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Register a new userGas infall and possible circumstellar rotation in R Leo
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J. P. Fonfria
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We present new interferometer molecular observations of R Leo taken at 1.2 mm with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array with an angular resolution up to ~0.026 arcsec. These observations permit us to resolve the innermost envelope of this star revealing the existence of a complex structure that involves extended continuum emission and molecular emission showing a non-radial gas velocity distribution. This molecular emission displays prominent red-shifted absorptions located right in front to the star typical of material infall and lateral gas motions compatible with the presence of a torus-like structure.
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Mapping magnetic fields is the key to resolving what remains an unclear physical picture of circumstellar magnetic fields in late-type evolved stars. Observations of linearly polarized emission from thermal molecular line transitions due to the Goldreich-Kylafis (G-K) effect provides valuable insight into the magnetic field geometry in these sources that is complementary to other key studies. In this paper, we present the detection of spectral-line polarization from both the thermal $J=2-1$ CO line and the $v=1, J=5-4$ SiO maser line toward two thermal-pulsating (TP-) AGB stars, R Crt and R Leo. The observed fractional linear polarization in the CO emission is measured as $m_lsim 3.1%$ and $m_lsim9.7%$ for R Crt and R Leo respectively. A circumstellar envelope (CSE) model profile and the associated parameters are estimated and used as input to a more detailed modeling of the predicted linear polarization expected from the G-K effect. The observed thermal line polarization level is consistent with the predicted results from the G-K model for R Crt; additional effects need to be considered for R Leo.
Abridged. The 12CO/13CO ratio in the circumstellar envelope (CSE) of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars has been extensively used as the tracer of the photospheric 12C/13C ratio. However, spatially-resolved ALMA observations of R Scl, a carbon rich AGB star, have shown that the 12CO/13CO ratio is not consistent over the entire CSE. Hence, it can not necessarily be used as a tracer of the 12C/13C ratio. The most likely hypothesis to explain the observed discrepancy between the 12CO/13CO and 12C/13C ratios is CO isotopologue selective photodissociation by UV radiation. Unlike the CO isotopologue ratio, the HCN isotopologue ratio is not affected by UV radiation. Therefore, HCN isotopologue ratios can be used as the tracer of the atomic C ratio in UV irradiated regions. We have performed a detailed non-LTE excitation analysis of circumstellar H12CN and H13CN line emission around R Scl, observed with ALMA and APEX, using a radiative transfer code, ALI. The spatial extent of the molecular distribution for both isotopologues is constrained based on the spatially resolved H13CN(4-3) ALMA observations. We find fractional abundances of H12CN/H2 = (5.0 +- 2.0) x 10^{-5} and H13CN/H2 = (1.9 +- 0.4) x 10^{-6} in the inner wind (r < (2.0 +- 0.25) x 10^{15} cm) of R Scl. The derived circumstellar isotopologue ratio of H12CN/H13CN = 26.3 +- 11.9 is consistent with the photospheric ratio of 12C/13C ~ 19 pm 6. We show that the circumstellar H12CN/H13CN ratio traces the photospheric 12C/13C ratio. These results support the previously proposed explanation that CO isotopologue selective-shielding is the main factor responsible for the observed discrepancy between 12C/13C and 12CO/13CO ratios in the inner CSE of R Scl. This indicates that UV radiation impacts on the CO isotopologue ratio.
We investigate the formation of circumstellar disks and outflows subsequent to the collapse of molecular cloud cores with the magnetic field and turbulence. Numerical simulations are performed by using an adaptive mesh refinement to follow the evolution up to $sim 1000$~yr after the formation of a protostar. In the simulations, circumstellar disks are formed around the protostars; those in magnetized models are considerably smaller than those in nonmagnetized models, but their size increases with time. The models with stronger magnetic field tends to produce smaller disks. During evolution in the magnetized models, the mass ratios of a disk to a protostar is approximately constant at $sim 1-10$%. The circumstellar disks are aligned according to their angular momentum, and the outflows accelerate along the magnetic field on the $10-100$~au scale; this produces a disk that is misaligned with the outflow. The outflows are classified into two types: a magneto-centrifugal wind and a spiral flow. In the latter, because of the geometry, the axis of rotation is misaligned with the magnetic field. The magnetic field has an internal structure in the cloud cores, which also causes misalignment between the outflows and the magnetic field on the scale of the cloud core. The distribution of the angular momentum vectors in a core also has a non-monotonic internal structure. This should create a time-dependent accretion of angular momenta onto the circumstellar disk. Therefore, the circumstellar disks are expected to change their orientation as well as their sizes in the long-term evolutions.
The formation of circumstellar disks is investigated using three-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, in which the initial prestellar cloud has a misaligned rotation axis with respect to the magnetic field. We examine the effects of (i) the initial angle difference between the global magnetic field and the cloud rotation axis ($theta_0$) and (ii) the ratio of the thermal to gravitational energy ($alpha_0$). We study $16$ models in total and calculate the cloud evolution until $sim ! 5000$ yr after protostar formation. Our simulation results indicate that an initial non-zero $theta_0$ ($> 0$) promotes the disk formation but tends to suppress the outflow driving, for models that are moderately gravitationally unstable, $alpha_0 lesssim 1$. In these models, a large-sized rotationally-supported disk forms and a weak outflow appears, in contrast to a smaller disk and strong outflow in the aligned case ($theta_0 = 0$). Furthermore, we find that when the initial cloud is highly unstable with small $alpha_0$, the initial angle difference $theta_0$ does not significantly affect the disk formation and outflow driving.
The majority of stars are part of gravitationally bound stellar systems, such as binaries. Observations of protobinary systems constrain the conditions that lead to stellar multiplicity and subsequent orbital evolution. We report high-angular resolution observations of the circumbinary disk around [BHB2007] 11, a young binary protostar system. The two protostars are embedded in circumstellar disks that have radii of 2 to 3 astronomical units and probably contain a few Jupiter masses. These systems are surrounded by a complex structure of filaments connecting to the larger circumbinary disk. We also observe accretion and radio jets associated with the protobinary system. The accretion is preferentially onto the lower-mass protostar, consistent with theoretical predictions.
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