Search

We present Herschel-HIFI, SPIRE, and PACS 50-670 μm imaging and spectroscopy of six FU Orionis-type objects and candidates (FU Orionis, V1735 Cyg, V1515 Cyg, V1057 Cyg, V1331 Cyg, and HBC 722), ranging in outburst date from 1936 to 2010, from the "FOOSH" (FU Orionis Objects Surveyed with Herschel) program, as well as ancillary results from Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph and the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. In their system properties (Lbol, Tbol, and line emission), we find that FUors are in a variety of evolutionary states. Additionally, some FUors have features of both Class I and II sources: warm continuum consistent with Class II sources, but rotational line emission typical of Class I, far higher than Class II sources of similar mass/luminosity. Combining several classification techniques, we find an evolutionary sequence consistent with previous mid-IR indicators. We detect [O I] in every source at luminosities consistent with Class 0/I protostars, much greater than in Class II disks. We detect transitions of 13CO (Jup of 5-8) around two sources (V1735 Cyg and HBC 722) but attribute them to nearby protostars. Of the remaining sources, three (FU Ori, V1515 Cyg, and V1331 Cyg) exhibit only low-lying CO, but one (V1057 Cyg) shows CO up to J = 23 → 22 and evidence for H2O and OH emission, at strengths typical of protostars rather than T Tauri stars. Rotational temperatures for "cool" CO components range from 20 to 81 K, for ~ 1050 total CO molecules. We detect [C I] and [N II] primarily as diffuse emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present 50-210μm spectral scans of 30 Class 0/I protostellar sources, obtained with Herschel-PACS, and 0.5-1000μm 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 63/145μm [O I] flux ratio is 17.2 ± 9.2. The [O I] 63μm line correlates with Lbol, 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 Lbol increased by 1.25 (1.06) and Tbol 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 (〈N〉 = (0.70 ± 1.12) × 1049 total particles). NCO correlates strongly with Lbol, but neither Trot nor NCO(warm)/NCO(hot) correlates with Lbol, 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 (〈Trot〉 = 194 ± 85 K) and OH (〈Trot〉 = 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NGC 2024 FIR 5/6 region was observed in the 6.9 mm continuum with an angular resolution of about 1.5 arcsec. The 6.9 mm continuum map shows four compact sources, FIR 5w, 5e, 6c, and 6n, as well as an extended structure of the ionization front associated with the optical nebulosity. FIR 6c has a source size of about 0.4 arcsec or 150 AU. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of FIR 6c is peculiar: rising steeply around 6.9 mm and flat around 1 mm. The possibility of a hypercompact Hii region is explored. If the millimeter flux of FIR 6c comes from hot ionized gas heated by a single object at the center, the central object may be a B1 star of about 5800 solar luminosities and about 13 solar masses. The 6.9 mm continuum of FIR 6n may be a mixture of free--free emission and dust continuum emission. Archival data show that both FIR 6n and 6c exhibit water maser activity, suggesting the existence of shocked gas around them. The 6.9 mm continuum emission from FIR 5w has a size of about 1.8 arcsec or 760 AU. The SEDs suggest that the 6.9 mm emission of FIR 5w and 5e comes from dust, and the masses of the dense molecular gas are about 0.6 and 0.5 solar masses, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtained 350 and 850 µm continuum maps of the infrared dark cloud G049.40-00.01. Twenty-one dense clumps were identified within G049.40-00.01 based on the 350 µm continuum map with an angular resolution of about Due to image rights restrictions, multiple line equation(s) cannot be graphically displayed. We present submillimeter continuum maps and report physical properties of the clumps. The masses of clumps range from 50 to 600 M⊙. About 70% of the clumps are associated with bright 24 micro;m emission sources, and they may contain protostars. The two most massive clumps show extended, enhanced 4.5 µm emission indicating vigorous star-forming activity. The clump-size-mass distribution suggests that many of them are forming high-mass stars. G049.40-00.01 contains numerous objects in various evolutionary stages of star formation, from pre-protostellar clumps to H II regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offsets of molecular line emission peaks from continuum peaks are very common but frequently difficult to explain with a single spherical cloud chemical model. We propose that the spatial projection effects of an irregular three-dimensional (3D) cloud structure can be a solution. This work shows that the idea can be successfully applied to the Planck cold clump G224.4-0.6 by approximating it with four individual spherically symmetric cloud cores whose chemical patterns overlap with each other to produce observable line maps. With the empirical physical structures inferred from the observation data of this clump and a gas-grain chemical model, the four cores can satisfactorily reproduce its 850 μm continuum map and the diverse peak offsets of CCS, HC3N, and N2H+ simultaneously at chemical ages of about 8 × 105 ∼ 3 × 106 yr. The 3D projection effects on chemistry has the potential to explain such asymmetrical distributions of chemicals in many other molecular clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse of a protostellar envelope results in the growth of a protostar and the development of a protoplanetary disk, playing a critical role during the early stages of star formation. Characterizing the gas infall in the envelope constrains the dynamical models of star formation. We present unambiguous signatures of infall, probed by optically thick molecular lines, toward an isolated embedded protostar, BHR 71 IRS1. The three-dimensional radiative transfer calculations indicate that a slowly rotating infalling envelope model following the “inside-out” collapse reproduces the observations of both and CS lines, as well as the low-velocity emission of the HCN line. The envelope has a model-derived age of 12,000 ± 3000 yr after the initial collapse. The envelope model underestimates the high-velocity emission at the HCN and H13CN lines, where outflows or a Keplerian disk may contribute. The ALMA observations serendipitously discover the emission of complex organic molecules (COMs) concentrated within a radius of 100 au, indicating that BHR 71 IRS1 harbors a hot corino. Eight species of COMs are identified, including CH3OH and CH3OCHO, along with H2CS, SO2 and HCN v2 = 1. The emission of methyl formate and 13C-methanol shows a clear velocity gradient within a radius of 50 au, hinting at an unresolved Keplerian rotating disk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The binary T Tauri system JW 566 in the Orion Molecular Cloud underwent an energetic, short-lived flare observed at submillimeter wavelengths by the SCUBA-2 instrument on 2016 November 26 (UT). The emission faded by nearly 50% during the 31 minute integration. The simultaneous source fluxes averaged over the observation are at 450 μm and at 850 μm. The 850 μm flux corresponds to a radio luminosity of , approximately one order of magnitude brighter (in terms of ) than that of a flare of the young star GMR-A, detected in Orion in 2003 at 3mm. The event may be the most luminous known flare associated with a young stellar object and is also the first coronal flare discovered at submillimeter wavelengths. The spectral index between 450 and 850 μm of α = 0.11 is broadly consistent with nonthermal emission. The brightness temperature was in excess of . We interpret this event to be a magnetic reconnection that energized charged particles to emit gyrosynchrotron/synchrotron radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bulk composition of Earth is dramatically carbon-poor compared to that of the interstellar medium, and this phenomenon extends to the asteroid belt. To interpret this carbon deficit problem, the carbonaceous component in grains must have been converted into the gas phase in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) prior to planetary formation. We examine the effect of carbon grain destruction on the chemical structure of disks by calculating the molecular abundances and distributions using a comprehensive chemical reaction network. When carbon grains are destroyed and the elemental abundance of the gas becomes carbon-rich, the abundances of carbon-bearing molecules, such as HCN and carbon-chain molecules, increase dramatically near the midplane, while oxygen-bearing molecules, such as and , are depleted. We compare the results of these model calculations with the solid carbon-to-silicon fraction in the solar system. Although we find a carbon depletion gradient, there are some quantitative discrepancies: the model shows a higher value at the position of the asteroid belt and a lower value at the location of Earth. In addition, using the obtained molecular abundance distributions, coupled with line radiative transfer calculations, we make predictions for ALMA to potentially observe the effect of carbon grain destruction in nearby PPDs. The results indicate that HCN, , and c- may be good tracers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present full spectral scans