Emission from protostars at centimeter radio wavelengths has been shown to trace the free-free emission arising from ionizing shocks as a result of jets and outflows driven by protostars. Therefore, ...measuring properties of protostars at radio frequencies can provide valuable insights into the nature of their outflows and jets. We present a C-band (4.1 and 6.4 cm) survey of all known protostars (Class 0 and Class I) in Perseus as part of the VLA Nascent Disk and Multiplicity (VANDAM) Survey. We examine the known correlations between radio flux density and protostellar parameters, such as bolometric luminosity and outflow force, for our sample. We also investigate the relationship between radio flux density and far-infrared line luminosities from Herschel. We show that free-free emission most likely originates from J-type shocks; however, the large scatter indicates that those two types of emission probe different time and spatial scales. Using C-band fluxes, we removed an estimation of free-free contamination from the corresponding Ka-band (9 mm) flux densities that primarily probe dust emission from embedded disks. We find that the compact (<1″) dust emission is lower for Class I sources (median dust mass 96 M⊕) relative to Class 0 (248 M⊕), but several times higher than in Class II (5-15 M⊕). If this compact dust emission is tracing primarily the embedded disk, as is likely for many sources, this result provides evidence of decreasing disk masses with protostellar evolution, with sufficient mass for forming giant planet cores primarily at early times.
Star formation is a multi-scale, multi-physics problem ranging from the size scale of molecular clouds (
∼
10
s pc) down to the size scales of dense prestellar cores (
∼
0.1
pc) that are the birth ...sites of stars. Several physical processes like turbulence, magnetic fields and stellar feedback, such as radiation pressure and outflows, are more or less important for different stellar masses and size scales. During the last decade a variety of technological and computing advances have transformed our understanding of star formation through the use of multi-wavelength observations, large scale observational surveys, and multi-physics multi-dimensional numerical simulations. Additionally, the use of synthetic observations of simulations have provided a useful tool to interpret observational data and evaluate the importance of various physical processes on different scales in star formation. Here, we review these recent advancements in both high- (
M
≳
8
M
⊙
) and low-mass star formation.
We have conducted a survey of 328 protostars in the Orion molecular clouds with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array at 0.87 mm at a resolution of ∼0 1 (40 au), including observations ...with the Very Large Array at 9 mm toward 148 protostars at a resolution of ∼0 08 (32 au). This is the largest multiwavelength survey of protostars at this resolution by an order of magnitude. We use the dust continuum emission at 0.87 and 9 mm to measure the dust disk radii and masses toward the Class 0, Class I, and flat-spectrum protostars, characterizing the evolution of these disk properties in the protostellar phase. The mean dust disk radii for the Class 0, Class I, and flat-spectrum protostars are , , and au, respectively, and the mean protostellar dust disk masses are 25.9 , , , respectively. The decrease in dust disk masses is expected from disk evolution and accretion, but the decrease in disk radii may point to the initial conditions of star formation not leading to the systematic growth of disk radii or that radial drift is keeping the dust disk sizes small. At least 146 protostellar disks (35% of 379 detected 0.87 mm continuum sources plus 42 nondetections) have disk radii greater than 50 au in our sample. These properties are not found to vary significantly between different regions within Orion. The protostellar dust disk mass distributions are systematically larger than those of Class II disks by a factor of >4, providing evidence that the cores of giant planets may need to at least begin their formation during the protostellar phase.
ABSTRACT We present a multiplicity study of all known protostars (94) in the Perseus molecular cloud from a Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array survey at Ka-band (8 mm and 1 cm) and C-band (4 and 6.6 ...cm). The observed sample has a bolometric luminosity range between 0.1 L and ∼33 L , with a median of 0.7 L . This multiplicity study is based on the Ka-band data, having a best resolution of ∼0 065 (15 au) and separations out to ∼43″ (10,000 au) can be probed. The overall multiplicity fraction (MF) is found to be 0.40 0.06 and the companion star fraction (CSF) is 0.71 0.06. The MF and CSF of the Class 0 protostars are 0.57 0.09 and 1.2 0.2, and the MF and CSF of Class I protostars are both 0.23 0.08. The distribution of companion separations appears bi-modal, with a peak at ∼75 au and another peak at ∼3000 au. Turbulent fragmentation is likely the dominant mechanism on >1000 au scales and disk fragmentation is likely to be the dominant mechanism on <200 au scales. Toward three Class 0 sources we find companions separated by <30 au. These systems have the smallest separations of currently known Class 0 protostellar binary systems. Moreover, these close systems are embedded within larger (50-400 au) structures and may be candidates for ongoing disk fragmentation.
