No Arabic abstract
The massive star-forming region W75N~(B) is thought to host a cluster of massive protostars (VLA~1, VLA~2, and VLA~3) undergoing different evolutionary stages. In this work, we present radio continuum data with the highest sensitivity and angular resolution obtained to date in this region, using the VLA-A and covering a wide range of frequencies (4-48~GHz), which allowed us to study the morphology and the nature of the emission of the different radio continuum sources. We also performed complementary studies with multi-epoch VLA data and ALMA archive data at 1.3 mm wavelength. We find that VLA~1 is driving a thermal radio jet at scales of $approx$0.1 arcsec ($approx$130 au), but also shows signs of an incipient hyper-compact HII region at scales of $lesssim$ 1 arcsec ($lesssim$ 1300~au). VLA~3 is also driving a thermal radio jet at scales of a few tenths of arcsec (few hundred of au). We conclude that this jet is shock-exciting the radio continuum sources Bc and VLA~4 (obscured HH objects), which show proper motions moving outward from VLA~3 at velocities of $approx$112--118~km/s. We have also detected three new weak radio continuum sources, two of them associated with millimeter continuum cores observed with ALMA, suggesting that these two sources are also embedded YSOs in this massive star-forming region.
A debated topic in star formation theory is the role of magnetic fields during the protostellar phase of high-mass stars. It is still unclear how magnetic fields influence the formation and dynamics of massive disks and outflows. Most current information on magnetic fields close to high-mass protostars comes from polarized maser emissions, which allows us to investigate the magnetic field on small scales by using very long-baseline interferometry. The massive star-forming region W75N contains three radio continuum sources (VLA1, VLA2, and VLA3), at three different evolutionary stages, and associated masers, while a large-scale molecular bipolar outflow is also present. Very recently, polarization observations of the 6.7 GHz methanol masers at milliarsecond resolution have been able to probe the strength and structure of the magnetic field over more than 2000 AU around VLA1. The magnetic field is parallel to the outflow, suggesting that VLA1 is its powering source. The observations of water masers at 22 GHz can give more information about the gas dynamics and the magnetic fields around VLA1 and VLA2. The NRAO Very Long Baseline Array was used to measure the linear polarization and the Zeeman-splitting of the 22 GHz water masers in the star-forming region W75N. We detected 124 water masers, 36 around VLA1 and 88 around VLA2 of W75N, which indicate two different physical environments around the two sources, where VLA1 is in a more evolved state. The linear polarization of the masers confirms the tightly ordered magnetic field around VLA1, which is aligned with the large-scale molecular outflow, and also reveals an ordered magnetic field around VLA2, which is not parallel to the outflow. [abridged]
We observed three high-mass star-forming regions in the W3 high-mass star formation complex with the Submillimeter Array and IRAM 30 m telescope. These regions, i.e. W3 SMS1 (W3 IRS5), SMS2 (W3 IRS4) and SMS3, are in different evolutionary stages and are located within the same large-scale environment, which allows us to study rotation and outflows as well as chemical properties in an evolutionary sense. While we find multiple mm continuum sources toward all regions, these three sub-regions exhibit different dynamical and chemical properties, which indicates that they are in different evolutionary stages. Even within each subregion, massive cores of different ages are found, e.g. in SMS2, sub-sources from the most evolved UCHII region to potential starless cores exist within 30 000 AU of each other. Outflows and rotational structures are found in SMS1 and SMS2. Evidence for interactions between the molecular cloud and the HII regions is found in the 13CO channel maps, which may indicate triggered star formation.
The Cepheus B (CepB) molecular cloud and a portion of the nearby CepOB3b OB association, one of the most active regions of star formation within 1 kpc, have been observed with the IRAC detector on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The goals are to study protoplanetary disk evolution and processes of sequential triggered star formation in the region. Out of ~400 pre-main sequence (PMS) stars selected with an earlier Chandra X-ray Observatory observation, 95% are identified with mid-infrared sources and most of these are classified as diskless or disk-bearing stars. The discovery of the additional >200 IR-excess low-mass members gives a combined Chandra+Spitzer PMS sample complete down to 0.5 Mo outside of the cloud, and somewhat above 1 Mo in the cloud. Analyses of the nearly disk-unbiased combined Chandra+Spitzer selected stellar sample give several results. Our major finding is a spatio-temporal gradient of young stars from the hot molecular core towards the primary ionizing O star HD 217086. This strongly supports the radiation driven implosion (RDI) model of triggered star formation in the region. The empirical estimate for the shock velocity of 1 km/s is very similar to theoretical models of RDI in shocked molecular clouds...ABRIDGED... Other results include: 1. agreement of the disk fractions, their mass dependency, and fractions of transition disks with other clusters; 2. confirmation of the youthfulness of the embedded CepB cluster; 3. confirmation of the effect of suppression of time-integrated X-ray emission in disk-bearing versus diskless systems.
We present high angular resolution observations (0.5x0.3) carried out with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) toward the AFGL2591 high-mass star forming region. Our SMA images reveal a clear chemical segregation within the AFGL2591 VLA 3 hot core, where different molecular species (Type I, II and III) appear distributed in three concentric shells. This is the first time that such a chemical segregation is ever reported at linear scales <3000 AU within a hot core. While Type I species (H2S and 13CS) peak at the AFGL2591 VLA 3 protostar, Type II molecules (HC3N, OCS, SO and SO2) show a double-peaked structure circumventing the continuum peak. Type III species, represented by CH3OH, form a ring-like structure surrounding the continuum emission. The excitation temperatures of SO2, HC3N and CH3OH (185+-11 K, 150+-20 K and 124+-12 K, respectively) show a temperature gradient within the AFGL2591 VLA 3 envelope, consistent with previous observations and modeling of the source. By combining the H2S, SO2 and CH3OH images, representative of the three concentric shells, we find that the global kinematics of the molecular gas follow Keplerian-like rotation around a 40 Mo-star. The chemical segregation observed toward AFGL2591 VLA 3 is explained by the combination of molecular UV photo-dissociation and a high-temperature (~1000 K) gas-phase chemistry within the low extinction innermost region in the AFGL2591 VLA 3 hot core.
A multi-wavelength investigation of the star forming complex IRAS 20286+4105, located in the Cygnus-X region, is presented here. Near-infrared K-band data is used to revisit the cluster / stellar group identified in previous studies. The radio continuum observations, at 610 and 1280 MHz show the presence of a HII region possibly powered by a star of spectral type B0 - B0.5. The cometary morphology of the ionized region is explained by invoking the bow-shock model where the likely association with a nearby supernova remnant is also explored. A compact radio knot with non-thermal spectral index is detected towards the centre of the cloud. Mid-infrared data from the Spitzer Legacy Survey of the Cygnus-X region show the presence of six Class I YSOs inside the cloud. Thermal dust emission in this complex is modelled using Herschel far-infrared data to generate dust temperature and column density maps. Herschel images also show the presence of two clumps in this region, the masses of which are estimated to be {sim} 175 M{sun} and 30 M{sun}. The mass-radius relation and the surface density of the clumps do not qualify them as massive star forming sites. An overall picture of a runaway star ionizing the cloud and a triggered population of intermediate-mass, Class I sources located toward the cloud centre emerges from this multiwavelength study. Variation in the dust emissivity spectral index is shown to exist in this region and is seen to have an inverse relation with the dust temperature.