No Arabic abstract
We report and analyse FIR observations of two Herbig Be stars, R Mon and PDS 27, obtained with Herschels instruments PACS and SPIRE. We construct SEDs and derive the infrared excess. We extract line fluxes from the PACS and SPIRE spectra and construct rotational diagrams in order to estimate the excitation temperature of the gas. We derive CO, [OI] and [CI] luminosities to determine physical conditions of the gas, as well as the dominant cooling mechanism. We confirm that the Herbig Be stars are surrounded by remnants from their parental clouds, with an IR excess that mainly originates in a disc. In R Mon we detect [OI], [CI], [CII], CO (26 transitions), water and OH, while in PDS 27 we only detect [CI] and CO (8 transitions). We attribute the absence of OH and water in PDS 27 to UV photo-dissociation and photo-evaporation. From the rotational diagrams, we find several components for CO: we derive $T_{rot}$ 949$pm$90 K, 358$pm$20 K & 77$pm$12 K for R Mon, 96$pm$12 K & 31$pm$4 K for PDS 27 and 25$pm$8 K & 27$pm$6 K for their respective compact neighbours. The forsterite feature at 69$mu$m was not detected in either of the sources, probably due to the lack of (warm) crystalline dust in a flat disc. We find that cooling by molecules is dominant in the Herbig Be stars, while this is not the case in Herbig Ae stars where cooling by [OI] dominates. Moreover, we show that in the Herbig Be star R Mon, outflow shocks are the dominant gas heating mechanism, while in Herbig Ae stars this is stellar. The outflow of R Mon contributes to the observed line emission by heating the gas, both in the central spaxel/beam covering the disc and the immediate surroundings, as well as in those spaxels/beams covering the parabolic shell around it. PDS 27, a B2 star, has dispersed a large part of its gas content and/or destroyed molecules; this is likely given its intense UV field.
We completed a search for circumstellar disks around Herbig Be stars using the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA) and the IRAM Plateau de Bure (PdB) interferometers. We present our new VLA and PdBI data for the three objects MWC 297, Z CMa, and LKHa 215. We constructed the SED from near-IR to centimeter wavelengths by adding our millimeter and centimeter data to the available data at other wavelengths, mainly Spitzer images. The entire SED was fitted using a disk+envelope model. In addition, we compiled all the disk millimeter observations in the literature and completed a statistical analysis of all the data. We show that the disk mass is usually only a small percentage (less than 10%) of the mass of the entire envelope in HBe stars. For the disks, there are large source-to-source variations. Two disks in our sample, R Mon and Z CMa, have similar sizes and masses to those found in T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars. The disks around MWC 1080 and MWC 297 are, however, smaller (rout<100 AU). We did not detect the disks towards MWC 137 and LkHa 215 at millimeter wavelengths, which limits the mass and the size of the possible circumstellar disks. A comparison between our data and previous results for T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars indicates that although massive disks (0.1 Msun) are found in young objects (10^4 yr), the masses of the disks around Herbig Be stars are usually 5-10 times lower than those around lower mass stars. We propose that disk photoevaporation is responsible for this behavior. In Herbig Be stars, the UV radiation disperses the gas in the outer disk on a timescale of a few 10^5 yr. Once the outer part of the disk has vanished, the entire gaseous disk is photoevaporated on a very short timescale (10^5 yr) and only a small, dusty disk consisting of large grains remains.
We report on initial results of our Spitzer Cycle 2 program to observe the young massive star R Mon and its associated HH 39 Herbig-Haro object in the mid-infrared. Our program used all instruments on-board Spitzer to obtain deep images with IRAC of the HH 39 complex and of R Mon and its surroundings, a deep image of HH 39 at 24 and 70 $mu$m with MIPS, and mid-infrared spectra with the SH, LH, and LL modules of IRS. The aim of this program is to study the physical links in a young massive star between accretion disk, outflows and jets, and sh ocks in the associated HH object. Our preliminary analysis reveals that several knots of HH 39 are clearly detected in most IRAC bands. In IRAC4 (8 $mu$m), diffuse emission, probably from PAHs, appears as foreground emission covering the HH 39 emission. The HH 39 knots are detected at 24 microns, despite the fact that dust continuum emission covers the knots and shows the same structure as observed with IRAC4. The IRS spectra of HH 39 show weak evidence of [Ne II] 12.8 $mu$m and 0--0 S(1) H$_2$ 17.0 $mu$m lines. A more detailed analysis is, however, required due to the faintness of the Herbig-Haro knots. Finally, we obtained the SH and MIPS SED spectra of R Mon. A PAH emission feature at 11.3 $mu$m is detected on top of the strong continuum; although no strong emission or absorption lines are observed, we will seek to detect faint lines. The combined IRAC, IRS, and MIPS data of the R Mon/HH 39 system will help us to understand circumstellar disk processing, and the connection between jets, outflows, and HH objects.
