IC348 is a nearby (~310pc), young (~2-3Myr) open cluster with >300 members identified from optical and infrared observations. We study the properties of the coronae of the young low-mass stars in IC348 combining X-ray and optical/infrared data. The four existing Chandra observations of IC348 are merged, thus providing a deeper and spatially more complete X-ray view than previous X-ray studies of the cluster. We have compiled a comprehensive catalog of IC348 members taking into account recent updates to the cluster census. Our data collection comprises fundamental stellar parameters, infrared excess indicating the presence of disks, Halpha emission as a tracer of chromospheric emission or accretion and mass accretion rates. We have detected 290 X-ray sources in four merged Chandra exposures, of which 187 are associated with known cluster members corresponding to a detection rate of ~60% for the cluster members of IC348 identified in optical/infrared studies. According to the most recent spectral classification of IC348 members only four of the X-ray sources are brown dwarfs (spectral type M6 and later). The detection rate is highest for diskless Class III stars and increases with stellar mass. This may be explained with higher X-ray luminosities for higher mass and later evolutionary stage that is evident in the X-ray luminosity functions. In particular, we find that for the lowest examined masses (0.1-0.25 Msun) there is a difference between the X-ray luminosity functions of accreting and non-accreting stars (classified on the basis of their Halpha emission strength) as well as those of disk-bearing and diskless stars (classified on the basis of the slope of the spectral energy distribution). These differences disappear for higher masses. This is related to our finding that the Lx/Lbol ratio is non-constant across the mass/luminosity sequence of IC348 with a decrease towards lower luminosity stars. Our analysis of an analogous stellar sample in the Orion Nebula Cluster suggests that the decline of Lx/Lbol for young stars at the low-mass end of the stellar sequence is likely universal.
We present high-quality, medium-resolution X-shooter/VLT spectra in the range 300-2500nm for a sample of 12 very low mass stars in the {sigma} Orionis cluster. The sample includes eight stars with evidence of disks from Spitzer and four without disks, with masses ranging from 0.08 to 0.3M_{sun}_. The aim of this first paper is to investigate the reliability of the many accretion tracers currently used to measure the mass accretion rate in low-mass young stars and the accuracy of the correlations between these secondary tracers (mainly accretion line luminosities) found in the literature. We use our spectra to measure the accretion luminosity from the continuum excess emission in the UV and visual; the derived mass accretion rates range from 10^-9^M_{sun}_/yr down to 5x10^-11^M_{sun}_/yr, allowing us to investigate the behavior of the accretion-driven emission lines in very low mass accretion rate regimes. We compute the luminosity of ten accretion-driven emission lines from the UV to the near-IR, which are all obtained simultaneously. In general, most of the secondary tracers correlate well with the accretion luminosity derived from the continuum excess emission. We recompute the relationships between the accretion luminosities and the line luminosities, and we confirm the validity of the correlations given in the literature, with the possible exception of H{alpha}. Metallic lines, such as the CaII IR triplet or the NaI line at 589.3nm, show a larger dispersion. When looking at individual objects, we find that the hydrogen recombination lines, from the UV to the near-IR, give good and consistent measurements of L_acc_ that often better agree than the uncertainties introduced by the adopted correlations. The average L_acc_ derived from several hydrogen lines, measured simultaneously, have a much reduced error. This suggests that some of the spread in the literature correlations may be due to the use of nonsimultaneous observations of lines and continuum. Three stars in our sample deviate from this behavior, and we discuss them individually.
