Engineering topics

Levreault, Russell M.

Publications and source records attributed to Levreault, Russell M..

3 records

NASA NTRS1991

Testing models of low-mass star formation - High-resolution far-infrared observations of L1551 IRS 5

A 50 and 100 micron wavelength study of L151 IRS 5 has yielded data consistent with the Adams et al. (1987) theoretical model prediction. It has proven possible to constrain a range of possible density gradients through source-emission modeling on the basis of the spherically-symmetric radiative transfer program of Egan et al. (1988) and a comparison of the observed scans at 50 and 100 microns. Attention is given to the effects of varying the dust grain properties of the spherical energy distribution of the source; the amount of mid-IR emission is highly sensitive to dust opacity and, because of poorly understood dust properties, is not a sensitive test for the presence of disks.

Butner, Harold M.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Molecular outflows and mass loss in the pre-main-sequence stars

Molecular outflows are used here to probe mass loss in premain sequence (PMS) stars. Mass-loss rates are determined for 26 objects ranging in luminosity from four to about 100,000 solar, in mass from 0.5 to 30 solar, and in age from about 10,000 to about a million years. The derived mass-loss rates range from 9 x 10 to the -9th to 9 x 10 to the -4th solar mass/yr, with a typical value of 3 x 10 to the -7th solar mass/yr. PMS objects showing mass loss fall in a clearly demarcated region of the H-R diagram. The mass loss is proportional to bolometric luminosity to the 0.6 power and to stellar mass to the 1.8 power. The implications of these findings for the nature of the PMS mass-loss mechanism, for self-regulated low-mass star formation, and for planetary formation are discussed.

Levreault, Russell M.↗

NASA NTRS1988

A search for molecular outflows toward the pre-main-sequence objects

A search for molecular outflows has been conducted toward a sample of 71 young stellar objects dominated by optically selected pre-main-sequence stars. Molecular outflows ranging in size from 0.07 to about 5 pc, with expansion velocities from 6 to 60 km/s, have been detected toward 20 of these objects and in an additional six infrared objects not included in the original survey. The apparent ages of the outflows are from 1000 to 500,000 yr; about half of the observed outflows are bipolar, with the rest showing a wide variety of morphologies. It is found that outflows driven by low-luminosity objects tend to be more bipolar than those driven by high-luminosity objects. The implications of the results of the study are discussed.

Levreault, Russell M.↗