from 200 to 670 μm of 26 Class 0+I protostellar sources obtained with Herschel-SPIRE as part of the “COPS-SPIRE” Open Time program, complementary to the DIGIT and WISH Key Programs. Based on our nearly continuous, line-free spectra from 200 to 670 μm, the calculated bolometric luminosities (Lbol) increase by 50% on average, and the bolometric temperatures (Tbol) decrease by 10% on average, in comparison with the measurements without Herschel. Fifteen protostars have the same class using Tbol and Lbol/Lsmm. We identify rotational transitions of CO lines from to , along with emission lines of 13CO, HCO+, H2O, and [C i]. The ratios of 12CO to 13CO indicate that 12CO emission remains optically thick for Jup < 13. We fit up to four components of temperature from the rotational diagram with flexible break points to separate the components. The distribution of rotational temperatures shows a primary population around 100 K with a secondary population at ∼350 K. We quantify the correlations of each line pair found in our data set and find that the strength of the correlation of CO lines decreases as the difference between J levels between two CO lines increases. The multiple origins of CO emission previously revealed by velocity-resolved profiles are consistent with this smooth distribution if each physical component contributes to a wide range of CO lines with significant overlap in the CO ladder. We investigate the spatial extent of CO emission and find that the morphology is more centrally peaked and less bipolar at high-J lines. We find the CO emission observed with SPIRE related to outflows, which consists of two components, the entrained gas and shocked gas, as revealed by our rotational diagram analysis, as well as the studies with velocity-resolved CO emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze results from the first 18 months of monthly submillimeter monitoring of eight star-forming regions in the JCMT Transient Survey. In our search for stochastic variability in 1643 bright peaks, only the previously identified source, EC 53, shows behavior well above the expected measurement uncertainty. Another four sources—two disks and two protostars—show moderately enhanced standard deviations in brightness, as expected for stochastic variables. For the two protostars, this apparent variability is the result of single epochs that are much brighter than the mean. In our search for secular brightness variations that are linear in time, we measure the fractional brightness change per year for 150 bright peaks, 50 of which are protostellar. The ensemble distribution of slopes is well fit by a normal distribution with σ ∼ 0.023. Most sources are not rapidly brightening or fading at submillimeter wavelengths. Comparison against time-randomized realizations shows that the width of the distribution is dominated by the uncertainty in the individual brightness measurements of the sources. A toy model for secular variability reveals that an underlying Gaussian distribution of linear fractional brightness change σ = 0.005 would be unobservable in the present sample, whereas an underlying distribution with σ = 0.02 is ruled out. Five protostellar sources, 10% of the protostellar sample, are found to have robust secular measures deviating from a constant flux. The sensitivity to secular brightness variations will improve significantly with a sample over a longer time duration, with an improvement by factor of two expected by the conclusion of our 36 month survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating variability at the earliest stages of low-mass star formation is fundamental in understanding how a protostar assembles mass. While many simulations of protostellar disks predict non-steady accretion onto protostars, deeper investigation requires robust observational constraints on the frequency and amplitude of variability events characterized across the observable SED. In this study, we develop methods to robustly analyze repeated observations of an area of the sky for submillimeter variability in order to determine constraints on the magnitude and frequency of deeply embedded protostars. We compare 850 μm JCMT Transient Survey data with archival JCMT Gould Belt Survey data to investigate variability over 2–4 year timescales. Out of 175 bright, independent emission sources identified in the overlapping fields, we find seven variable candidates, five of which we classify as Strong, and the remaining two we classify as Extended to indicate that the latter are associated with larger-scale structure. For the Strong variable candidates, we find an average fractional peak brightness change per year of , with a standard deviation of . In