The Bipolar X-Ray Jet of the Classical T Tauri Star DG Tau

TL;DR

This paper presents new X-ray observations of the classical T Tauri star DG Tau, revealing a moving, fading jet and a stationary brightening source near the star, providing insights into jet dynamics and origins.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spatially resolved X-ray study of DG Tau's jet and jet base, showing temporal changes and characterizing the emission properties.

Findings

The X-ray jet has moved and faded over six years.

A stationary, soft X-ray source near the star has brightened.

Temperatures and absorption columns were accurately measured.

Abstract

We report on new X-ray observations of the classical T Tauri star DG Tau. DG Tau drives a collimated bi-polar jet known to be a source of X-ray emission perhaps driven by internal shocks. The rather modest extinction permits study of the jet system to distances very close to the star itself. Our initial results presented here show that the spatially resolved X-ray jet has been moving and fading during the past six years. In contrast, a stationary, very soft source much closer (~ 0.15-0.2") to the star but apparently also related to the jet has brightened during the same period. We report accurate temperatures and absorption column densities toward this source, which is probably associated with the jet base or the jet collimation region.