The interactions of winds from massive young stellar objects

TL;DR

This paper models the interaction of stellar and disk winds in massive young stellar objects, predicting X-ray emissions from shock-heated gas and comparing synthetic observations with real data to understand these complex systems.

Contribution

It introduces hydrodynamical and radiative transfer models to simulate wind-cavity interactions and produce synthetic X-ray observations for the first time.

Findings

Models successfully reproduce observed X-ray count rates.

Shock-heated gas produces detectable X-ray emissions.

Complex interplay between inflowing and outflowing material is revealed.

Abstract

The supersonic stellar and disk winds possessed by massive young stellar objects will produce shocks when they collide against the interior of a pre-existing bipolar cavity (resulting from an earlier phase of jet activity). The shock heated gas emits thermal X-rays which may be observable by spaceborne observa- tories such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Hydrodynamical models are used to explore the wind-cavity interaction. Radiative transfer calculations are performed on the simulation output to produce synthetic X-ray observations, allowing constraints to be placed on model parameters through comparisons with observations. The model reveals an intricate interplay between the inflowing and outflowing material and is successful in reproducing the observed X-ray count rates from massive young stellar objects.