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- Richards, A. M. S., et al.
(författare)
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ALMA sub-mm maser and dust distribution of VY Canis Majoris
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 572
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. Cool, evolved stars have copious, enriched winds. Observations have so far not fully constrained models for the shaping and acceleration of these winds. We need to understand the dynamics better, from the pulsating stellar surface to similar to 10 stellar radii, where radiation pressure on dust is fully effective. Asymmetric nebulae around some red supergiants imply the action of additional forces. Methods. We retrieved ALMA Science Verification data providing images of sub-mm line and continuum emission from VY CMa. This enables us to locate water masers with milli-arcsec accuracy and to resolve the dusty continuum. Results. The 658, 321, and 325 GHz masers lie in irregular, thick shells at increasing distances from the centre of expansion. For the first time this is confirmed as the stellar position, coinciding with a compact peak offset to the NW of the brightest continuum emission. The maser shells overlap but avoid each other on scales of up to 10 au. Their distribution is broadly consistent with excitation models but the conditions and kinematics are complicated by wind collisions, clumping, and asymmetries.
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| 2. |
- Richards, A. M. S., et al.
(författare)
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Sub-mm maser VLBI: How do stellar winds break free from the star's gravity?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of Science. - 1824-8039.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sub-mm VLBI with ALMA will be a superb tool for imaging masers, as well as its capabilities as the "Event Horizon Telescope". Individual masing clouds will be resolved in multiple velocity channels, providing both beamed and unbeamed sizes. The relationship between beaming and intensity can then be used to distinguish between steady or turbulent and shocked outflows. Sub-au resolution will also confirm which transitions are co-spatial or segregated, compared with maser models predicting the required small-scale variations in density, temperature, velocity structure and radiation field. This will be aided further by micro-arcsec cm-wave maser results which are already starting to appear from RadioAstron. ALMA by itself will resolve the overall structure and differing extents of the various maser species, along with thermal lines, dust and continuum. Science verification data has already provided the first-ever resolved images of sub-mm water masers and continuum around an evolved star (VY CMa), showing that the high excitation lines are surprisingly extended. This requires local heating, maybe shocks, at many tens of stellar radii. These lines straddle the dust formation zone and future higher resolution observations will also resolve dust clumps and measure their acceleration. Such studies are vital to understanding how material ejected from cool stars breaks free from the stellar gravity, and the role of dust in this process.
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| 3. |
- Robishaw, T., et al.
(författare)
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Measuring magnetic fields near and far with the SKA via the zeeman effect
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of Science. - 1824-8039. ; 9-13-June-2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The measurement of Zeeman splitting in spectral lines-both in emission and absorption-can provide direct estimates of the magnetic field strength and direction in atomic and molecular clouds, both in our own MilkyWay and in external galaxies. This method will probe the magnetic field in the warm and cold neutral components of the interstellar medium, providing a complement to the extensive SKA Faraday studies planning to probe the field in the ionized components.
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