Rotation and X-ray emission from protostars

The ASCA satellite has recently detected variable hard X-ray emission from two class I protostars in the rho Oph cloud, YLW 15 (IRS 43) and WL 6, with a characteristic timescale of similar to 20 hr. In YLW 15, the X-ray emission is in the form of quasi-periodic energetic flares, which we explain in terms of strong magnetic shearing and reconnection between the central star and the accretion disk. The flare modeling, based on the solar analogy, gives us access to the size of the magnetic structures, which in turn allows us to calculate the rotation parameters of the star and the disk. In WL 6, X-ray flaring is rotationally modulated and appears to be more like the solar-type magnetic activity ubiquitous on T Tauri stars. On the basis of these observations, we find that YLW 15 is a fast rotator (near break-up), while WL 6 rotates with a significantly longer period. We thus use X-ray flaring as a "clock" to measure the rotation of protostars. With the help of the mass-radius relation on the stellar "birthline," we derive masses of M-* similar to 2 M-circle dot and less than or similar to 0.4 M-circle dot for the central stars of YLW 15 and WL 6, respectively. YLW 15 thus appears to be a future A star. In the long term, the magnetic interactions between the star and the disk result in magnetic braking and angular momentum loss of the star. A comparison of the rotation behavior of YLW 15 and WL 6 confirms that for solar-mass stars magnetic braking takes place on timescales t(br) similar to a few x 10(5) yr, i.e., of the same order as the estimated duration of the class I protostar stage. The main parameter determining t(br) turns out to be the stellar mass, so that close to the birthline there must be a mass-rotation relation, t(br) similar to proportional to M-*, such that stars with M-* greater than or similar to 1-2 M-circle dot are fast rotators, while their lower mass counterparts have had the time to spin down and reach synchronous rotation with the inner surrounding accretion disk. The rapid rotation and strong star-disk magnetic interactions of YLW 15 also naturally explain the observation of "superflares" of X-ray luminosities as high as L-X greater than or similar to 10(33)-10(34) ergs s(-1) during a few hours, while at the WL 6 stage the lower X-ray luminosities are likely to be of purely stellar origin. The mass-rotation relation through magnetic braking may also explain why so few class I protostars have been detected in X-rays to date, and why they all lie in clusters. In the case of YLW 15, and perhaps also in other protostars, a hot coronal wind (T similar to 10(6) K) may be responsible for the VLA thermal radio emission. This paper thus proposes the first clues to the magnetic properties of protostars, which govern their rotation status and evolution.