X-RAY EMISSION FROM STELLAR JETS BY COLLISION AGAINST HIGH-DENSITY MOLECULAR CLOUDS: AN APPLICATION TO HH 248

Journal Article · Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/1/53· OSTI ID:22522339

López-Santiago, J.; Ustamujic, S.; Castro, A. I. Gómez de ^[1]; Bonito, R.; Orlando, S. ^[2]; Orellana, M. ^[3]; Miceli, M. ^[4]; Albacete-Colombo, J. F. ^[5]; Castro, E. de ^[6]

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1. S. D. Astronomía y Geodesia, Facultad de Ciencias Matemáticas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid (Spain)
2. Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università di Palermo, Piazza del Parlamento 1, I-90134 Palermo (Italy)
3. Sede Andina de la Universidad Nacional de Río Negro (Argentina)
4. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Piazza del Parlamento 1, I-90134 Palermo (Italy)
5. Sede Atlántica de la Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Don Bosco y Leloir s/n, 8500 Viedma RN (Argentina)
6. Dpto. de Astrofísica y CC. de la Atmósfera, Facultad de Física, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid (Spain)

We investigate the plausibility of detecting X-ray emission from a stellar jet that impacts a dense molecular cloud, a scenario that may be typical for classical T Tauri stars with jets in dense star-forming complexes. We first model the impact of a jet against a dense cloud using two-dimensional axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations, exploring different configurations of the ambient environment. Then, we compare our results with XMM-Newton observations of the Herbig–Haro object HH 248, where extended X-ray emission aligned with the optical knots is detected at the edge of the nearby IC 434 cloud. Our simulations show that a jet can produce plasma with temperatures up to 10{sup 7} K, consistent with production of X-ray emission, after impacting a dense cloud. We find that jets denser than the ambient medium but less dense than the cloud produce detectable X-ray emission only at impact with the cloud. From an exploration of the model parameter space, we constrain the physical conditions (jet density and velocity and cloud density) that reproduce the intrinsic luminosity and emission measure of the X-ray source possibly associated with HH 248 well. Thus, we suggest that the extended X-ray source close to HH 248 corresponds to a jet impacting a dense cloud.

• OSTI ID: 22522339
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 806, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
AXIAL SYMMETRY
CLOUDS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
DENSITY
HYDRODYNAMICS
JETS
LUMINOSITY
PLASMA
SPACE
STAR EVOLUTION
T TAURI STARS
VELOCITY
X RADIATION