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The disk-outflow connection plays a key role in extracting excess angular momentum from a forming protostar. We have previously reported the discovery of a small molecular outflow from the edge-on T Tauri star in the Bok globule CB26 that shows a peculiar velocity pattern, reminiscent of an outflow that corotates with the disk. We report new, high-resolution mm-interferometric observations of CB26 with the aim of revealing the morphology and kinematics of the outflow at the disk-outflow interface. The IRAM PdBI was used to observe CO(2-1) at 1.3mm with a resolution of 0.5". Using a physical model of the disk, which was derived from the dust emission, we employed chemo-dynamical modeling combined with line radiative transfer to constrain kinematic parameters and to construct a model of the CO emission from the disk that allowed us to separate the emission of the disk from that of the outflow. Our observations confirm the disk-wind nature of the rotating molecular outflow from CB26. The new high-resolution data reveal an X-shaped morphology of the CO emission close to the disk, and vertical streaks extending from the disk surface with a small half-opening angle of ~7deg, which can be traced out to vertical heights of ~500au. We interpret this emission as the combination of the disk atmosphere and a well-collimated disk wind, which we trace down to vertical heights of 40au, where it is launched from the surface of the flared disk at radii of 20-45au. The observed CO outflow has a total momentum flux of 1e-5 Msun km/s/yr, which is nearly three orders of magnitude larger than the maximum thrust that can be provided by the luminosity of the central star. We conclude that photoevaporation cannot be the main driving mechanism for this outflow, but it must be predominantly an MHD disk wind. It is thus far the best-resolved rotating disk wind observed to be launched from a circumstellar disk., Comment: Accepted by A&A, 25 pages, 19 figures

The thermal instability of accretion disks is widely used to explain the activity of cataclysmic variables, but its development in protoplanetary disks has been studied in less detail. We present a semi-analytical stationary model for calculating the midplane temperature of a gas and dust disk around a young star. The model takes into account gas and dust opacities, as well as the evaporation of dust at temperatures above 1000 K. Using this model, we calculate the midplane temperature distributions of the disk under various assumptions about the source of opacity and the presence of dust. We show that when all considered processes are taken into account, the heat balance equation in the region r<1 au has multiple temperature solutions. Thus, the conditions for thermal instability are met in this region. To illustrate the possible influence of instability on the accretion state in a protoplanetary disk, we consider a viscous disk model with alpha parameterization of turbulent viscosity. We show that in such a model the disk evolution is non-stationary, with alternating phases of accumulation of matter in the inner disk and its rapid accretion onto the star, leading to an episodic accretion pattern. These results indicate that this instability needs to be taken into account in evolutionary models of protoplanetary disks., Comment: Published in Astronomy Reports Vol. 67, No. 5, pp. 470-482 (2023)

We present a model for the transport of anisotropic turbulence in an accretion disc. The model uses the Reynolds stress tensor approach in the mean field approximation. To study the role of convection in a protoplanetary disc, we combine the turbulence model with a radiative transfer calculation, and also include convection using the mixing length approximation. We find that the turbulence generated by convection causes the angular momentum of the accretion disc to be directed outwards. We also confirm the conclusions of other authors that turbulent convection is unable to provide the observed disc accretion rates as well as a heat source sufficient for the convection to be self-sustaining. The reasons for the latter are the strong anisotropy of the turbulence together with the low efficiency of the energy transfer from the background velocity shear to the turbulent stress tensor., Comment: MNRAS accepted | 15 pages, 8 figures

Expansion of wind-blown bubbles or HII regions lead to formation of shocks in the interstellar medium, which compress surrounding gas into dense layers. We made spatially and velocity-resolved observations of the RCW~120 PDR and nearby molecular gas with CO(6-5) and 13CO(6-5) lines and distinguished a bright CO-emitting layer, which we related with the dense shocked molecular gas moving away from the ionizing star due to expansion of HII region. Simulating gas density and temperature, as well as brightness of several CO and C+ emission lines from the PDR, we found reasonable agreement with the observed values. Analysing gas kinematics, we revealed the large-scale shocked PDR and also several dense environments of embedded protostars and outflows. We observe the shocked layer as the most regular structure in the CO(6-5) map and in the velocity space, when the gas around YSOs is dispersed by the outflows., Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS

Theoretical models predict that the obscuration of stellar radiation by irregularities on the surface of a protoplanetary disk can cause self-generating waves traveling towards the star. However, this process is traditionally simulated using the 1+1D approach, the key approximations of which - vertical hydrostatic equilibrium of the disk and vertical diffusion of IR radiation - can distort the picture. This article presents a two-dimensional radiative hydrodynamic model of the evolution of an axially symmetric gas and dust disk. Within this model, but using simplified assumptions from 1+1D models, we have reproduced the spontaneous generation and propagation of thermal surface waves. The key conclusion of our work is that taking into account two-dimensional hydrodynamics and diffusion of IR radiation suppresses the spontaneous generation and development of thermal waves observed in the 1+1D approximation. The search for the possibility of the existence of surface thermal waves should be continued by studying the problem for various parameters of protoplanetary disks., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy Reports (2022)

