Characterizing the X-Ray Emission of Intermediate-mass Pre-main-sequence Stars

Abstract

We use X-ray and infrared observations to study the properties of three classes of young stars in the Carina Nebula: intermediate-mass (2–5 M_⊙) pre-main-sequence stars (IMPS; i.e., intermediate-mass T Tauri stars), late-B and A stars on the zero-age main sequence (AB), and lower-mass T Tauri stars (TTS). We divide our sources among these three subclassifications and further identify disk-bearing young stellar objects versus diskless sources with no detectable infrared (IR) excess emission using IR (1–8 μm) spectral energy distribution modeling. We then perform X-ray spectral fitting to determine the hydrogen-absorbing column density (N_H), absorption-corrected X-ray luminosity (L_X), and coronal plasma temperature (kT) for each source. We find that the X-ray spectra of both IMPS and TTS are characterized by similar kT and N_H, and on average L_X/L_(bol) ∼ 4 × 10−4. IMPS are systematically more luminous in X-rays (by ∼0.3 dex) than all other subclassifications, with median L_X = 2.5 × 10³¹ erg s⁻¹, while AB stars of similar masses have X-ray emission consistent with TTS companions. These lines of evidence converge on a magnetocoronal flaring source for IMPS X-ray emission, a scaled-up version of the TTS emission mechanism. IMPS therefore provide powerful probes of isochronal ages for the first ∼10 Myr in the evolution of a massive stellar population, because their intrinsic, coronal X-ray emission decays rapidly after they commence evolving along radiative tracks. We suggest that the most luminous (in both X-rays and IR) IMPS could be used to place empirical constraints on the location of the intermediate-mass stellar birth line.

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