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- Allaria, E., et al.
(author)
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Highly coherent and stable pulses from the FERMI seeded free-electron laser in the extreme ultraviolet
- 2012
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In: Nature Photonics. - 1749-4885. ; 6:10, s. 699-704
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Free-electron lasers (FELs) are promising devices for generating light with laser-like properties in the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray spectral regions. Recently, FELs based on the self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) mechanism have allowed major breakthroughs in diffraction and spectroscopy applications, despite the relatively large shot-to-shot intensity and photon-energy fluctuations and the limited longitudinal coherence inherent in the SASE mechanism. Here, we report results on the initial performance of the FERMI seeded FEL, based on the high-gain harmonic generation configuration, in which an external laser is used to initiate the emission process. Emission from the FERMI FEL-1 source occurs in the form of pulses carrying energy of several tens of microjoules per pulse and tunable throughout the 65 to 20 nm wavelength range, with unprecedented shot-to-shot wavelength stability, low-intensity fluctuations, close to transform-limited bandwidth, transverse and longitudinal coherence and full control of polarization.
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- Coutens, A., et al.
(author)
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VLA cm-wave survey of young stellar objects in the Oph A cluster: Constraining extreme UV- And X-ray-driven disk photoevaporation: A pathfinder for Square Kilometre Array studies
- 2019
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 631
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Observations of young stellar objects (YSOs) in centimeter bands can probe the continuum emission from growing dust grains, ionized winds, and magnetospheric activity that are intimately connected to the evolution of protoplanetary disks and the formation of planets. We carried out sensitive continuum observations toward the Ophiuchus A star-forming region, using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at 10 GHz over a field-of-view of 6′ and with a spatial resolution of θmaj ×θmin ∼ 0.′′4 × 0.′′2. We achieved a 5 μJy beam-1 rms noise level at the center of our mosaic field of view. Among the 18 sources we detected, 16 were YSOs (three Class 0, five Class I, six Class II, and two Class III) and two were extragalactic candidates. We find that thermal dust emission generally contributed less than 30% of the emission at 10 GHz. The radio emission is dominated by other types of emission, such as gyro-synchrotron radiation from active magnetospheres, free-free emission from thermal jets, free-free emission from the outflowing photoevaporated disk material, and synchrotron emission from accelerated cosmic-rays in jet or protostellar surface shocks. These different types of emission could not be clearly disentangled. Our non-detections for Class II/III disks suggest that extreme UV-driven photoevaporation is insufficient to explain disk dispersal, assuming that the contribution of UV photoevaporating stellar winds to radio flux does not evolve over time. The sensitivity of our data cannot exclude photoevaporation due to the role of X-ray photons as an efficient mechanism for disk dispersal. Deeper surveys using the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will have the capacity to provide significant constraints to disk photoevaporation.
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3. |
- Muro-Arena, G. A., et al.
(author)
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Spirals inside the millimeter cavity of transition disk SR 21
- 2020
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 636
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context. Hydrodynamical simulations of planet-disk interactions suggest that planets may be responsible for a number of the substructures frequently observed in disks in both scattered light and dust thermal emission. Despite the ubiquity of these features, direct evidence of planets embedded in disks and of the specific interaction features like spiral arms within planetary gaps are still rare.Aims. In this study we discuss recent observational results in the context of hydrodynamical simulations in order to infer the properties of a putative embedded planet in the cavity of a transition disk.Methods. We imaged the transition disk SR 21 in H-band in scattered light with SPHERE/IRDIS and in thermal dust emission with ALMA band 3 (3 mm) observations at a spatial resolution of 0.1 ''. We combine these datasets with existing Band 9 (430 mu m) and Band 7 (870 mu m) ALMA continuum data.Results. The Band 3 continuum data reveals a large cavity and a bright ring peaking at 53 au strongly suggestive of dust trapping. The ring shows a pronounced azimuthal asymmetry, with a bright region in the northwest that we interpret as a dust overdensity. A similarly asymmetric ring is revealed at the same location in polarized scattered light, in addition to a set of bright spirals inside the millimeter cavity and a fainter spiral bridging the gap to the outer ring. These features are consistent with a number of previous hydrodynamical models of planet-disk interactions, and suggest the presence of a similar to 1 M-Jup planet at 44 au and PA = 11 deg. This makes SR21 the first disk showing spiral arms inside the millimeter cavity, and the first disk for which the location of a putative planet can be precisely inferred.Conclusions. The main features of SR 21 in both scattered light and thermal emission are consistent with hydrodynamical predictions of planet-disk interactions. With the location of a possible planet being well constrained by observations, it is an ideal candidate for follow-up observations to search for direct evidence of a planetary companion still embedded in its disk.