Heating by the central star is one of the key factors determining the physical structure of protoplanetary disks. Due to the large optical thickness in the radial direction, disk midplane regions are heated by the infrared radiation from the disk surface (atmosphere), which in turn is directly heated by the star. It was previously shown that interception of the stellar radiation by inhomogeneities on the disk surface can cause perturbations that propagate towards the star. In this work, we investigate the occurrence of such waves within a detailed 1+1D numerical model of the protoplanetary disk. We confirm the previous findings that in the disk, that is optically thick to its own radiation, the surface perturbations indeed occur and propagate towards the star. However, contrary to some analytical predictions, the thermal waves in sufficiently massive disks affect only the upper layers without significant fluctuations of temperature in the midplane. Our results indicate the need to study this instability within more consistent hydrodynamic models., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy Reports (2022)

Modeling the outflow of planetary atmospheres is important for understanding the evolution of exoplanet systems and for interpreting their observations. Modern theoretical models of exoplanet atmospheres become increasingly detailed and multicomponent, and this makes difficulties for engaging new researchers in the scope. Here, for the first time, we present the results of testing the gas-dynamic method incorporated in our aeronomic model, which has been proposed earlier. Undertaken tests support the correctness of the method and validate its applicability. For modeling the planetary wind, we propose a new hydrodynamic model equipped with a phenomenological function of heating by stellar UV radiation. The general flow in this model well agrees with results obtained in more detailed aeronomic models. The proposed model can be used for both methodical purposes and testing the gas-dynamic modules of self-consistent chemical-dynamic models of the planetary wind., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy Reports (2021)

The topic of the present study is combining a dynamic model of a protoplanetary disk with the computations of radiation transfer for obtaining synthetic spectra and disk images suitable for immediate comparison of the model with observations. Evolution of the disk was computed using the FEOSAD hydrodynamic model, which includes a self-consistent calculation of the dynamics of dust and gas in the 2D thin disk approximation. Radiation transfer was simulated by the open code RADMC-3D. Three phases of disk evolution were considered: a young gravitationally unstable disk, a disk during an accretion luminosity burst, and an evolved disk. For these stages, the influence of various processes upon the disk's thermal structure was analyzed, as well as the differences between the temperatures obtained in the initial dynamic model and in the model with a detailed calculation of the radiation transfer. It is shown that viscous heating in the inner regions and adiabatic heating in the disk spirals can be important sources of heating. On the basis of the calculated spectral energy distributions, using SED-fitter software package used for the observations, physical parameters of the model disks were reconstructed. A significant spread between reconstructed parameters and initial characteristics of the disk indicates verification necessity of the models within the framework of spatially resolved observations of disks in the different spectral ranges

In this article, we proceed to study convection as a possible factor of episodic accretion in protoplanetary disks. Within the model presented in Article~I, the accretion history is analyzed at different rates and areas of matter inflow from the envelope onto the disk. It is shown that the burst-like regime occurs in a wide range of parameters. The long-term evolution of the disk is also modeled, including the decreasing-with-time matter inflow from the envelope. It is demonstrated that the disk becomes convectively unstable and maintains burst-like accretion onto the star for several million years. Meanwhile, the instability expands to an area of several tens of astronomical units and gradually decreases with time. It is also shown that at early stages in the disk evolution, conditions arise for gravitational instability in the outer parts of the disk and for dust evaporation in the convectively unstable inner regions. The general conclusion of the study is that convection can serve as one of the mechanisms of episodic accretion in protostellar disks, but this conclusion needs to be verified using more consistent hydrodynamic models.

The aim of the present work is to study structure and gas kinematics in the photodissociation regions (PDRs) around the compact HII regions S235A and S235C. We observe the [CII], [13CII] and [OI] line emission, using SOFIA/upGREAT and complement them by data of HCO+ and CO. We use the [13CII] line to measure the optical depth of the [CII] emission, and find that the [CII] line profiles are influenced by self-absorption, while the [13CII] line remains unaffected by these effects. Hence, for dense PDRs, [13CII] emission is a better tracer of gas kinematics. The optical depth of the [CII] line is up to 10 in S235A. We find an expanding motion of the [CII]-emitting layer of the PDRs into the front molecular layer in both regions. Comparison of the gas and dust columns shows that gas components visible neither in the [CII] nor in low-J CO lines may contribute to the total column across S235A. We test whether the observed properties of the PDRs match the predictions of spherical models of expanding HII region + PDR + molecular cloud. Integrated intensities of the [13CII], [CII] and [OI] lines are well-represented by the model, but the models do not reproduce the double-peaked [CII] line profiles due to an insufficient column density of C+. The model predicts that the [OI] line could be a more reliable tracer of gas kinematics, but the foreground self-absorbing material does not allow using it in the considered regions., Comment: accepted to MNRAS

