Revealing Ionization Conditions of Sz 102
with Spatially Resolved [Ne III] Microjets
Chun-Fan Liu1*, Hsien Shang1, Gregory J. Herczeg2, Frederick M. Walter3
1Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
2The Kavli Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing, China
3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
* Presenter:Chun-Fan Liu, email:cfliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw
Forbidden neon emission lines from small-scale microjets can probe high-energy processes in low-mass young stellar systems. We obtained spatially resolved [NeIII] spectra in the Sz 102 microjets using the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) at a spatial resolution of ∼ 0.′′1. The blueshifted and redshifted [Ne III] emission both peak in intensity within∼0.′′1 of the star and gradually decay along the flow outward to ∼ 0.′′24. The spatial distribution and extent of the [Ne III] microjet is consistent with the scenario that the jet is ionized close to the base and subsequently recombines with a recombination timescale longer than the flow time. CaII H and K lines are also detected from the redshifted microjet with a line width of ∼ 170 km s−1, atop a 300-km s−1 wide stellar component.The combined analysis of forbidden and permitted line emission depicts a scenario in which a wide-angle wind with axially stratified density is ionized most probably by keV X-rays generated by magnetic reconnection induced by star–disk interactions.


Keywords: Low-Mass Young Stars, Winds, Jets, and Outflows, X-rays