We observed a sample of 20 representative Herbig Ae/Be stars and five A-type debris discs with PACS onboard of Herschel. The observations were done in spectroscopic mode, and cover far-IR lines of [OI], [CII], CO, CH+, H2O and OH. We have a [OI]63 micron detection rate of 100% for the Herbig Ae/Be and 0% for the debris discs. [OI]145 micron is only detected in 25%, CO J=18-17 in 45% (and less for higher J transitions) of the Herbig Ae/Be stars and for [CII] 157 micron, we often found spatially variable background contamination. We show the first detection of water in a Herbig Ae disc, HD 163296, which has a settled disc. Hydroxyl is detected as well in this disc. CH+, first seen in HD 100546, is now detected for the second time in a Herbig Ae star, HD 97048. We report fluxes for each line and use the observations as line diagnostics of the gas properties. Furthermore, we look for correlations between the strength of the emission lines and stellar or disc parameters, such as stellar luminosity, UV and X-ray flux, accretion rate, PAH band strength, and flaring. We find that the stellar UV flux is the dominant excitation mechanism of [OI]63 micron, with the highest line fluxes found in those objects with a large amount of flaring and greatest PAH strength. Neither the amount of accretion nor the X-ray luminosity has an influence on the line strength. We find correlations between the line flux of [OI]63 micron and [OI]145 micron, CO J = 18-17 and [OI]6300 AA, and between the continuum flux at 63 micron and at 1.3 mm, while we find weak correlations between the line flux of [OI]63 micron and the PAH luminosity, the line flux of CO J = 3-2, the continuum flux at 63 micron, the stellar effective temperature and the Brgamma luminosity. (Abbreviated version)
Herbig Ae/Be objects are pre-main sequence stars surrounded by gas- and dust-rich circumstellar discs. These objects are in the throes of star and planet formation, and their characterisation informs us of the processes and outcomes of planet formation processes around intermediate mass stars. Here we analyse the spectral energy distributions of disc host stars observed by the Herschel Open Time Key Programme `Gas in Protoplanetary Systems. We present Herschel/PACS far-infrared imaging observations of 22 Herbig Ae/Bes and 5 debris discs, combined with ancillary photometry spanning ultraviolet to sub-millimetre wavelengths. From these measurements we determine the diagnostics of disc evolution, along with the total excess, in three regimes spanning near-, mid-, and far-infrared wavelengths. Using appropriate statistical tests, these diagnostics are examined for correlations. We find that the far-infrared flux, where the disc becomes optically thin, is correlated with the millimetre flux, which provides a measure of the total dust mass. The ratio of far-infrared to sub-millimetre flux is found to be greater for targets with discs that are brighter at millimetre wavelengths and that have steeper sub-millimetre slopes. Furthermore, discs with flared geometry have, on average, larger excesses than flat geometry discs. Finally, we estimate the extents of these discs (or provide upper limits) from the observations.
We report on the status of our spectropolarimetric studies of Herbig Ae/Be stars carried out during the last years. The magnetic field geometries of these stars, investigated with spectropolarimetric time series, can likely be described by centred dipoles with polar magnetic field strengths of several hundred Gauss. A number of Herbig Ae/Be stars with detected magnetic fields have recently been observed with X-shooter in the visible and the near-IR, as well as with the high-resolution near-IR spectrograph CRIRES. These observations are of great importance to understand the relation between the magnetic field topology and the physics of the accretion flow and the accretion disk gas emission.