A submillimeter line survey of low-mass protostars: prelude to ALMA and Herschel (original) (raw)
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The Astrophysical Journal, 2013
We present 50-210 μm spectral scans of 30 Class 0/I protostellar sources, obtained with Herschel-PACS, and 0.5-1000 μm spectral energy distributions, as part of the Dust, Ice, and Gas in Time Key Program. Some sources exhibit up to 75 H2O lines ranging in excitation energy from 100 to 2000 K, 12 transitions of OH, and CO rotational lines ranging from J = 14 → 13 up to J = 40 → 39. [O I] is detected in all but one source in the entire sample; among the sources with detectable [O I] are two very low luminosity objects. The mean 63/145 μm [O I] flux ratio is 17.2 ± 9.2. The [O I] 63 μm line correlates with L bol, but not with the time-averaged outflow rate derived from low-J CO maps. [C II] emission is in general not local to the source. The sample L bol increased by 1.25 (1.06) and T bol decreased to 0.96 (0.96) of mean (median) values with the inclusion of the Herschel data. Most CO rotational diagrams are characterized by two optically thin components ({\langle { {N}}\rangle} = (0.70 +/- 1.12){{} \times 10^{49}} total particles). { {N}}_CO correlates strongly with L bol, but neither T rot nor { {N}}_CO(warm)/{ {N}}_CO(hot) correlates with L bol, suggesting that the total excited gas is related to the current source luminosity, but that the excitation is primarily determined by the physics of the interaction (e.g., UV-heating/shocks). Rotational temperatures for H2O ({\langle {T_rot}\rangle } = 194 +/- 85 K) and OH ({\langle {T_rot}\rangle } =183 +/- 117 K) are generally lower than for CO, and much of the scatter in the observations about the best fit is attributed to differences in excitation conditions and optical depths among the detected lines.
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2013
Context. Understanding the physical phenomena involved in the earlierst stages of protostellar evolution requires knowledge of the heating and cooling processes that occur in the surroundings of a young stellar object. Spatially resolved information from its constituent gas and dust provides the necessary constraints to distinguish between different theories of accretion energy dissipation into the envelope. Aims. Our aims are to quantify the far-infrared line emission from low-mass protostars and the contribution of different atomic and molecular species to the gas cooling budget, to determine the spatial extent of the emission, and to investigate the underlying excitation conditions. Analysis of the line cooling will help us characterize the evolution of the relevant physical processes as the protostar ages. Methods. Far-infrared Herschel-PACS spectra of 18 low-mass protostars of various luminosities and evolutionary stages are studied in the context of the WISH key program. For most targets, the spectra include many wavelength intervals selected to cover specific CO, H2O, OH, and atomic lines. For four targets the spectra span the entire 55-200 μm region. The PACS field-of-view covers ~47" with the resolution of 9.4". Results. Most of the protostars in our sample show strong atomic and molecular far-infrared emission. Water is detected in 17 out of 18 objects (except TMC1A), including 5 Class I sources. The high-excitation H2O 818-707 63.3 μm line (Eu/kB = 1071 K) is detected in 7 sources. CO transitions from J = 14-13 up to J = 49 - 48 are found and show two distinct temperature components on Boltzmann diagrams with rotational temperatures of ~350 K and ~700 K. H2O has typical excitation temperatures of ~150 K. Emission from both Class 0 and I sources is usually spatially extended along the outflow direction but with a pattern that depends on the species and the transition. In the extended sources, emission is stronger off source and extended on &≥10,000 AU scales; in the compact sample, more than half of the flux originates within 1000 AU of the protostar. The H2O line fluxes correlate strongly with those of the high-J CO lines, both for the full array and for the central position, as well as with the bolometric luminosity and envelope mass. They correlate less strongly with OH fluxes and not with [O I] fluxes. In contrast, [O I] and OH often peak together at the central position. Conclusions. The PACS data probe at least two physical components. The H2O and CO emission very likely arises in non-dissociative (irradiated) shocks along the outflow walls with a range of pre-shock densities. Some OH is also associated with this component, most likely resulting from H2O photodissociation. UV-heated gas contributes only a minor fraction to the CO emission observed by PACS, based on the strong correlation between the shock-dominated CO 24-23 line and the CO 14-13 line. [O I] and some of the OH emission probe dissociative shocks in the inner envelope. The total far-infrared cooling is dominated by H2O and CO, with the fraction contributed by [O I] increasing for Class I sources. Consistent with previous studies, the ratio of total far-infrared line emission over bolometric luminosity decreases with the evolutionary state.