total, 7% of the protostars associated with 850 μm emission in our sample show signs of variability. Four of the five Strong sources are associated with a known protostar. The remaining source is a good follow-up target for an object that is anticipated to contain an enshrouded, deeply embedded protostar. In addition, we estimate the 850 μm periodicity of the submillimeter variable source, EC 53, to be 567 ± 32 days, based on the archival Gould Belt Survey data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the protostellar phase of stellar evolution, accretion onto the star is expected to be variable, but this suspected variability has been difficult to detect because protostars are deeply embedded. In this paper, we describe a submillimeter luminosity burst of the Class I protostar EC 53 in Serpens Main, the first variable found during our dedicated JCMT/SCUBA-2 monitoring program of eight nearby star-forming regions. EC 53 remained quiescent for the first six months of our survey, from 2016 February to August. The submillimeter emission began to brighten in 2016 September, reached a peak brightness of 1.5 times the faint state, and has been decaying slowly since 2017 February. The change in submillimeter brightness is interpreted as dust heating in the envelope, generated by a luminosity increase of the protostar of a factor of ≥4. The 850 μm light curve resembles the historical K-band light curve, which varies by a factor of ∼6 with a 543 period and is interpreted as accretion variability excited by interactions between the accretion disk and a close binary system. The predictable detections of accretion variability observed at both near-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths make the system a unique test-bed, enabling us to capture the moment of the accretion burst and to study the consequences of the outburst on the protostellar disk and envelope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most protostars have luminosities that are fainter than expected from steady accretion over the protostellar lifetime. The solution to this problem may lie in episodic mass accretion—prolonged periods of very low accretion punctuated by short bursts of rapid accretion. However, the timescale and amplitude for variability at the protostellar phase is almost entirely unconstrained. In A James Clerk Maxwell Telescope/SCUBA-2 Transient Survey of Protostars in Nearby Star-forming Regions, we are monitoring monthly with SCUBA-2 the submillimeter emission in eight fields within nearby ( pc) star-forming regions to measure the accretion variability of protostars. The total survey area of ∼1.6 deg2 includes ∼105 peaks with peaks brighter than 0.5 Jy/beam (43 associated with embedded protostars or disks) and 237 peaks of 0.125–0.5 Jy/beam (50 with embedded protostars or disks). Each field has enough bright peaks for flux calibration relative to other peaks in the same field, which improves upon the nominal flux calibration uncertainties of submillimeter observations to reach a precision of ∼2%–3% rms, and also provides quantified confidence in any measured variability. The timescales and amplitudes of any submillimeter variation will then be converted into variations in accretion rate and subsequently used to infer the physical causes of the variability. This survey is the first dedicated survey for submillimeter variability and complements other transient surveys at optical and near-IR wavelengths, which are not sensitive to accretion variability of deeply embedded protostars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Earth and other rocky bodies in the inner solar system contain significantly less carbon than the primordial materials that seeded their formation. These carbon-poor objects include the parent bodies of primitive meteorites, suggesting that at least one process responsible for solid-phase carbon depletion was active prior to the early stages of planet formation. Potential mechanisms include the erosion of carbonaceous materials by photons or atomic oxygen in the surface layers of the protoplanetary disk. Under photochemically generated favorable conditions, these reactions can deplete the near-surface abundance of carbon grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by several orders of magnitude on short timescales relative to the lifetime of the disk out to radii of ∼20–100+ au from the central star depending on the form of refractory carbon present. Due to the reliance of destruction mechanisms on a high influx of photons, the extent of refractory carbon depletion is quite sensitive to the disk’s internal radiation field. Dust transport within the disk is required to affect the composition