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4. |
- Carniani, S., et al.
(author)
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Constraints on high-J CO emission lines in z similar to 6 quasars
- 2019
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In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 489:3, s. 3939-3952
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of eight highly excited CO (J(up) > 8) lines and continuum emission in two z similar to 6 quasars: SDSS J231038.88+185519.7 (hereafter J2310), for which CO(8-7), CO(9-8), and CO(17-16) lines have been observed, and ULAS J131911.29+095951.4 (J1319), observed in the CO(14-13), CO(17-16), and CO(19-18) lines. The continuum emission of both quasars arises from a compact region (<0.9 kpc). By assuming a modified blackbody law, we estimate dust masses of log(M-dust/M-circle dot) = 8.75 +/- 0.07 and log(M-dust/M-circle dot) = 8.8 +/- 0.2 and dust temperatures of T-dust = 76 +/- 3 K and T-dust = 66(-10)(+15) K, respectively, for J2310 and J1319. Only CO(8-7) and CO(9-8) in J2310 are detected, while 3 sigma upper limits on luminosities are reported for the other lines of both quasars. The CO line luminosities and upper limits measured in J2310 and J1319 are consistent with those observed in local active galactic nuclei and starburst galaxies, and other z similar to 6 quasars, except for SDSS J1148+5251 (J1148), the only quasar at z = 6.4 with a previous CO(17-16) line detection. By computing the CO spectral line energy distributions normalized to the CO(6-5) line and far-infrared luminosities for J2310, J1319, and J1148, we conclude that different gas heating mechanisms (X-ray radiation and/or shocks) may explain the different CO luminosities observed in these z similar to 6 quasar. Future J(up) > 8 CO observations will be crucial to understand the processes responsible for molecular gas excitation in luminous high-z quasars.
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6. |
- Testi, Leonardo, et al.
(author)
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Brown dwarf disks with ALMA: Evidence for truncated dust disks in Ophiuchus
- 2016
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 593
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- © ESO, 2016. Context. The study of the properties of disks around young brown dwarfs can provide important clues on the formation of these very low-mass objects and on the possibility of forming planetary systems around them. The presence of warm dusty disks around brown dwarfs is well known, based on near-and mid-infrared studies. Aims. High angular resolution observations of the cold outer disk are limited; we used ALMA to attempt a first survey of young brown dwarfs in the ρ Oph star-forming region. Methods. All 17 young brown dwarfs in our sample were observed at 890 μm in the continuum at 0."5 angular resolution. The sensitivity of our observations was chosen to detect ∼0.5 M⊕ of dust. Results. We detect continuum emission in 11 disks (∼65% of the total), and the estimated mass of dust in the detected disks ranges from ∼0.5 to ∼6 M⊕. These disk masses imply that planet formation around brown dwarfs may be relatively rare and that the supra-Jupiter mass companions found around some brown dwarfs are probably the result of a binary system formation. We find evidence that the two brightest disks in ρ Oph have sharp outer edges at R ≤ 25 AU, in contrast to disks around Taurus brown dwarfs. This difference may suggest that the different environment in ρ Oph may lead to significant differences in disk properties. A comparison of the Mdisk/M∗ ratio for brown dwarf and solar-mass systems also shows a possible deficit of mass in brown dwarfs, which could support the evidence for dynamical truncation of disks in the substellar regime. These findings are still tentative and need to be put on firmer grounds by studying the gaseous disks around brown dwarfs and by performing a more systematic and unbiased survey of the disk population around the more massive stars.
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