2013
We conclude that the ground state transitions of H2O trace the outer parts of the envelopes, so that the effects of star formation are mostly noticeable in the outflow wings. These lines are heavily affected by absorption, so that line ratios of H2O involving the ground states must be treated with caution. The average H2O abundance in high-mass protostellar envelopes does not change much with time. The 987 GHz line appears to be a good tracer of the mean weighted dust temperature of the source, which may explain why it is readily seen in distant galaxies.
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010
DK Cha is an intermediate-mass star in transition from an embedded configuration to a star plus disk stage. We aim to study the composition and energetics of the circumstellar material during this pivotal stage. Using the Range Scan mode of PACS on the Herschel Space Observatory, we obtained a spectrum of DK Cha from 55 to 210 micron as part of the DIGIT Key Program. Almost 50 molecular and atomic lines were detected, many more than the 7 lines detected in ISO-LWS. Nearly the entire ladder of CO from J=14-13 to 38-37 (E_u/k = 4080 K), water from levels as excited as E_u/k = 843 K, and OH lines up to E_u/k = 290 K were detected. The continuum emission in our PACS SED scan matches the flux expected from a model consisting of a star, a surrounding disk of 0.03 Solar mass, and an envelope of a similar mass, supporting the suggestion that the object is emerging from its main accretion stage. Molecular, atomic, and ionic emission lines in the far-infrared reveal the outflow's influence on the envelope. The inferred hot gas can be photon-heated, but some emission could be due to C-shocks in the walls of the outflow cavity.
Warm and Cold Gas in Low-mass Protostars: Herschel Space Observatory and Ground-based Surveys
Ph. D. thesis, University of Leiden, 2013
The primary focus of this thesis is the formation of low-mass protostars, specifically the earliest deeply embedded phase, when material from the collapsing envelope is still accreted onto the growing young star. Rotational transitions of CO and O2 data are obtained by the Herschel Space Observatory key projects, WISH and HOP, together with ground-based observations from APEX and the JCMT. We have found that CO and its isotopologs have different line profiles tracing different materials in the protostellar regions. Our new high-J rotational transitons of CO is key to characterize the warmer parts of the protostellar envelope and quantify feedback of the protostars on their surroundings in terms of shocks, ultraviolet (UV) heating, photodissociation, and outflow dispersal. Radiative transfer modeling was performed to determine the CO abundance structure in the envelope, showing evidence for significant freeze-out in the coldest regions in the parts of the envelope where the temperature exceeds 25 K. A tentative detection of O2 is reported toward the source position of a protostar, which originates from the surrounding cloud. These kind of detailed studies of the physical and chemical structure of low–mass protostars are important for a complete understanding of the evolution of young stellar objects (YSOs).
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2010
Aims: We aim to study the composition and energetics of the circumstellar material of DK Cha, an intermediate-mass star in transition from an embedded configuration to a star plus disk stage, during this pivotal stage of its evolution. Methods: Using the range scan mode of PACS on the Herschel Space Observatory, we obtained a spectrum of DK Cha from 55 to 210 μm as part of the DIGIT key program. Results: Almost 50 molecular and atomic lines were detected, many more than the 7 lines detected in ISO-LWS. Nearly the entire ladder of CO from J = 14-13 to 38-37 (Eu/k = 4080 K), water from levels as excited as JK_{-1K+1} = 707 (Eu/k = 843 K), and OH lines up to Eu/k = 290 K were detected. Conclusions: The continuum emission in our PACS SED scan matches the flux expected by a model consisting of a star, a surrounding disk of 0.03 M_⊙, and an envelope of a similar mass, supporting the suggestion that the object is emerging from its main accretion stage. Molecular, atomic, and ionic emission lines in the far-infrared reveal the outflow's influence on the envelope. The inferred hot gas may be photon-heated, but some emission may be caused by C-shocks in the walls of the outflow cavity.
