研究成果藝廊

The RW Aur A microjet is studied from the point of view of X-wind models. The archival Hubble Space Telescope/STIS spectra of the optical forbidden lines [O I], [S II], and [N II] from RW Aur A 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 and position-velocity diagrams, including FWHM and high-velocity peaks on both of the redshifted and blueshifted jets. The well-known asymmetric velocity profiles of the opposite jets were built into the selected models. Despite the apparent asymmetry in the 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 can now be interpreted in a different but self-consistent manner within the X-wind framework. (Liu & Shang 2012, ApJ, 761, 94)