We study whether polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be a weighty source of small hydrocarbons in photo-dissociation regions (PDRs). We modeled the evolution of 20 specific PAH molecules in terms of dehydrogenation and destruction of the carbon skeleton under the physical conditions of two well-studied PDRs, the Orion Bar and the Horsehead nebula which represent prototypical examples of PDRs irradiated by "high" and "low" ultraviolet radiation field. PAHs are described as microcanonical systems. The acetylene molecule is considered as the main carbonaceous fragment of the PAH dissociation as it follows from laboratory experiments and theory. We estimated the rates of acetylene production in gas phase chemical reactions and compared them with the rates of the acetylene production through the PAH dissociation. It is found that the latter rates can be higher than the former rates in the Orion Bar at $A_{\rm V}<1$ and also at $A_{\rm V}>3.5$. In the Horsehead nebula, the chemical reactions provide more acetylene than the PAH dissociation. The produced acetylene participate in the reactions of the formation of small hydrocarbons (C$_2$H, C$_3$H, C$_3$H$^{+}$, C$_3$H$_2$, C$_4$H). Acetylene production via the PAH destruction may increase the abundances of small hydrocarbons produced in gas phase chemical reactions in the Orion Bar only at $A_{\rm V}>3.5$. In the Horsehead nebula, the contribution of PAHs to the abundances of the small hydrocarbons is negligible. We conclude that the PAHs are not a major source of small hydrocarbons in both PDRs except some locations in the Orion Bar., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. 13 pages, 10 figures

The role of convection in the gas-dust accretion disk around a young star is studied. The evolution of a Keplerian disk is modeled using the Pringle equation, which describes the time variations of the surface density under the action of turbulent viscosity. The distributions of the density and temperature in the polar directions are computed simultaneously in the approximation that the disk is hydrostatically stable. The computations of the vertical structure of the disk take into account heating by stellar radiation, interstellar radiation, and viscous heating. The main factor governing evolution of the disk in this model is the dependence of the viscosity coefficient on the radius of the disk. The computations of this coefficient take into account the background viscosity providing the continuous accretion of the gas and the convective viscosity, which depends on the parameters of the convection at a given radius. The results of computations of the global evolution and morphology of the disk obtained in this approach are presented. It is shown that, in the adopted model, the accretion has burst-like character: after the inner part of the disk ( R < 3 AU) is filled with matter, this material is relatively fast discharged onto the star, after which the process is repeated. Our results may be useful for explaining the activity of young FU Ori and EX Lup objects. It is concluded that convection may be one of the mechanisms responsible for the non-steady pattern of accretion in protostellar disks., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy Reports

The H II region RCW120 is a well-known object, which is often considered as a target to verify theoretical models of gas and dust dynamics in the interstellar medium. However, the exact geometry of RCW120 is still a matter of debate. In this work, we analyse observational data on molecular emission in RCW120 and show that 13CO(2-1) and C18O(2-1) lines are fitted by a 2D model representing a ring-like face-on structure. The changing of the C18O(3-2) line profile from double-peaked to single-peaked from the dense molecular Condensation 1 might be a signature of stalled expansion in this direction. In order to explain a self-absorption dip of the 13CO(2-1) and 13CO(3-2) lines, we suggest that RCW120 is surrounded by a diffuse molecular cloud, and find confirmation of this cloud on a map of interstellar extinction. Optically thick 13CO(2-1) emission and the infrared 8 um PAH band form a neutral envelope of the H II region resembling a ring, while the envelope breaks into separate clumps on images made with optically thin C18O(2-1) line and far-infrared dust emission., Comment: accepted to MNRAS

A self-consistent, aeronomic model of the upper atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" including reactions involving suprathermal photoelectrons is presented. This model is used to compute the height profiles of the gas density, velocity, and temperature in the atmosphere of the exoplanet HD 209458b. It is shown that including suprathermal electrons when computing the heating and cooling functions reduces the mass loss rate of the atmosphere by a factor of five., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy Reports, 6 pages, 4 figures