of the midplane. In our current model of a passive, constant-α disk, where α = 0.01, carbon grains can be turbulently lofted into the destructive surface layers and depleted out to radii of ∼3–10 au for 0.1–1 μm grains. Smaller grains can be cleared out of the planet-forming region completely. Destruction may be more effective in an actively accreting disk or when considering individual grain trajectories in non-idealized disks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We observed 146 Galactic clumps in HCN (4-3) and CS (7-6) with the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment 10 m telescope. A tight linear relationship between star formation rate and gas mass traced by dust continuum emission was found for both Galactic clumps and the high redshift (z > 1) star forming galaxies (SFGs), indicating a constant gas depletion time of ∼100 Myr for molecular gas in both Galactic clumps and high z SFGs. However, low z galaxies do not follow this relation and seem to have a longer global gas depletion time. The correlations between total infrared luminosities (LTIR) and molecular line luminosities of HCN (4-3) and CS (7-6) are tight and sublinear extending down to clumps with LTIR ∼ 103L☉. These correlations become linear when extended to external galaxies. A bimodal behavior in the LTIR– correlations was found for clumps with different dust temperature, luminosity-to-mass ratio, and σline/σvir. Such bimodal behavior may be due to evolutionary effects. The slopes of LTIR–L′mol correlations become more shallow as clumps evolve. We compared our results with lower J transition lines in Wu et al. (2010). The correlations between clump masses and line luminosities are close to linear for low effective excitation density tracers but become sublinear for high effective excitation density tracers for clumps with LTIR larger than LTIR ∼ 104.5L☉. High effective excitation density tracers cannot linearly trace the total clump masses, leading to a sublinear correlations for both Mclump–L′mol and LTIR–L′mol relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have detected molecular and atomic line emission from the hot and warm disks of two Class I sources, IRAS 03445+3242 and IRAS 04239+2436, using the high-resolution Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph (IGRINS). CO overtone band transitions and near-IR lines of Na i and Ca i, all in emission, trace the hot inner disk, while CO rovibrational absorption spectra of the first overtone transition trace the warm gas within the inner few AU of the disk. The emission-line profiles for both sources show evidence for Keplerian disks. A thin Keplerian disk with power-law temperature and column density profiles with a projected rotational velocity of ∼60–75 km s−1 and a gas temperature of ∼3500 K at the innermost annulus can reproduce the CO overtone band emission. Na i and Ca i emission lines also arise from this disk, but they show complicated line features possibly affected by photospheric absorption lines. Multi-epoch observations show asymmetric variations of the line profiles on one-year (CO overtone bandhead and atomic lines for IRAS 03445+3242) or on one-day (atomic lines for IRAS 04239+2436) timescales, implying non-axisymmetric features in disks. The narrow CO rovibrational absorption spectra (v = 0 2) indicate that both warm (>150 K) and cold (∼20–30 K) CO gas are present along the line of sight to the inner disk. This study demonstrates the power of IGRINS as a tool for studies of the sub-AU-scale hot and AU-scale warm protoplanetary disks with its simultaneous coverage of the full H and K bands with high spectral resolution (R = 45,000) allowing many aspects of the sources to be investigated at once. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most bipolar outflows are associated with individual young stellar objects and have small opening angles. Here we report the discovery of an extremely wide-angle (∼180°) bipolar outflow (“EWBO”) in a cluster forming region AFGL 5142 from low-velocity emission of the HCN (3–2) and HCO+ (3–2) lines. This bipolar outflow is along a north-west to south-east direction with a line of sight flow velocity of about 3 km s−1 and is spatially connected to the high-velocity jet-like outflows. It seems to be a collection of low-velocity material entrained by the high-velocity outflows due to momentum feedback. The total ejected mass and mass loss rate due to both high-velocity jet-like outflows and the “EWBO” are ∼24.5 M⊙ and ∼1.7 × 10−3M⊙ yr−1, respectively. Global collapse of the clump is revealed by the “blue profile” in the HCO+ (1–0) line. A hierarchical network of filaments was identified in NH3 (1, 1) emission. Clear