A homogeneous determination of basic stellar parameters of young stellar object (YSO) candidates is needed to confirm their pre-main sequence evolutionary stage, membership to star forming regions (SFRs), and to get reliable values of the quantities related to chromospheric activity and accretion. We used the code ROTFIT and synthetic BT-Settl spectra for the determination of the atmospheric parameters (Teff and logg), the veiling (r), the radial (RV) and projected rotational velocity (vsini), from X-Shooter spectra of 102 YSO candidates (95 of infrared Class II and seven Class III) in the Lupus SFR. The spectral subtraction of inactive templates, rotationally broadened to match the vsini of the targets, enabled us to measure the line fluxes for several diagnostics of both chromospheric activity and accretion, such as H{alpha}, H{beta}, CaII, and NaI lines. We have shown that 13 candidates can be rejected as Lupus members based on their discrepant RV with respect to Lupus and/or the very low logg values. At least 11 of them are background giants, two of which turned out to be lithium-rich giants. Regarding the members, we found that all ClassIII sources have H{alpha} fluxes compatible with a pure chromospheric activity, while objects with disks lie mostly above the boundary between chromospheres and accretion. YSOs with transitional disks displays both high and low H{alpha} fluxes. We found that the line fluxes per unit surface are tightly correlated with the accretion luminosity (L_acc_) derived from the Balmer continuum excess. This rules out that the relationships between L_acc_ and line luminosities found in previous works are simply due to calibration effects. We also found that the CaII-IRT flux ratio is always small, indicating an optically thick emission source. The latter can be identified with the accretion shock near the stellar photosphere. The Balmer decrement reaches instead, for several accretors, high values typical of optically thin emission, suggesting that the Balmer emission originates in different parts of the accretion funnels with a smaller optical depth.
Young stars in the solar neighborhood serve as nearby probes of stellar evolution and represent promising targets to directly image self-luminous giant planets. We have carried out an all-sky search for late-type (~K7-M5) stars within 100pc selected primarily on the basis of activity indicators from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer and ROSAT. Approximately 2000 active and potentially young stars are identified, of which we have followed up over 600 with low-resolution optical spectroscopy and over 1000 with diffraction-limited imaging using Robo-AO at the Palomar 1.5m telescope. Strong lithium is present in 58 stars, implying ages spanning ~10-200Myr. Most of these lithium-rich stars are new or previously known members of young moving groups including TWA, {beta}Pic, Tuc-Hor, Carina, Columba, Argus, ABDor, Upper Centaurus Lupus, and Lower Centaurus Crux; the rest appear to be young low-mass stars without connections to established kinematic groups. Over 200 close binaries are identified down to 0.2"-the vast majority of which are new-and will be valuable for dynamical mass measurements of young stars with continued orbit monitoring in the future.
We demonstrate the unique capabilities of Herschel to study very young luminous extragalactic young stellar objects (YSOs) by analyzing a central strip of the Large Magellanic Cloud obtained through the HERITAGE Science Demonstration Program. We combine PACS 100 and 160, and SPIRE 250, 350, and 500um photometry with 2MASS (1.25-2.17um) and Spitzer IRAC and MIPS (3.6-70um) to construct complete spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of compact sources. From these, we identify 207 candidate embedded YSOs in the observed region, ~40% never-before identified. We discuss their position in far-infrared color-magnitude space, comparing with previously studied, spectroscopically confirmed YSOs and maser emission. All have red colors indicating massive cool envelopes and great youth. We analyze four example YSOs, determining their physical properties by fitting their SEDs with radiative transfer models. Fitting full SEDs including the Herschel data requires us to increase the size and mass of envelopes included in the models. This implies higher accretion rates (greater or equal to 10^-4^M_{sun}_/yr), in agreement with previous outflow studies of high-mass protostars. Our results show that Herschel provides reliable longwave SEDs of large samples of high-mass YSOs; discovers the youngest YSOs whose SEDs peak in Herschel bands; and constrains the physical properties and evolutionary stages of YSOs more precisely than was previously possible.