In this paper, we extend the study initiated in PaperI by modelling grain ensemble evolution in a dynamical model of an expanding HII region and checking the effects of momentum transfer from dust to gas. The radiation pressure on the dust, the dust drift, and the lug on the gas by the dust are all important process that should be considered simultaneously to describe the dynamics of HII regions. With accounting for the momentum transfer from the dust to the gas, the expansion time of the HII region is notably reduced (for our model of RCW120, the time to reach the observed radius of the HII region is reduced by a factor of 1.5). Under the common approximation of frozen dust, where there is no relative drift between the dust and gas, the radiation pressure from the ionizing star drives the formation of the very deep gas cavity near the star. Such a cavity is much less pronounced when the dust drift is taken into account. The dust drift leads to the two-peak morphology of the dust density distribution and significantly reduces the dust-to-gas ratio in the ionized region (by a factor of 2 to 10). The dust-to-gas ratio is larger for higher temperatures of the ionizing star since the dust grains have a larger electric charge and are more strongly coupled to the gas., Comment: accepted to MNRAS

We present a method that can be used to recover the spectrum of turbulence from observations of optically thin emission lines formed in astrophysical disks. Within this method we analyze how line intensity fluctuations depend on the angular resolution of the instrument, used for the observations. The method allows us to restore the slope of the power spectrum of velocity turbulent pulsations and estimate the upper boundary of the turbulence scale., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 14 pages, 7 figures

We consider dust drift under the influence of stellar radiation pressure during the pressure-driven expansion of an HII region using the chemo-dynamical model MARION. Dust size distribution is represented by four dust types: conventional polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), very small grains (VSGs), big grains (BGs) and also intermediate-sized grains (ISGs), which are larger than VSGs and smaller than BGs. The dust is assumed to move at terminal velocity determined locally from the balance between the radiation pressure and gas drag. As Coulomb drag is an important contribution to the overall gas drag, we evaluate a grain charge evolution within the HII region for each dust type. BGs are effectively swept out of the HII region. The spatial distribution of ISGs within the HII region has a double peak structure, with a smaller inner peak and a higher outer peak. PAHs and VSGs are mostly coupled to the gas. The mean charge of PAHs is close to zero, so they can become neutral from time to time because of charge fluctuations. These periods of neutrality occur often enough to cause the removal of PAHs from the very interior of the HII region. For VSGs, the effect of charge fluctuations is less pronounced but still significant. We conclude that accounting for charge dispersion is necessary to describe the dynamics of small grains., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 12 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables

A numerical hydrodynamical model for the evolution of spherically symmetric collapsing clouds, designed for the calculation of the thermal structure of these objects in both the prestellar and protostellar stages of their evolution, is presented. Distinctive features of the model include the possibility of independently describing the temperatures of the gas and dust, which is extremely important when calculating the thermal structure of prestellar and protostellar clouds, and the account of the radiation flux from the central protostar. This model is used to compare the theoretical density and temperature distributions with observations for nearby sites of star formation obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory. Application of the diffusion approximation with a flux limiter describes well the radial density and temperature distributions in protostellar clouds. However, significant differences between the model and observational density profiles were found for prestellar stages, suggesting the presence of appreciable deviations from equilibrium in the prestellar clouds. An approximate method for calculating the thermal structure of a cloud based on the adaptive $\tau$-approximation is presented. Application of the $\tau$-approximation yields good agreement with the diffusion approximation for the prestellar phase, but produces appreciable discrepancies for the protostellar phase, when the thermal structure of the accreting envelope is determined by the radiation of the protostar.

Seven isolated, nearby low-mass starless molecular cloud cores have been observed as part of the Herschel key program Earliest Phases of Star formation (EPoS). By applying a ray-tracing technique to the obtained continuum emission and complementary (sub)mm emission maps, we derive the physical structure (density, dust temperature) of these cloud cores. We present observations of the 12CO, 13CO, and C18O (2-1) and N2H+ (1-0) transitions towards the same cores. Based on the density and temperature profiles, we apply time-dependent chemical and line-radiative transfer modeling and compare the modeled to the observed molecular emission profiles. CO is frozen onto the grains in the center of all cores in our sample. The level of CO depletion increases with hydrogen density and ranges from 46% up to more than 95% in the core centers in the core centers in the three cores with the highest hydrogen density. The average hydrogen density at which 50% of CO is frozen onto the grains is 1.1+-0.4 10^5 cm^-3. At about this density, the cores typically have the highest relative abundance of N2H+. The cores with higher central densities show depletion of N2H+ at levels of 13% to 55%. The chemical ages for the individual species are on average 2+-1 10^5 yr for 13CO, 6+-3 10^4 yr for C18O, and 9+-2 10^4 yr for N2H+. Chemical modeling indirectly suggests that the gas and dust temperatures decouple in the envelopes and that the dust grains are not yet significantly coagulated. We observationally confirm chemical models of CO-freezeout and nitrogen chemistry. We find clear correlations between the hydrogen density and CO depletion and the emergence of N2H+. The chemical ages indicate a core lifetime of less than 1 Myr., Comment: 24 pages, 25 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

The abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in low- and high-metallicity galaxies has been widely discussed since the time when detailed infrared data for extragalactic objects were first obtained. On the scales of entire galaxies, a smaller PAH abundance in lower-metallicity galaxies is often observed. We study this relationship for star-forming regions in nearby galaxies, for a sample containing more than 200 HII complexes, using spatially-resolved observations from the Herschel Space Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope. We use a model for the dust emission to estimate the physical parameters (PAH abundance, metallicity, ultraviolet radiation field, etc.) of these complexes. The same correlation of PAH abundance with metallicity, as seen for entire galaxies, is apparently preserved at smaller scales, at least when the Kobulnicky & Kewley metallicity calibration is used. We discuss possible reasons for this correlation, noting that traces of less-effective PAH formation in low-metallicity AGB stars should be smeared out by radial mixing in galactic disks. Effective destruction by the harder and more intensive ultraviolet field in low-metallicity environments is qualitatively consistent with our data, as the ultraviolet field intensity, derived from the infrared photometry, is indeed smaller in HII complexes with lower metallicity., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS, 14 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables

Observations of the circumstellar disk in the Bok globule CB 26 at 110, 230, and 270 GHz are presented together with the results of the simulations and estimates of the disk parameters. These observations were obtained using the SMA, IRAM Plateau de Bure, and OVRO interferometers. The maps have relatively high angular resolutions (0.4-1"), making it possible to study the spatial structure of the gas-dust disk. The disk parameters are reconstructed via a quantitative comparison of observational and theoretical intensity maps. The disk model used to construct the theoretical maps is based on the assumption of hydrostatic and radiative equilibrium in the vertical direction, while the radial surface density profile is described phenomenologically. The system of equations for the transfer of the infrared and ultraviolet radiation is solved in the vertical direction, in order to compute the thermal structure of the disk. The disk best-fit parameters are derived for each map and all the maps simultaneously, using a conjugate gradient method. The degrees of degeneracy of the parameters describing the thermal structure and density distribution of the disk are analyzed in detail. All three maps indicate the presence of an inner dust-free region with a radius of approximately 35 AU, in agreement with the conclusions of other studies. The inclination of the disk is 78 deg, which is smaller than the value adopted in our earlier study of rotating molecular outflows from CB 26. The model does not provide any evidence for the growth of dust particles above a_max=0.02 cm., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables

We present a self-consistent model of a protoplanetary disk: 'ANDES' ('AccretioN disk with Dust Evolution and Sedimentation'). ANDES is based on a flexible and extendable modular structure that includes 1) a 1+1D frequency-dependent continuum radiative transfer module, 2) a module to calculate the chemical evolution using an extended gas-grain network with UV/X-ray-driven processes surface reactions, 3) a module to calculate the gas thermal energy balance, and 4) a 1+1D module that simulates dust grain evolution. For the first time, grain evolution and time-dependent molecular chemistry are included in a protoplanetary disk model. We find that grain growth and sedimentation of large grains to the disk midplane lead to a dust-depleted atmosphere. Consequently, dust and gas temperatures become higher in the inner disk (R < 50 AU) and lower in the outer disk (R > 50 AU), in comparison with the disk model with pristine dust. The response of disk chemical structure to the dust growth and sedimentation is twofold. First, due to higher transparency a partly UV-shielded molecular layer is shifted closer to the dense midplane. Second, the presence of big grains in the disk midplane delays the freeze-out of volatile gas-phase species such as CO there, while in adjacent upper layers the depletion is still effective. Molecular concentrations and thus column densities of many species are enhanced in the disk model with dust evolution, e.g., CO2, NH2CN, HNO, H2O, HCOOH, HCN, CO. We also show that time-dependent chemistry is important for a proper description of gas thermal balance., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 25 pages, 20 figures, 1 table

Stochastic heating of small grains is often mentioned as a primary cause of large infrared (IR) fluxes from star-forming galaxies, e.g. at 24\mu m. If the mechanism does work at a galaxy-wide scale, it should show up at smaller scales as well. We calculate temperature probability density distributions within a model protostellar core for four dust components: large silicate and graphite grains, small graphite grains, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon particles. The corresponding spectral energy distributions are calculated and compared with observations of a representative infrared dark cloud core. We show that stochastic heating, induced by the standard interstellar radiation field, cannot explain high mid-IR emission toward the centre of the core. In order to reproduce the observed emission from the core projected centre, in particular, at 24\mu m, we need to increase the ambient radiation field by a factor of about 70. However, the model with enhanced radiation field predicts even higher intensities at the core periphery, giving it a ring-like appearance, that is not observed. We discuss possible implications of this finding and also discuss a role of other non-radiative dust heating processes., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We study details of the UV radiation transfer in a protoplanetary disk, paying attention to the influence of dust growth and sedimentation on the disk density and temperature. Also, we show how the dust evolution affects photoreaction rates of key molecules, like CN and CS., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science (2011)

