Excitation Mechanisms for Hot H2 in the Planet-Forming Regions of Protostars
Mary Barsony (SFSU & SSI), Thomas P. Greene (NASA/ARC), & David A. Weintraub (Vanderbilt U.)
Artist’s rendition of appearance of a
typical protostar: bipolar outflow
cavity, accretion disk, surrounding
infall envelope. Protostars are
powerful X-ray sources.
Inner Regions of Accretion Disk: The surface
layers of the puffed up accretion disk is
where the quiescent H2 emission originates.
H2 v=1-0 S(1) 2.1218 mm line spectra.
Spectra acquired on 2007 June 24 and 2008 January 24
appear in the left panel, and spectra acquired on 2007
June 25 and 2008 January 25 appear in the right panel.
Quiescent H2 Excitation
Mechanisms in Protostars
Scatter Plot of Lx vs H2 v=1-0 S(1)
Line Luminosity