Disks around massive young stellar objects: are they common?
Abstract
We present K-band polarimetric images of several massive young stellar objects at resolutions 0.1-0.5 arcsec. The polarization vectors around these sources are nearly centro-symmetric, indicating they are dominating the illumination of each field. Three out of the four sources show elongated low-polarization structures passing through the centers, suggesting the presence of polarization disks. These structures and their surrounding reflection nebulae make up bipolar outflow/disk systems, supporting the collapse/accretion scenario as their low-mass siblings. In particular, S140 IRS1 show well defined outflow cavity walls and a polarization disk which matches the direction of previously observed equatorial disk wind, thus confirming the polarization disk is actually the circumstellar disk. To date, a dozen massive protostellar objects show evidence for the existence of disks; our work add additional samples around MYSOs equivalent to early B-type stars.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0801.1164,
title = {Disks around massive young stellar objects: are they common?},
author = {Zhibo Jiang and Motohide Tamura and Melvin G. Hoare and Yongqiang Yao and Miki Ishii and Min Fang and Ji Yang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0801.1164},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
9 pages, including 2 figures, 1 table, to appear on ApJL