A one-dimensional method for reconstructing the structure of prestellar and protostellar clouds is presented. The method is based on radiative transfer computations and a comparison of theoretical and observed intensity distributions at both millimeter and infrared wavelengths. The radiative transfer of dust emission is modeled for specified parameters of the density distribution, central star, and external background, and the theoretical distribution of the dust temperature inside the cloud is determined. The intensity distributions at millimeter and IR wavelengths are computed and quantitatively compared with observational data. The best-fit model parameters are determined using a genetic minimization algorithm, which makes it possible to reveal the ranges of parameter degeneracy as well. The method is illustrated by modeling the structure of the two infrared dark clouds IRDC-320.27+029 (P2) and IRDC-321.73+005 (P2). The derived density and temperature distributions can be used to model the chemical structure and spectral maps in molecular lines., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy Reports

A physical model and two-dimensional numerical method for computing the evolution and spectra of protostellar clouds are described. The physical model is based on a system of magneto-gasdynamical equations, including ohmic and ambipolar diffusion, and a scheme for calculating the thermal and ionization structure of a cloud. The dust and gas temperatures are determined during the calculations of the thermal structure of the cloud. The results of computing the dynamical and thermal structure of the cloud are used to model the radiative transfer in continuum and in molecular lines. We presented the results for clouds in hydrostatic and thermal equilibrium. The evolution of a rotating magnetic protostellar cloud starting from a quasi-static state is also considered. Spectral maps for optically thick lines of linear molecules are analyzed. We have shown that the influence of the magnetic field and rotation can lead to a redistribution of angular momentum in the cloud and the formation of a characteristic rotational velocity structure. As a result, the distribution of the velocity centroid of the molecular lines can acquire an hourglass shape. We plan to use the developed program package together with a model for the chemical evolution to interpret and model observed starless and protostellar cores., Comment: Accepted to Astronomy Reports

The disk-outflow connection is thought to play a key role in extracting excess angular momentum from a forming proto-star. Though jet rotation has been observed in a few objects, no rotation of molecular outflows has been unambiguously reported so far. We report new millimeter-interferometric observations of the edge-on T Tauri star - disk system in the isolated Bok globule CB26. The aim of these observations was to study the disk-outflow relation in this 1Myr old low-mass young stellar object. The IRAM PdBI array was used to observe 12CO(2-1) at 1.3mm in two configurations, resulting in spectral line maps with 1.5 arcsec resolution. We use an empirical parameterized steady-state outflow model combined with 2-D line radiative transfer calculations and chi^2-minimization in parameter space to derive a best-fit model and constrain parameters of the outflow. The data reveal a previously undiscovered collimated bipolar molecular outflow of total length ~2000 AU, escaping perpendicular to the plane of the disk. We find peculiar kinematic signatures that suggest the outflow is rotating with the same orientation as the disk. However, we could not ultimately exclude jet precession or two misaligned flows as possible origin of the observed peculiar velocity field. There is indirect indication that the embedded driving source is a binary system, which, together with the youth of the source, could provide the clue to the observed kinematic features of the outflow. CB26 is so far the most promising source to study the rotation of a molecular outflow. Assuming that the outflow is rotating, we compute and compare masses, mass flux, angular momenta, and angular momentum flux of disk and outflow and derive disk dispersal timescales of 0.5...1 Myr, comparable to the age of the system., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We investigate general aspects of molecular line formation under conditions which are typical of prestellar cores. Focusing on simple linear molecules, we study formation of their rotational lines by radiative transfer simulations. We present a thermalization diagram to show the effects of collisions and radiation on the level excitation. We construct a detailed scheme (contribution chart) to illustrate the formation of emission line profiles. This chart can be used as an efficient tool to identify which parts of the cloud contribute to a specific line profile. We show how molecular line characteristics for uniform model clouds depend on hydrogen density, molecular column density, and kinetic temperature. The results are presented in a 2D plane to illustrate cooperative effects of the physical factors. We also use a core model with a non-uniform density distribution and chemical stratification to study the effects of cloud contraction and rotation on spectral line maps. We discuss the main issues that should be taken into account when dealing with interpretation and simulation of observed molecular lines., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We consider current state of star formation theory and requirements to observations in millimeter and submillimeter ranges which are necessary for resolution of the most actual problems of the physics of star formation. Two key features of star-forming regions which define observational requirements to their studies, are relatively low energy of processes that take place there and smallness of corresponding spatial scales. This is especially true for the objects in the latest stages of ``pre-stellar'' evolution, that is, hot cores, hyper- and ultracompact HII regions, and protoplanetary disks. Angular resolution, sensitivity, and spectral coverage in existing projects of ground-based and space telescopes of submillimeter and millimeter range are not completely adequate to necessary requirements. To obtain detailed information on star-forming regions as well as on individual protostars it is necessary to employ a space-based interferometer., Comment: Astronomy Reports, in press, 14 pages, 3 figures

