| Name: | SUJAY JADHAV |
| Affiliation: | TATA INSTITUTE OF FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH, MUMBAI |
| Conference ID: | ASI2025_319 |
| Title: | Characterizing H₂O in IPA sources using JWST |
| Authors: | Sujay Jadhav, Manoj Puravankara, Himanshu Tyagi, Mayank Narang, Shridharan Baskaran, Bihan Banerjee, Vinod Chandra Pathak |
| Authors Affiliation: | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai |
| Mode of Presentation: | Poster |
| Abstract Category: | Stars, Interstellar Medium, and Astrochemistry in Milky Way |
| Abstract: | A central question in contemporary astrophysics is how material within galaxies transforms into stars and planetary systems. This process begins with the collapse of molecular cloud cores under self-gravity, triggering star formation, while planet formation arises as a secondary outcome.
Water is a key ingredient for life as we know it, and plays a crucial role in the earliest stages of star formation - specifically, the protostellar phase. In both its gaseous and solid phases, water influences the thermal balance, chemistry, and dynamics of the protostellar environment, acting as a critical coolant and a tracer of physical processes in the dense regions where stars take shape.
We examine the presence of H₂O in the five JWST - IPA (Investigating Protostellar Accretion) sources with a broad range of masses (0.1 - 12 solar masses), luminosities (0.1 - 10,000 solar luminosities), and distances (150 pc - 1.6 kpc). Observations in the JWST MIRI wavelength range of 5 - 28 microns reveal H₂O in the fundamental ro-vibrational band (010 - 000) at 5 - 8 microns across all sources. Thanks to JWST's exceptional spatial resolution, we identify an extended outflow pattern, both in emission and absorption, in the two most luminous sources - HOPS 370 and IRAS 20126. This pattern is barely detected in the other three less luminous sources which is strongly indicative of a non-collisional excitation mechanism. JWST's unprecedented sensitivity and resolution provide valuable insights into the kinematics and dynamics of these H₂O lines, shedding new light on star formation processes. We aim to discuss our results in this talk.
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