongated. The extended emission is interpreted as star light scattered by optically thin dust located in a halo surrounding the star.

Chen, Wen P.↗

Model scattering envelopes of young stellar objects. I - Method and application to circumstellar disks

We describe a Monte Carlo code that accurately treats multiple scattering, absorption, and polarization by dust, and use this code to calculate images of dusty disks around young stellar objects. We present some approximate analytic results that describe the behavior of the Monte Carlo calculations. A geometrically thin disk illuminated by a central T Tauri star scatters very little light at distances of many AU from the star. Viewed at any inclination, the flux scattered by such a disk at the distance to the nearest star-forming region will be overwhelmed by the stellar image. An optically thick disk that has a flaring surface may be observable, especially if viewed nearly edge-on so that the stellar source becomes occulted. An optically thin disk with a finite opening angle, similar to the one surrounding beta Pictoris, is about as observable as the typical flared optically thick disk at a similar distance from the earth. The polarization position angle is perpendicular to the disk plane in all of the models, in contrast to observations of many young stellar objects which have the position angle oriented parallel to the presumed disk plane. We suggest that the scattered light structures observed around many premain-sequence objects are dusty envelopes rather than disks.

Whitney, Barbara A.↗