We predict how protoplanetary disks around low-mass young stars would appear in molecular lines observed with the ALMA interferometer. Our goal is to identify those molecules and transitions that can be used to probe and distinguish between chemical and physical disk structure and to define necessary requirements for ALMA observations. Disk models with and without vertical temperature gradient as well as with uniform abundances and those from a chemical network are considered. As an example, we show the channel maps of HCO$^+$(4-3) synthesized with a non-LTE line radiative transfer code and used as an input to the GILDAS ALMA simulator to produce noise-added realistic images. The channel maps reveal complex asymmetric patterns even for the model with uniform abundances and no vertical thermal gradient. We find that a spatial resolution of $0.2-0.5\arcsec$ and 0.5--10 hours of integration time will be needed to disentangle large-scale temperature gradients and the chemical stratification in disks in lines of abundant molecules., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication to ApJ Letters

We observed the Herbig Ae/Be stars UX Ori, HD 34282, HD 100453, HD 101412, HD 104237 and HD 142666, and the T Tauri star HD 319139 and searched for H2 0-0 S(2) emission at 12.278 micron and H2 0-0 S(1) emission at 17.035 micron with VISIR, ESO-VLT's high-resolution MIR spectrograph. None of the sources present evidence for H2 emission. Stringent 3sigma upper limits to the integrated line fluxes and the mass of optically thin warm gas in the disks are derived. The disks contain less than a few tenths of Jupiter mass of optically thin H2 gas at 150 K at most, and less than a few Earth masses of optically thin H2 gas at 300 K and higher temperatures. We compare our results to a Chiang and Goldreich (1997, CG97) two-layer disk model. The upper limits to the disk's optically thin warm gas mass are smaller than the amount of warm gas in the interior layer of the disk, but they are much larger than the amount of molecular gas in the surface layer. We present a calculation of the expected thermal H2 emission from optically thick disks, assuming a CG97 disk structure, a gas-to-dust ratio of 100 and Tgas = Tdust. The expected H2 thermal emission fluxes from typical disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars (10^-16 to 10^-17 erg/s/cm2 at 140 pc) are much lower than the detection limits of our observations (5*10^-15 erg/s/cm2). H2 emission levels are very sensitive to departures from the thermal coupling between the molecular gas and dust. Additional sources of heating of gas in the disk's surface layer could have a major impact on the expected H2 disk emission. In the observed sources the molecular gas and dust in the surface layer have not significantly departed from thermal coupling (Tgas/Tdust< 2) and that the gas-to-dust ratio in the surface layer is very likely lower than 1000., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted by A&A. v2: typo in footnote ** corrected, v3: corrections of the A&A language editor included, typo in title of Fig. 1. corrected

Molecular line observations of starless (prestellar) cores combined with a chemical evolution modeling and radiative transfer calculations are a powerful tool to study the earliest stages of star formation. However, conclusions drawn from such a modeling may noticeably depend on the assumed thermal structure of the cores. The assumption of isothermality, which may work well in chemo-dynamical studies, becomes a critical factor in molecular line formation simulations. We argue that even small temperature variations, which are likely to exist in starless cores, can have a non-negligible effect on the interpretation of molecular line data and derived core properties. In particular, ``chemically pristine'' isothermal cores (low depletion) can have centrally peaked C$^{18}$O and C$^{34}$S radial intensity profiles, while having ring-like intensity distributions in models with a colder center and/or warmer envelope assuming the same underlying chemical structure. Therefore, derived molecular abundances based on oversimplified thermal models may lead to a mis-interpretation of the line data., Comment: ApJL, accepted

