Origin of the wide-angle hot H2 in DG Tauri: New insight from SINFONI spectro-imaging [SSA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.1160


We wish to test the origins proposed for the extended hot H2 at 2000K around the atomic jet from the T Tauri star DGTau, in order to constrain the wide-angle wind structure and the possible presence of an MHD disk wind. We present flux calibrated IFS observations in H2 1-0 S(1) obtained with SINFONI/VLT. Thanks to spatial deconvolution by the PSF and to accurate correction for uneven slit illumination, we performed a thorough analysis and modeled the morphology, kinematics, and surface brightness. We also compared our results with studies in [FeII], [OI], and FUV-pumped H2. The limb-brightened H2 emission in the blue lobe is strikingly similar to FUV-pumped H2 imaged 6yr later, confirming that they trace the same hot gas and setting an upper limit of 12km/s on any expansion proper motion. The wide-angle H2 rims are at lower blueshifts than probed by narrow long-slit spectra. We confirm that they extend to larger angle and to lower speed the onion-like velocity structure observed in optical atomic lines. The latter is shown to be steady over more/equal than 4yr but undetected in [FeII] by SINFONI, probably due to strong iron depletion. The H2 rim thickness less/equal than 14AU rules out excitation by C-shocks, and J-shock speeds are constrained to 10km/s. We find that explaining the H2 wide-angle emission with a shocked layer requires either a recent outburst (15yr) into a pre-existing ambient outflow or an excessive wind mass flux. A slow photoevaporative wind from the dense irradiated disk surface and an MHD disk wind heated by ambipolar diffusion seem to be more promising and need to be modeled in more detail.

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Thu, 6 Feb 14
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