velocity gradients of the order of 10 km s−1 pc−1 are found along filaments, indicating gas inflow along the filaments. The sum of the accretion rate along filaments and mass infall rate along the line of sight is ∼3.1 × 10−3M⊙ yr−1, which exceeds the total mass loss rate, indicating that the central cluster is probably still gaining mass. The central cluster is highly fragmented and 22 condensations are identified in 1.1 mm continuum emission. The fragmentation process seems to be determined by thermal pressure and turbulence. The magnetic field may not play an important role in fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations of the isolated globule B335 with ALMA have yielded absorption features against the continuum that are redshifted from the systemic velocity in both HCN and HCO+ lines. These features provide unambiguous evidence for infall toward a central luminosity source. Previously developed models of inside-out collapse can match the observed line profiles of HCN and HCO+ averaged over the central 50 AU. At the new distance of 100 pc, the inferred infall radius is 0.012 pc, the mass infall rate is 3 × 10−6M⊙ yr−1, the age is 5 × 104 years, and the accumulated mass in the central zone is 0.15 , most of which must be in the star or in parts of a disk that are opaque at 0.8 mm. The continuum detection indicates an optically thin mass (gas and dust) of only 7.5 × 10−4 in the central region, consistent with only a very small disk mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of high resolution (R ≥ 30,000) optical and near-IR spectroscopic monitoring observations of HBC 722, a recent FU Orionis object that underwent an accretion burst in 2010. We observed HBC 722 in the optical/near-IR with the Bohyunsan Optical Echelle Spectrograph, Hobby–Eberly Telescope-HRS, and Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrograph, at various points in the outburst. We found atomic lines with strongly blueshifted absorption features or P Cygni profiles, both evidence of a wind driven by the accretion. Some lines show a broad double-peaked absorption feature, evidence of disk rotation. However, the wind-driven and disk-driven spectroscopic features are anti-correlated in time; the disk features became strong as the wind features disappeared. This anti-correlation might indicate that the rebuilding of the inner disk was interrupted by the wind pressure during the first 2 years. The half-width at half-depth of the double-peaked profiles decreases with wavelength, indicative of the Keplerian rotation; the optical spectra with the disk feature are fitted by a G5 template stellar spectrum convolved with a rotation velocity of 70 km s−1 while the near-IR disk features are fitted by a K5 template stellar spectrum convolved with a rotation velocity of 50 km s−1. Therefore, the optical and near-IR spectra seem to trace the disk at 39 and 76 R⊙, respectively. We fit a power-law temperature distribution in the disk, finding an index of 0.8, comparable to optically thick accretion disk models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present deep NH3 observations of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud covering over a 3° angular range using the K-band focal plane array on the 100 m Green Bank Telescope. The L1495-B218 filaments form an interconnected, nearby, large complex extending over 8 pc. We observed NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) with a spectral resolution of 0.038 km s−1 and a spatial resolution of 31″. Most of the ammonia peaks coincide with intensity peaks in dust continuum maps at 350 and 500 μm. We deduced physical properties by fitting a model to the observed spectra. We find gas kinetic temperatures of 8–15 K, velocity dispersions of 0.05–0.25 km s−1, and NH3 column densities of 5 × 1012 to 1 × 1014 cm−2. The CSAR algorithm, which is a hybrid of seeded-watershed and binary dendrogram algorithms, identifies a total of 55 NH3 structures, including 39 leaves and 16 branches. The masses of the NH3 sources range from 0.05 to 9.5 . The masses of NH3 leaves are mostly smaller than their corresponding virial mass estimated from their internal and gravitational energies, which suggests that these leaves are gravitationally unbound structures. Nine out of 39 NH3 leaves are gravitationally bound, and seven out of nine gravitationally bound NH3 leaves are associated with star formation. We also found that 12 out of 30 gravitationally unbound leaves are pressure confined. Our data suggest that a dense core may form as a pressure-confined structure, evolve to a gravitationally bound core, and undergo collapse to form a protostar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]