CHANDRA X-RAY DETECTION OF THE ENIGMATIC FIELD STAR BP Psc

Journal Article · Tue Aug 10 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/719/1/L65· OSTI ID:21450982

Kastner, Joel H; Montez, Rodolfo ^[1]; Rodriguez, David; Zuckerman, B; Perrin, Marshall D ^[2]; Grosso, Nicolas ^[3]; Forveille, Thierry ^[4]

---

1. Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 54 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)
3. Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, Universite de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7550, 11 rue de l'Universit, F-67000 Strasbourg (France)
4. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Universite Joseph Fourier-CNRS, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex (France)

BP Psc is a remarkable emission-line field star that is orbited by a dusty disk and drives a parsec-scale system of jets. We report the detection by the Chandra X-ray Observatory of a weak X-ray point source coincident with the centroids of optical/IR and submillimeter continuum emission at BP Psc. As the star's photosphere is obscured throughout the visible and near-infrared, the Chandra X-ray source likely represents the first detection of BP Psc itself. The X-rays most likely originate with magnetic activity at BP Psc and hence can be attributed either to a stellar corona or to star-disk interactions. The log of the ratio of X-ray to bolometric luminosity, log(L{sub X} /L{sub bol}), lies in the range -5.8 to -4.2. This is smaller than log(L{sub X} /L{sub bol}) ratios typical of low-mass, pre-main sequence stars, but is well within the log(L{sub X} /L{sub bol}) range observed for rapidly rotating (FK Com-type) G giant stars. Hence, the Chandra results favor an exotic model wherein the disk/jet system of BP Psc is the result of its very recently engulfing a companion star or a giant planet, as the primary star ascended the giant branch.

• OSTI ID: 21450982
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 719; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ATMOSPHERES
BOLOMETERS
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
DETECTION
GIANT STARS
LUMINOSITY
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
MATTER
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOTOSPHERE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANETS
POINT SOURCES
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION SOURCES
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
STARS
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
X-RAY DETECTION