Millimeter Recombination Lines from LkHalpha 101

TL;DR

This study presents new millimeter observations of the ionized wind from LkHalpha 101, revealing a slower wind velocity, a steep density gradient, and properties suggesting wind launching from a narrow disk region, advancing understanding of stellar wind evolution.

Contribution

First detection of multiple recombination lines in LkHalpha 101 at radio wavelengths, providing new insights into wind velocity, density structure, and emission properties of this young stellar object.

Findings

Wind expansion velocity is 55 km/s, slower than previously reported.

Density decreases more steeply than constant-velocity models predict.

Recombination lines are close to local thermal equilibrium, with impact broadening effects.

Abstract

We present new millimeter observations of the ionized wind from the massive young stellar object LkHalpha101, made with the IRAM interferometer and 30m telescope. Several recombination lines, including higher order transitions, were detected for the first time at radio wavelengths in this source. From three alpha-transitions we derive an accurate value for the stellar velocity and, for the first time, an unambiguous expansion velocity of the wind which is 55 km/s, much slower than reported previously, and the mass loss rate is 1.8e-6 solar masses per year. The wide band continuum spectra and the interferometer visibilities show that the density of the wind falls off more steeply than compatible with constant-velocity expansion. We argue that these properties indicate that the wind is launched from a radially narrow region of the circumstellar disk, and we propose that slow speed and a steep density gradient are characteristic properties of the evolutionary phase where young stars of intermediate and high mass clear away the gaseous component of their accretion disks. The recombination lines are emitted close to local thermal equilibrium, but the higher order transitions appear systematically broader and weaker than expected, probably due to impact broadening. Finally, we show that LkHalpha101 shares many properties with MWC349, the only other stellar wind source where radio recombination lines have been detected, some of them masing. We argue that LkHalpha101 evades masing at millimeter wavelengths because of the disk's smaller size and unfavorable orientation. Some amplification may however be detectable at shorter wavelengths.