We analyze the line radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks using several approximate methods and a well-tested Accelerated Monte Carlo code. A low-mass flaring disk model with uniform as well as stratified molecular abundances is adopted. Radiative transfer in low and high rotational lines of CO, C18O, HCO+, DCO+, HCN, CS, and H2CO is simulated. The corresponding excitation temperatures, synthetic spectra, and channel maps are derived and compared to the results of the Monte Carlo calculations. A simple scheme that describes the conditions of the line excitation for a chosen molecular transition is elaborated. We find that the simple LTE approach can safely be applied for the low molecular transitions only, while it significantly overestimates the intensities of the upper lines. In contrast, the Full Escape Probability (FEP) approximation can safely be used for the upper transitions ($J_{\rm up} \ga 3$) but it is not appropriate for the lowest transitions because of the maser effect. In general, the molecular lines in protoplanetary disks are partly subthermally excited and require more sophisticated approximate line radiative transfer methods. We analyze a number of approximate methods, namely, LVG, VEP (Vertical Escape Probability) and VOR (Vertical One Ray) and discuss their algorithms in detail. In addition, two modifications to the canonical Monte Carlo algorithm that allow a significant speed up of the line radiative transfer modeling in rotating configurations by a factor of 10--50 are described., Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The process of turbulent radial mixing in protoplanetary disks has strong relevance to the analysis of the spatial distribution of crystalline dust species in disks around young stars and to studies of the composition of meteorites and comets in our own solar system. A debate has gone on in the recent literature on the ratio of the effective viscosity coefficient $\nu$ (responsible for accretion) to the turbulent diffusion coefficient $D$ (responsible for mixing). Numerical magneto-hydrodynamic simulations have yielded values between $\nu/D\simeq 10$ (Carballido, Stone & Pringle, 2005) and $\nu/D\simeq 0.85$ (Johansen & Klahr, 2005}). Here we present two analytic arguments for the ratio $\nu/D=1/3$ which are based on elegant, though strongly simplified assumptions. We argue that whichever of these numbers comes closest to reality may be determined {\em observationally} by using spatially resolved mid-infrared measurements of protoplanetary disks around Herbig stars. If meridional flows are present in the disk, then we expect less abundance of crystalline dust in the surface layers, a prediction which can likewise be observationally tested with mid-infrared interferometers., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We present a detailed theoretical study of the isolated Bok globule CB17 (L1389) based on spectral maps of CS, HCO$^+$, C$^{18}$O, C$^{34}$S, and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ lines. A phenomenological model of prestellar core evolution, a time-dependent chemical model, and a radiative transfer simulation for molecular lines are combined to reconstruct the chemical and kinematical structure of this core. We developed a general criterion that allows to quantify the difference between observed and simulated spectral maps. By minimizing this difference, we find that very high and very low values of the effective sticking probability $S$ are not appropriate for the studied prestellar core. The most probable $S$ value for CB17 is 0.3--0.5. The spatial distribution of the intensities and self-absorption features of optically thick lines is indicative of UV irradiation of the core. By fitting simultaneously optically thin and optically thick transitions, we isolate the model that reproduces all the available spectral maps to a reasonable accuracy. The line asymmetry pattern in CB17 is reproduced by a combination of infall, rotation, and turbulent motions with velocities $\sim0.05$ km s$^{-1}$, $\sim0.1$ km s$^{-1}$, and $\sim0.1$ km s$^{-1}$, respectively. These parameters corresponds to energy ratios $E_{\rm rot}/E_{\rm grav}\approx0.03$, $E_{\rm therm}/E_{\rm grav}\approx0.8$, and $E_{\rm turb}/E_{\rm grav}\approx0.05$ (the rotation parameters are determined for $i=90^\circ$). The chemical age of the core is about 2 Myrs. In particular, this is indicated by the central depletion of CO, CS, and HCO$^+$. Based on the angular momentum value, we argue that the core is going to fragment, i.e., to form a binary (multiple) star. (abridged), Comment: ApJ, in press

(Abriged) We present the results of millimeter observations and a suitable chemical and radiative transfer model of the AB Aur (HD 31293) circumstellar disk and surrounding envelope. The integral molecular content of this system is studied by observing CO, C$^{18}$O, CS, HCO$^+$, DCO$^+$, H$_2$CO, HCN, HNC, and SiO rotational lines with the IRAM 30-m antenna, while the disk is mapped in the HCO$^+$(1-0) transition with the Plateau de Bure interferometer. Using a flared disk model with a vertical temperature gradient and an isothermal spherical envelope model with a shadowed midplane and two unshielded cones together with a gas-grain chemical network, time-dependent abundances of observationally important molecules are calculated. Then a 2D non-LTE line radiative transfer code is applied to compute excitation temperatures of several rotational transitions of HCO$^+$, CO, C$^{18}$O, and CS molecules. We synthesize the HCO$^+$(1-0) interferometric map along with single-dish CO(2-1), C$^{18}$O(2-1), HCO$^+$(1-0), HCO$^+$(3-2), CS(2-1), and CS(5-4) spectra and compared them with the observations. Our disk model successfully reproduces observed interferometric HCO$^+$(1-0) data, thereby constraining the following disk properties: (1) the inclination angle $\iota=17^{+6}_{-3}\degr$, (2) the position angle $\phi=80\pm30\degr$, (3) the size $R_\mathrm{out}=400\pm200$ AU, (4) the mass $M_\mathrm{disk}=1.3\cdot10^{-2} M_{\sun}$ (with a factor of $\sim7$ uncertainty), and (5) that the disk is in Keplerian rotation. Furthermore, indirect evidence for a local inhomogeneity of the envelope at $\ga600$ AU is found..., Comment: 62 pages, 13 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