Polarized SiO masers of VX Sgr

DOI

We present Submillimeter Array observations of high-frequency SiO masers around the supergiant VX Sgr and the semi-regular variable star W Hya. The J=5-4, v=1^28^SiO and v=0^29^SiO masers of VX Sgr are shown to be highly linearly polarized with a polarization from ~5% to 60%. Assuming the continuum emission peaks at the stellar position, the masers are found within ~60mas of the star, corresponding to ~100AU at a distance of 1.57kpc. The linear polarization vectors are consistent with a large-scale magnetic field, with position and inclination angles similar to that of the dipole magnetic field inferred in the H_2_O and OH maser regions at much larger distances from the star. We thus show for the first time that the magnetic field structure in a circumstellar envelope can remain stable from a few stellar radii out to ~1400AU. This provides further evidence supporting the existence of large-scale and dynamically important magnetic fields around evolved stars. Due to a lack of parallactic angle coverage, the linear polarization of masers around W Hya could not be determined. For both stars, we observed the ^28^SiO and ^29^SiO isotopologues and find that they have a markedly different distributions and that they appear to avoid each other. Additionally, emission from the SO 5_5_-4_4_ line was imaged for both sources. Around W Hya, we find a clear offset between the red- and blueshifted SO emission. This indicates that W Hya is likely host to a slow bipolar outflow or a rotating disk-like structure.

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Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.17280149
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/728/149
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/728/149
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/728/149
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/728/149
Provenance
Creator Vlemmings W.H.T.; Humphreys E.M.L.; Franco-Hernandez R.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2012
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Exoplanet Astronomy; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Interstellar medium; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics; Stellar Astronomy