Dynamic Massive Star Formation: Radio Flux Variability in UCHII Regions

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Auteurs principaux: Yang, A. Y., Thompson, M. A., Urquhart, J. S., Brunthaler, A., Menten, K. M., Gong, Y., Tsai, Chao-Wei, Patel, A. L., Li, D., Cotton, W. D.
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Publié: 2024
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author Yang, A. Y.
Thompson, M. A.
Urquhart, J. S.
Brunthaler, A.
Menten, K. M.
Gong, Y.
Tsai, Chao-Wei
Patel, A. L.
Li, D.
Cotton, W. D.
author_facet Yang, A. Y.
Thompson, M. A.
Urquhart, J. S.
Brunthaler, A.
Menten, K. M.
Gong, Y.
Tsai, Chao-Wei
Patel, A. L.
Li, D.
Cotton, W. D.
contents Context: Theoretical models of early accretion during the formation process of massive stars have predicted that HII regions exhibit radio variability on timescales of decades. However, large-scale searches for such temporal variations with sufficient sensitivity have not yet been carried out. Aims: We aim to identify HII regions with variable radio wavelength fluxes and to investigate the properties of the identified objects, especially those with the highest level of variability. Methods: We compared the peak flux densities of 86 ultracompact HII (UCHII) regions measured by the GLOSTAR and CORNISH surveys and identified variables that show flux variations higher than 30% over ~8 yr timespan between these surveys. Results: We found a sample of 38 variable UCHII regions, which is the largest sample identified to date. The overall occurrence of variability is 44$\pm$5%, suggesting that variation in UCHII regions is significantly more common than prediction. The variable UCHII regions are found to be younger than non-variable UCHII regions, all of them meeting the size criterion of hypercompact (HC) HII regions. We studied the 7 UCHII regions (the ``Top7'') that show the highest variability with variations > 100%. The Top7 variable UCHII regions are optically thick at 4--8 GHz and compact, suggesting they are in a very early evolutionary stage of HCHII or UCHII regions. There is a significant correlation between variability and the spectral index of the radio emission. No dependence is observed between the variations and the properties of the sources' natal clumps traced by submillimeter continuum emission from dust, although variable HII regions are found in clumps at an earlier evolutionary stage.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_17117
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamic Massive Star Formation: Radio Flux Variability in UCHII Regions
Yang, A. Y.
Thompson, M. A.
Urquhart, J. S.
Brunthaler, A.
Menten, K. M.
Gong, Y.
Tsai, Chao-Wei
Patel, A. L.
Li, D.
Cotton, W. D.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Context: Theoretical models of early accretion during the formation process of massive stars have predicted that HII regions exhibit radio variability on timescales of decades. However, large-scale searches for such temporal variations with sufficient sensitivity have not yet been carried out. Aims: We aim to identify HII regions with variable radio wavelength fluxes and to investigate the properties of the identified objects, especially those with the highest level of variability. Methods: We compared the peak flux densities of 86 ultracompact HII (UCHII) regions measured by the GLOSTAR and CORNISH surveys and identified variables that show flux variations higher than 30% over ~8 yr timespan between these surveys. Results: We found a sample of 38 variable UCHII regions, which is the largest sample identified to date. The overall occurrence of variability is 44$\pm$5%, suggesting that variation in UCHII regions is significantly more common than prediction. The variable UCHII regions are found to be younger than non-variable UCHII regions, all of them meeting the size criterion of hypercompact (HC) HII regions. We studied the 7 UCHII regions (the ``Top7'') that show the highest variability with variations > 100%. The Top7 variable UCHII regions are optically thick at 4--8 GHz and compact, suggesting they are in a very early evolutionary stage of HCHII or UCHII regions. There is a significant correlation between variability and the spectral index of the radio emission. No dependence is observed between the variations and the properties of the sources' natal clumps traced by submillimeter continuum emission from dust, although variable HII regions are found in clumps at an earlier evolutionary stage.
title Dynamic Massive Star Formation: Radio Flux Variability in UCHII Regions
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.17117