We present the results of a survey of young intermediate-mass stars (age<5Myr, 1.5M_{sun}_<M*<=15M_{sun}_) in the W5 massive star-forming region. We use combined optical, near-infrared, and Spitzer Space Telescope photometry and optical spectroscopy to define a sample of stars of spectral types A and B and examine their infrared excess properties. We find objects with infrared excesses characteristic of optically thick disks, i.e., Herbig AeBe stars. These stars are rare: <1.5% of the entire spectroscopic sample of A and B stars, and absent among stars more massive than 2.4M_{sun}_. 7.5% of the A and B stars possess infrared excesses in a variety of morphologies that suggest their disks are in some transitional phase between an initial, optically thick accretion state and later evolutionary states. We identify four morphological classes based on the wavelength dependence of the observed excess emission above theoretical photospheric levels: (1) the optically thick disks; (2) disks with an optically thin excess over the wavelength range 2-24um, similar to that shown by Classical Be stars; (3) disks that are optically thin in their inner regions based on their infrared excess at 2-8um and optically thick in their outer regions based on the magnitude of the observed excess emission at 24um; (4) disks that exhibit empty inner regions (no excess emission at {lambda}<8um) and some measurable excess emission at 24um. A sub-class of disks exhibit no significant excess emission at {lambda}<=5.8um, have excess emission only in the Spitzer 8um band and no detection at 24um. We discuss these spectral energy distribution types, and suggest physical models for disks exhibiting these emission patterns and additional observations to test these theories.
The HII complex N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) provides an excellent site to perform a detailed study of star formation in a mild starburst, as it hosts three regions of star formation at different evolutionary stages, and it is not as complicated and confusing as the 30 Doradus giant HII region. We have obtained Spitzer Space Telescope observations and complementary ground-based 4m uBVIJK observations of N44 to identify candidate massive young stellar objects (YSOs). We further classify the YSOs into Types I, II, and III, according to their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). In our sample of 60 YSO candidates, ~65% of them are resolved into multiple components or extended sources in high-resolution ground-based images.
Water is a key volatile that provides insights into the initial stages of planet formation. However, little is known about the water vapor abundance in newly formed planet-forming disks. We present H_2_^18^O line observations with ALMA and NOEMA millimeter interferometers toward five young stellar objects. NOEMA observed the 203GHz line while ALMA targeted the 390GHz line. No emission is detected toward any of our five Class I disks. We report upper limits to the integrated line intensities. The inferred water column densities in Class I disks are <10^15^cm^-2^ on 100au scales which include both disk and envelope. Water vapor is not abundant in warm protostellar envelopes around Class I protostars. Upper limits to the water vapor column densities in Class I disks are at least two orders magnitude lower than values found in Class 0 disk-like structures.
We investigate the young (proto)stellar population in NGC 2023 and the L 1630 molecular cloud bordering the H II region IC 434, using Spitzer IRAC and MIPS archive data, JCMT SCUBA imaging and spectroscopy as well as targeted BIMA observations of one of the Class 0 protostars, NGC 2023 MM 1. We study the distribution of gas, dust and young stars in this region to see where stars are forming, whether the expansion of the H II region has triggered star formation, and whether dense cold cores have already formed stars. We have performed photometry of all IRAC and MIPS images, and used color-color diagrams to identify and classify all young stars seen within a 22'x26' field along the boundary between IC 434 and L 1630.
Young star forming region NGC 2264 Spitzer sources
Short Name:
J/ApJ/794/124
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present Spitzer 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0, and 24 {mu}m images of the Mon OB1 East giant molecular cloud, which contains the young star forming region NGC 2264, as well as more extended star formation. With Spitzer data and Two Micron All Sky Survey photometry, we identify and classify young stellar objects (YSOs) with dusty circumstellar disks and/or envelopes in Mon OB1 East by their infrared-excess emission and study their distribution with respect to cloud material. We find a correlation between the local surface density of YSOs and column density of molecular gas as traced by dust extinction that is roughly described as a power law in these quantities. NGC 2264 follows a power-law index of ~2.7, exhibiting a large YSO surface density for a given gas column density. Outside of NGC 2264 where the surface density of YSOs is lower, the power law is shallower and the region exhibits a larger gas column density for a YSO surface density, suggesting the star formation is more recent. In order to measure the fraction of cloud members with circumstellar disks/envelopes, we estimate the number of diskless pre-main-sequence stars by statistical removal of background star detections. We find that the disk fraction of the NGC 2264 region is 45%, while the surrounding, more distributed regions show a disk fraction of 19%. This may be explained by the presence of an older, more dispersed population of stars. In total, the Spitzer observations provide evidence for heterogenous, non-coeval star formation throughout the Mon OB1 cloud.