High-J CO survey of low-mass protostars observed with Herschel-HIFI
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2013
Context. In the deeply embedded stage of star formation, protostars start to heat and disperse their surrounding cloud cores. The evolution of these sources has traditionally been traced through dust continuum spectral energy distributions (SEDs), but the use of CO excitation as an evolutionary probe has not yet been explored due to the lack of high-J CO observations. Aims: The aim is to constrain the physical characteristics (excitation, kinematics, column density) of the warm gas in low-mass protostellar envelopes using spectrally resolved Herschel data of CO and compare those with the colder gas traced by lower excitation lines. Methods: Herschel-HIFI observations of high-J lines of 12CO, 13CO, and C18O (up to Ju = 10, Eu up to 300 K) are presented toward 26 deeply embedded low-mass Class 0 and Class I young stellar objects, obtained as part of the Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel (WISH) key program. This is the first large spectrally resolved high-J CO survey conducted for these types of sources. Complementary lower J CO maps were observed using ground-based telescopes, such as the JCMT and APEX and convolved to matching beam sizes. Results: The 12CO 10-9 line is detected for all objects and can generally be decomposed into a narrow and a broad component owing to the quiescent envelope and entrained outflow material, respectively. The 12CO excitation temperature increases with velocity from ~60 K up to ~130 K. The median excitation temperatures for 12CO, 13CO, and C18O derived from single-temperature fits to the Ju = 2-10 integrated intensities are ~70 K, 48 K and 37 K, respectively, with no significant difference between Class 0 and Class I sources and no trend with Menv or Lbol. Thus, in contrast to the continuum SEDs, the spectral line energy distributions (SLEDs) do not show any evolution during the embedded stage. In contrast, the integrated line intensities of all CO isotopologs show a clear decrease with evolutionary stage as the envelope is dispersed. Models of the collapse and evolution of protostellar envelopes reproduce the C18O results well, but underproduce the 13CO and 12CO excitation temperatures, due to lack of UV heating and outflow components in those models. The H2O 110 - 101/CO 10-9 intensity ratio does not change significantly with velocity, in contrast to the H2O/CO 3-2 ratio, indicating that CO 10-9 is the lowest transition for which the line wings probe the same warm shocked gas as H2O. Modeling of the full suite of C18O lines indicates an abundance profile for Class 0 sources that is consistent with a freeze-out zone below 25 K and evaporation at higher temperatures, but with some fraction of the CO transformed into other species in the cold phase. In contrast, the observations for two Class I sources in Ophiuchus are consistent with a constant high CO abundance profile. Conclusions: The velocity resolved line profiles trace the evolution from the Class 0 to the Class I phase through decreasing line intensities, less prominent outflow wings, and increasing average CO abundances. However, the CO excitation temperature stays nearly constant. The multiple components found here indicate that the analysis of spectrally unresolved data, such as provided by SPIRE and PACS, must be done with caution.
