No Arabic abstract
Abridged: Recent simulations have explored different ways to form accretion disks around low-mass stars. We aim to present observables to differentiate a rotationally supported disk from an infalling rotating envelope toward deeply embedded young stellar objects and infer their masses and sizes. Two 3D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) formation simulations and 2D semi-analytical model are studied. The dust temperature structure is determined through continuum radiative transfer RADMC3D modelling. A simple temperature dependent CO abundance structure is adopted and synthetic spectrally resolved submm rotational molecular lines up to $J_{rm u} = 10$ are simulated. All models predict similar compact components in continuum if observed at the spatial resolutions of 0.5-1$$ (70-140 AU) typical of the observations to date. A spatial resolution of $sim$14 AU and high dynamic range ($> 1000$) are required to differentiate between RSD and pseudo-disk in the continuum. The peak-position velocity diagrams indicate that the pseudo-disk shows a flatter velocity profile with radius than an RSD. On larger-scales, the CO isotopolog single-dish line profiles are similar and are narrower than the observed line widths of low-$J$ lines, indicating significant turbulence in the large-scale envelopes. However a forming RSD can provide the observed line widths of high-$J$ lines. Thus, either RSDs are common or a higher level of turbulence ($b sim 0.8 {rm km s^{-1}}$ ) is required in the inner envelope compared with the outer part. Multiple spatially and spectrally resolved molecular line observations are needed. The continuum data give a better estimate on disk masses whereas the disk sizes can be estimated from the spatially resolved molecular lines observations. The general observable trends are similar between the 2D semi-analytical models and 3D MHD RSD simulations.
(Abridged) Star and planet formation theories predict an evolution in the density, temperature, and velocity structure as the envelope collapses and forms an accretion disk. The aim of this work is to model the evolution of the molecular excitation, line profiles, and related observables during low-mass star formation. Specifically, the signatures of disks during the deeply embedded stage are investigated. Semi-analytic 2D axisymmetric models have been used to describe the evolution of the density, stellar mass, and luminosity from the pre-stellar to the T-Tauri phase. A full radiative transfer calculation is carried out to accurately determine the time-dependent dust temperatures and CO abundance structure. We present non-LTE near-IR, FIR, and submm lines of CO have been simulated at a number of time steps. In contrast to the dust temperature, the CO excitation temperature derived from submm/FIR lines does not vary during the protostellar evolution, consistent with C18O observations obtained with Herschel and from ground-based telescopes. The near-IR spectra provide complementary information to the submm lines by probing not only the cold outer envelope but also the warm inner region. The near-IR high-J (>8) absorption lines are particularly sensitive to the physical structure of the inner few AU, which does show evolution. High signal-to-noise ratio subarcsec resolution data with ALMA are needed to detect the presence of small rotationally supported disks during the Stage 0 phase and various diagnostics are discussed.
Recently, differences in Doppler shifts across the base of four close classical T Tauri star jets have been detected with the HST in optical and near-ultraviolet (NUV) emission lines, and these Doppler shifts were interpreted as rotation signatures under the assumption of steady state flow. To support this interpretation, it is necessary that the underlying disks rotate in the same sense. Agreement between disk rotation and jet rotation determined from optical lines has been verified in two cases and rejected in one case. Meanwhile, the NUV lines, which may trace faster and more collimated inner spines of the jet than optical lines, either agree or show no clear indication. We propose to perform this test on the fourth system, Th 28. We present ALMA high angular resolution Band 7 continuum, 12CO(3-2) and 13CO(2-1) observations of the circumstellar disk around the T Tauri star Th 28. We were able to detect, in CO and continuum, clear signatures of a disk in Keplerian rotation around Th28. The 12CO emission is resolved, allowing us to derive estimates of disk position angle and inclination. The large velocity separation of the peaks in 12CO, combined with the resolved extent of the emission, indicate a central stellar mass in the range 1-2 Msun. The rotation sense of the disk is well detected in both 13CO and 12CO emission lines, and this direction is opposite to that implied by the transverse Doppler shifts measured in the optical lines of the jet. The Th 28 system is the second system where counter-rotation between the disk and the optical jet is detected. These findings imply either that optical transverse velocity gradients detected with HST do not trace jet rotation or that modeling the flow with the steady assumption is not valid. In both cases jet rotation studies that rely solely on optical lines are not suitable to derive the launching radius of the jet.
As protostars evolve from optically faint / infrared bright (Class I) sources to optically bright / infrared faint (Class II) the solid material in their surrounding disks accumulates into planetesimals and protoplanets. The nearby, young Ophiuchus star-forming region contains hundreds of protostars in a range of evolutionary states. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array to observe their millimeter continuum emission, we have measured masses of, or placed strong upper limits on, the dust content of 279 disks. The masses follow a log-normal distribution with a clear trend of decreasing mass from less to more evolved protostellar infrared class. The (logarithmic) mean Class I disk mass, M = 3.8 M_Earth, is about 5 times greater than the mean Class II disk mass, but the dispersion in each class is so high, sigma(logM) ~ 0.8-1, that there is a large overlap between the two distributions. The disk mass distribution of flat-spectrum protostars lies in between Classes I and II. In addition, three Class III sources with little to no infrared excess are detected with low disk masses, M ~ 0.3 M_Earth. Despite the clear trend of decreasing disk mass with protostellar evolutionary state in this region, a comparison with surveys of Class II disks in other regions shows that masses do not decrease monotonically with age. This suggests that the cloud-scale environment may determine the initial disk mass scale or that there is substantial dust regeneration after 1 Myr.
In this work we use solar observations with the ALMA radio telescope at the wavelength of 1.21 mm. The aim of the analysis is to improve understanding of the solar chromosphere, a dynamic layer in the solar atmosphere between the photosphere and corona. The study has an observational and a modeling part. In the observational part full-disc solar images are analyzed. Based on a modified FAL atmospheric model, radiation models for various observed solar structures are developed. Finally, the observational and modeling results are compared and discussed.
The Atacama Large Millimeter-Submillimeter Array (ALMA) has opened a new window for studying the Sun via high-resolution high-sensitivity imaging at millimeter wavelengths. In this contribution I review the capabilities of the instrument for solar observing and describe the extensive effort taken to bring the possibility of solar observing with ALMA to the scientific community. The first solar ALMA observations were carried out during 2014 and 2015 in two ALMA bands, Band 3 (3 mm) and Band 6 (1.3 mm), in single-dish and interferometric modes, using single pointing and mosaicing observing techniques, with spatial resolution up to 2arcsec and 1arcsec in the two bands, respectively. I overview several recently published studies which made use of the first solar ALMA observations, describe current status of solar observing with ALMA and briefly discuss the future capabilities of the instrument.