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Photoionization of cool MHD disk winds

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Abstract

Recent ultraviolet observations point out that there is hot, dense plasma associated with the optical jet in some T Tauri stars. In this contribution, cool MHD disk wind physics is reviewed by means of a self-similar analytical model to analyze whether hot (Te ≃ 80,000 K) and dense (ne ≃ 109 cm-3) plasma can be produced in disk winds. It is shown that these high densities can only be achieved at the base of the wind where the stellar X-rays radiation field is strong. The propagation of the X-rays radiation through the disk wind is analyzed: a cocoon of photoionized gas is generated around the star. However, it is difficult to foresee how temperatures as high as ∼ 5 × 104 can be reached unless a significant fraction of the X-rays radiation is produced by magnetic reconnection at the boundary between the stellar magnetosphere and the accretion disk.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Astronomía y Geodesia (CSIC-UCM), Facultad de CC Matemáticas Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    A.I. Gómez de Castro

  2. Instituto de Física del Plasma (CONICET-UBA), Facultad de CC. Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    C. Ferro-Fontán

Authors
  1. A.I. Gómez de Castro
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  2. C. Ferro-Fontán
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Gómez de Castro, A., Ferro-Fontán, C. Photoionization of cool MHD disk winds. Astrophysics and Space Science 287, 31–34 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ASTR.0000006196.63731.da

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ASTR.0000006196.63731.da

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