X-ray emission from protostars in the NGC1333 and Serpens star forming regions

We propose 50 ksec EPICpn observations of the NGC 1333 and the Serpens star forming regions to search for Xray emission from the numerous deeply embedded protostars in these most nearby (300 pc) protocluster regions, apart from Rho Oph. Strong Xray emission from two highly obscured objects in these regions was detected with ROSAT, and an ASCA image indicated the presence of several other (still unidentified) optically invisible Xray sources in NGC 1333. Due toits unique sensitivity for hard Xrays, XMM will be able to reveal new embedded objects suffering extinctions of up to Av 500 mag, totally obscured in soft Xrays (i.e. for ROSAT). XMM studies of protostars will open up a new door to learn more about the role of magnetic fields in star, disk, and jetformation. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]