RW Aur A from the X-Wind Point of View: General Features

TL;DR

This study analyzes the RW Aur A microjet using X-wind models, comparing synthetic and observed spectra to explain asymmetric jet features and infer balanced momentum despite velocity differences.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the asymmetric features of RW Aur A's jet can be explained within the X-wind model, providing a self-consistent interpretation of observed asymmetries.

Findings

Asymmetric velocity profiles are consistent with X-wind models.

Line intensities and mass-loss rates are balanced when considering momentum.

Decreasing excitation conditions explain apparent mass-loss rate variations.

Abstract

In this paper, the RW Aur A microjet is studied from the point of view of X-wind models. The archived HST/STIS spectra of optical forbidden lines [O I], [S II], and [N II] from RW Aur A, taken in Cycle 8 with seven parallel slits along the jet axis, spaced at 0".07 apart, were analyzed. Images, position-velocity diagrams, and line ratios among the species were constructed, and compared with synthetic observations generated by selected solutions of the X-wind. Prominent features arising in a steady state X-wind could be identified within the convolved images, full-widths at half maxima and high-velocity peaks on both of the redshifted and blueshifted jets. The well-known asymmetric velocity profiles of the opposite jets are built into the selected models. We discuss model selections within the existing uncertainties of stellar parameters and inclination angle of the system. In this framework, the mass-loss rates that were inferred to be decreasing along the jet axis in the literature are the results of slowly decreasing excitation conditions and electron density profiles. Despite the apparent asymmetry in terminal velocities, line intensities and mass-loss rates, the average linear momenta from the opposite sides of the jet are actually balanced. These previously hard-to-explain features of the asymmetric RW Aur A jet system now find a different but self-consistent interpretation within the X-wind framework.