We present 0 25 resolution (35 au) ALMA 1.3 mm dust polarization observations for 37 young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud. These data encompass all the embedded protostars in ...the cloud and several flat-spectrum and Class II objects to produce the largest, homogeneous study of dust polarization on disk scales to date. The goal of this study is to study dust polarization morphologies down to disk scales. We find that 14/37 (38%) of the observed YSOs are detected in polarization at our sensitivity. Nine of these sources have uniform polarization angles, and four sources have azimuthal polarization structure. We find that the sources with uniform polarization tend to have steeper inclinations (>60°) than those with azimuthal polarization (<60°). Overall, the majority (9/14) of the detected sources have polarization morphologies and disk properties consistent with dust self-scattering processes in optically thick disks. The remaining sources may be instead tracing magnetic fields. Their inferred field directions from rotating the polarization vectors by 90° are mainly poloidal or hourglass shaped. We find no evidence of a strong toroidal field component toward any of our disks. For the 23 YSOs that are undetected in polarization, roughly half of them have 3 upper limits of <2%. These sources also tend to have inclinations <60°, and they are generally compact. Since lower-inclination sources tend to have azimuthal polarization, these YSOs may be undetected in polarization owing to unresolved polarization structure within our beam. We propose that disks with inclinations >60° are the best candidates for future polarization studies of dust self-scattering, as these systems will generally show uniform polarization vectors that do not require very high resolution to resolve. We release the continuum and polarization images for all the sources with this publication. Data from the entire survey can be obtained from Dataverse.
Abstract
VLA 1623 West is an ambiguous source that has been described as a shocked cloudlet as well as a protostellar disk. We use deep ALMA 1.3 and 0.87 mm observations to constrain its shape and ...structure to determine its origins better. We use a series of geometric models to fit the
uv
visibilities at both wavelengths with
GALARIO
. Although the real visibilities show structures similar to what has been identified as gaps and rings in protoplanetary disks, we find that a modified flat-topped Gaussian model at high inclination provides the best fit to the observations. This fit agrees well with expectations for an optically thick, highly inclined disk. Nevertheless, we find that the geometric models consistently yield positive residuals at the four corners of the disk at both wavelengths. We interpret these residuals as evidence that the disk is flared in the millimeter dust. We use a simple toy model for an edge-on flared disk and find that the residuals best match a disk with flaring that is mainly restricted to the outer disk at
R
≳ 30 au. Thus, VLA 1623W may represent a young protostellar disk where the large dust grains have not yet had enough time to settle into the midplane. This result may have implications for how disk evolution and vertical dust settling impact the initial conditions leading to planet formation.
We present high-resolution (∼35 au) ALMA Band 6 1.3 mm dust polarization observations of IRAS 16293. These observations spatially resolve the dust polarization across the two protostellar sources and ...toward the filamentary structures between them. The dust polarization and inferred magnetic field have complicated structures throughout the region. In particular, we find that the magnetic field is aligned parallel to three filamentary structures. We characterize the physical properties of the filamentary structure that bridges IRAS 16293A and IRAS 16293B and estimate a magnetic field strength of 23-78 mG using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method. We construct a toy model for the bridge material assuming that the young stars dominate the mass and gravitational potential of the system. We find that the expected gas flow to each star is of comparable order to the Alfvén speed, which suggests that the field may be regulating the gas flow. We also find that the bridging material should be depleted in ∼103 yr. If the bridge is part of the natal filament that formed the stars, then it must have accreted new material. Alternatively, the bridge could be a transient structure. Finally, we show that the 1.3 mm polarization morphology of the optically thick IRAS 16293B system is qualitatively similar to dust self-scattering. Based on similar polarization measurements at 6.9 mm, we propose that IRAS 16293B has produced a substantial population of large dust grains with sizes between 200 and 2000 m.
