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| Paper: |
Hard X-ray Emission Associated with High-Mass Star Formation in the Young Stellar Cluster NGC 2071 |
| Volume: |
388, Mass Loss from Stars and the Evolution of Stellar Clusters |
| Page: |
421 |
| Authors: |
Skinner, S.L.; Audard, M.; Güdel, M.; Meyer, M.R.; Simmons, A.E. |
| Abstract: |
X-ray observations can penetrate high intervening extinction and are thus useful for probing physical conditions in young stellar clusters whose members are optically obscured. Such observations can provide information on magnetic processes at or near the surface of a formative (proto)-star and on mass-loss properties as diagnosed from X-ray emission associated with jets and shocked outflows. We present first results of X-ray observations of the embedded infrared cluster NGC 2071 in the Orion B molecular cloud with XMM-Newton. This cluster is of interest because it is one of the closest regions known to harbor high-mass protostars. We report the detection of hard X-ray emission from the dense central NGC 2071-IR subgroup which contains three massive protostars surrounded by ultracompact H II regions (IRS-1,2,3). The X-ray peak lies within ≈1″ of IRS-1, which drives one of the most powerful outflows known. The unusual X-ray spectrum shows a strong fluorescent Fe emission line at 6.4 keV superimposed on a hard continuum. This line is due to Fe I or weakly ionized Fe and likely originates in cold material near the protostar (i.e. a disk or envelope) that is irradiated by the hard central X-ray source. |
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