T Tauri stars as $\gamma$-ray source in the Rho Ophiuchi region

TL;DR

This study suggests that T Tauri stars in the Rho Ophiuchi region could be the source of an unidentified gamma-ray emission detected by Fermi, based on spectral modeling and luminosity estimates.

Contribution

It provides the first modeling of gamma-ray emission from T Tauri stars in Rho Ophiuchi, linking stellar activity to gamma-ray sources.

Findings

Gamma-ray luminosity matches observed Fermi source

T Tauri stars can produce significant gamma-ray emission

Spectral energy distribution modeling supports the association

Abstract

More than 30 % of $\gamma$-ray sources detected in the last source catalog of the Fermi satellite have no observational counterpart at other frequencies. A significant fraction of these sources is positionally in agreement with star-forming regions dominated by associations of T Tauri stars. Rho Ophiuchi, which is one of the closest star-forming regions, matches the unidentified Fermi source 4FGL J1625.3-2338. In this work we modeled the spectral energy distribution considering some dominant radiative processes in T Tauri stars. Accounting for a total of 22 Class III T Tauri stars in the region, integrated $\gamma$-ray luminosity in the 100 MeV to 100 GeV energy range is consistent with the observed in the catalog for the 4FGL J1625.3-2338 source.