Embedded binaries and their dense cores Sadavoy, Sarah I; Stahler, Steven W
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
08/2017, Volume:
469, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Abstract
We explore the relationship between young, embedded binaries and their parent cores, using observations within the Perseus Molecular Cloud. We combine recently published Very Large Array ...observations of young stars with core properties obtained from Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 observations at 850 μm. Most embedded binary systems are found towards the centres of their parent cores, although several systems have components closer to the core edge. Wide binaries, defined as those systems with physical separations greater than 500 au, show a tendency to be aligned with the long axes of their parent cores, whereas tight binaries show no preferred orientation. We test a number of simple, evolutionary models to account for the observed populations of Class 0 and I sources, both single and binary. In the model that best explains the observations, all stars form initially as wide binaries. These binaries either break up into separate stars or else shrink into tighter orbits. Under the assumption that both stars remain embedded following binary break-up, we find a total star formation rate of 168 Myr−1. Alternatively, one star may be ejected from the dense core due to binary break-up. This latter assumption results in a star formation rate of 247 Myr−1. Both production rates are in satisfactory agreement with current estimates from other studies of Perseus. Future observations should be able to distinguish between these two possibilities. If our model continues to provide a good fit to other star-forming regions, then the mass fraction of dense cores that becomes stars is double what is currently believed.
Abstract
We characterize protostellar multiplicity in
20
Current address: Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5â7, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark.
the Orion molecular ...clouds using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 0.87 mm and Very Large Array 9 mm continuum surveys toward 328 protostars. These observations are sensitive to projected spatial separations as small as ∼20 au, and we consider source separations up to 10
4
au as potential companions. The overall multiplicity fraction (MF) and companion fraction (CF) for the Orion protostars are 0.30 ± 0.03 and 0.44 ± 0.03, respectively, considering separations from 20 to 10
4
au. The MFs and CFs are corrected for potential contamination by unassociated young stars using a probabilistic scheme based on the surface density of young stars around each protostar. The companion separation distribution as a whole is double peaked and inconsistent with the separation distribution of solar-type field stars, while the separation distribution of Flat Spectrum protostars is consistent solar-type field stars. The multiplicity statistics and companion separation distributions of the Perseus star-forming region are consistent with those of Orion. Based on the observed peaks in the Class 0 separations at ∼100 au and ∼10
3
au, we argue that multiples with separations <500 au are likely produced by both disk fragmentation and turbulent fragmentation with migration, and those at ≳10
3
au result primarily from turbulent fragmentation. We also find that MFs/CFs may rise from Class 0 to Flat Spectrum protostars between 100 and 10
3
au in regions of high young stellar object density. This finding may be evidence for the migration of companions from >10
3
au to <10
3
au, and that some companions between 10
3
and 10
4
au must be (or become) unbound.
Binary and multiple star systems are a frequent outcome of the star formation process and as a result almost half of all stars with masses similar to that of the Sun have at least one companion star. ...Theoretical studies indicate that there are two main pathways that can operate concurrently to form binary/multiple star systems: large-scale fragmentation of turbulent gas cores and filaments or smaller-scale fragmentation of a massive protostellar disk due to gravitational instability. Observational evidence for turbulent fragmentation on scales of more than 1,000 astronomical units has recently emerged. Previous evidence for disk fragmentation was limited to inferences based on the separations of more-evolved pre-main sequence and protostellar multiple systems. The triple protostar system L1448 IRS3B is an ideal system with which to search for evidence of disk fragmentation as it is in an early phase of the star formation process, it is likely to be less than 150,000 years old and all of the protostars in the system are separated by less than 200 astronomical units. Here we report observations of dust and molecular gas emission that reveal a disk with a spiral structure surrounding the three protostars. Two protostars near the centre of the disk are separated by 61 astronomical units and a tertiary protostar is coincident with a spiral arm in the outer disk at a separation of 183 astronomical units. The inferred mass of the central pair of protostellar objects is approximately one solar mass, while the disk surrounding the three protostars has a total mass of around 0.30 solar masses. The tertiary protostar itself has a minimum mass of about 0.085 solar masses. We demonstrate that the disk around L1448 IRS3B appears susceptible to disk fragmentation at radii between 150 and 320 astronomical units, overlapping with the location of the tertiary protostar. This is consistent with models for a protostellar disk that has recently undergone gravitational instability, spawning one or two companion stars.
PDF
