Abstract
We present the result of a coherent search for the iron K α fluorescent line at ∼6.4 keV among 1616 X-ray sources detected by ultra-deep Chandra observations of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) - Chandra Orion Ultra-deep Project (COUP). Seven sources are identified to have an excess emission at 6.4 keV among 127 control sample sources with significant counts in the 6.0-9.0 keV band. These seven sources are considered to be young stellar objects (YSOs) belonging to ONC from their flare-like flux variation, thermal spectra, and near-infrared (NIR) or centimeter identifications. We discuss that the observed equivalent widths of the fluorescent line can not be accounted with the reflection by interstellar or circumstellar matter in the line of sight. The X-ray spectral fittings and NIR colors of the 6.4 keV sources show that these sources preferentially have X-ray absorption of >1 × 1022 cm-2 and NIR excess emission, which are not expected when the reflection occurs at the stellar photosphere. We therefore conclude that the iron fluorescent line of YSOs arises at disks, which are photoionized by the strong continuum emission from X-ray flares.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1005-1008 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP |
| Issue number | 560 II |
| State | Published - 2005 |
| Event | 13th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems and the Sun - Hamburg, Germany Duration: Jul 5 2004 → Jul 9 2004 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Aerospace Engineering
- Space and Planetary Science