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Evidence for Magnetic Fields in the Outflow from T Tau S

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

T.P. Ray ,
T.W.B. Muxlow ,
D.J. Axon ,
A. Brown ,
D. Corcoran ,
J. E. Dyson  and
R. Mundt
T.P. Ray
Affiliation:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
T.W.B. Muxlow
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Laboratory, Jodrell Bank
D.J. Axon
Affiliation:
Space Sciences Division of ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
A. Brown
Affiliation:
Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado
D. Corcoran
Affiliation:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
J. E. Dyson
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds
R. Mundt
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg

Abstract

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We have observed at 5GHz the T Tau system with high resolution (≲0″.1) using the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer (MERLIN) based at Jodrell Bank. Both the optical star (T Tau N) and its well-known infrared companion (T Tau S) were detected. The radio emission from T Tau S was found to be roughly extended in the direction of what is thought to be its outflow axis. More importantly we discovered that this radio emission split up into two spatially separated lobes of opposite helicity in the left and right-circular polarization channels. The circularly polarized lobes appear to straddle the star so that the “flow” and the “counterflow” were of opposite helicity. Such observations are the first direct evidence for the presence of magnetic fields in extended outflows that we are aware of. The radio flux appears to be due to gyrosynchrotron emission from mildly relativistic electrons (γ≈2–3). These electrons may have been accelerated in shocks close to the source. Using reasonable assumptions, the inferred magnetic fields strengths are surprisingly large (≳ several gauss) at distances of approximately 10-20 AU from their source. This is consistent with the magnetic fields being part of a collimated flow.

Type
IV. Disks, Winds, and Magnetic Fields
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 182: Herbig-Haro Flows and the Birth of Low Mass Stars , 1997 , pp. 475 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1997 

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