X-RAYS FROM THE POWER SOURCES OF THE CEPHEUS A STAR-FORMING REGION

We report an observation of X-ray emission from the exciting region of Cepheus A with the Chandra/ACIS instrument. What had been an unresolved X-ray source comprising the putative power sources is now resolved into at least three point-like sources, each with similar X-ray properties and differing radio and submillimeter properties. The sources are HW9, HW3c, and a new source that is undetected at other wavelengths 'h10'. They each have inferred X-ray luminosities ≥ 1031 erg s-1 with hard spectra, T ≥ 107 K, and high low-energy absorption equivalent to tens to as much as a hundred magnitudes of visual absorption. The star usually assumed to be the most massive and energetic, HW2, is not detected with an upper limit about seven times lower than the detections. The X-rays may arise via thermal bremsstrahlung in diffuse emission regions associated with a gyrosynchrotron source for the radio emission, or they could arise from powerful stellar winds. We also analyzed the Spitzer/IRAC mid-IR observation from this star formation region and present the X-ray results and mid-IR classifications of the nearby stars. HH 168 is not as underluminous in X-rays as previously reported.