A molecular-line study of clumps with embedded high-mass protostar candidates
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2001
We present molecular line observations made with the IRAM 30-m telescope of the immediate surroundings of a sample of 11 candidate high-mass protostars. These observations are part of an effort to clarify the evolutionary status of a set of objects which we consider to be precursors of UC Hii regions. In a preceding series of papers we have studied a sample of objects, which on the basis of their IR colours are likely to be associated with compact molecular clouds. The original sample of 260 objects was divided approximately evenly into a High group, with IR colour indices ≥0.57 and [60-12] ≥1.3, and a Low group with complementary colours. The FIR luminosity of the Low sources, their distribution in the IR colour-colour diagram, and their lower detection rate in H2O maser emission compared to the High sources, led to the hypothesis that the majority of these objects represent an earlier stage in the evolution than the members of the High group, which are mostly identifyable with UC Hii regions. Subsequent observations led to the selection of 12 Low sources that have FIR luminosities indicating the presence of B2.5 to O8.5 V0 stars, are associated with dense gas and dust, have (sub-)mm continuum spectra indicating temperatures of ∼30 K, and have no detectable radio continuum emission. One of these sources has been proposed by us to be a good candidate for the high-mass equivalent of a Class 0 object. In the present paper we present observations of the molecular environment of 11 of these 12 objects, with the aim to derive the physical parameters of the gas in which they are embedded, and to find further evidence in support of our hypothesis that these sources are the precursors to UC Hii regions. We find that the data are consistent with such an interpretation. All observed sources are associated with well-defined molecular clumps. Masses, sizes, and other parameters depend on the tracer used, but typically the cores have average diameters of ∼0.5-1 pc (with a range of 0.2 to 2.2 pc), and masses of a few tens to a few thousand solar masses. Compared to a similar analysis of High sources, the present sample has molecular clumps that are more massive, larger, cooler, and less turbulent. They also tend to have a smaller ratio of virial-to-luminous mass, indicating they are less dynamically stable than their counterparts in which the High sources are embedded. The large sizes suggest these clumps should still undergo substantial contraction (their densities are ∼10 times smaller than those of the High sources). The lower temperatures and small linewidths are also expected in objects in an earlier evolutionary state. In various sources indications are found for outflowing gas, though its detection is hampered by the presence of multiple emission components in the line spectra. There are also signs of self-absorption, especially in the spectra of 13 CO and HCO + . We find that the masses of the molecular clumps associated with our objects increase with L fir (M clump ∝ L 1.17 fir ), and that there is a (weak) relation between the clump mass and the mass of the embedded protostellar object Mproto ∝ M 0.30 clump . The large amount of observational data is necessarily presented in a compact, reduced form. Yet we supply enough information to allow further study. These data alone cannot prove or disprove the hypothesis that among these objects a high-mass protostar is truly present. More observations, at different wavelenghts and spatial resolutions are needed to provide enough constraints on the number of possible interpretations.
The Astrophysical Journal, 2002
A (sub-)millimeter line and continuum study of the Class I protostar Elias 29 in the Ophiuchi molecular cloud is presented whose goals are to understand the nature of this source and to locate the ices that are abundantly present along this line of sight. Within 15 00-60 00 beams, several different components contribute to the line emission. Two different foreground clouds are detected, an envelope/disk system and a dense ridge of HCO +-rich material. The latter two components are spatially separated in millimeter interferometer maps. We analyze the envelope/disk system by using inside-out collapse and flared disk models. The disk is in a relatively face-on orientation (<60), which explains many of the remarkable observational features of Elias 29, such as its flat spectral energy distribution, its brightness in the near-infrared, the extended components found in speckle interferometry observations, and its high-velocity molecular outflow. It cannot account for the ices seen along the line of sight, however. A small fraction of the ices is present in a (remnant) envelope of mass 0.12-0.33 M , but most of the ices ($70%) are present in cool (T < 40 K) quiescent foreground clouds. This explains the observed absence of thermally processed ices (crystallized H 2 O) toward Elias 29. Nevertheless, the temperatures could be sufficiently high to account for the low abundance of apolar (CO, N 2 , O 2) ices. This work shows that it is crucial to obtain spectrally and spatially resolved information from single-dish and interferometric molecular gas observations in order to determine the nature of protostars and to interpret Infrared Space Observatory and future Space Infrared Telescope Facility observations of ices and silicates along a pencil beam.
An Inventory of Interstellar Ices toward the Embedded Protostar W33A
The Astrophysical Journal, 2000
This paper presents, for the Ðrst time, a complete 2.4È25 km spectrum of the dust-embedded young stellar object W33A. The spectrum was obtained with the Short Wavelength Spectrometer of the Infrared Space Observatory at a mean resolving power of D750. The spectrum displays deep ice and silicate H 2 O absorptions centered at 3.0 and 9.7 km, respectively, together with absorption features identiÐed with various other molecules in the solid phase. The 2.4È5.0 km region of the spectrum is used to investigate the long-standing problem of the ice column density toward W33A, by means of the stretching and H 2 O combination mode features at 3.0 and 4.5 km. Although no Ñux is seen at the center of the 3.0 km feature, its central depth may be constrained by Ðtting assumed proÐles to the short-and longwavelength wings in our spectrum. We deduce that a value of cm~2 is con-