We present observations of the \(^3P_1\)-\(^3P_0\) fine-structure line of atomic carbon using the ASTE 10 m sub-mm telescope towards RCW38, the youngest super star cluster in the Milky Way. The ...detected CI emission is compared with the CO \(J\) = 1-0 image cube presented in Fukui et al. (2016) which has an angular resolution of 40\(^{\prime \prime}\) (\(\sim\) 0.33 pc). The overall distribution of the CI emission in this cluster is similar to that of the \(^{13}\)CO emission. The optical depth of the CI emission was found to be \(\tau\) = 0.1-0.6, suggesting mostly optically thin emission. An empirical conversion factor from the CI integrated intensity to the H\(_2\) column density was estimated as \(X_{\rm CI}\) = 6.3 \(\times\) 10\(^{20}\) cm\(^{-2}\) K\(^{-1}\) km\(^{-1}\) s (for visual extinction: \(A_V\) \(\le\) 10 mag) and 1.4 \(\times\) 10\(^{21}\) cm\(^{-2}\) K\(^{-1}\) km\(^{-1}\) s (for \(A_V\) of 10-100 mag). The column density ratio of the CI to CO (\(N_{\rm CI}/N_{\rm CO}\)) was derived as \(\sim\) 0.1 for \(A_V\) of 10-100 mag, which is consistent with that of the Orion cloud presented in Ikeda et al. (2002). However, our results cover an \(A_V\) regime of up to 100 mag, which is wider than the coverage found in Orion, which reach up to \(\sim\) 60 mag. Such a high CI/CO ratio in a high \(A_V\) region is difficult to be explained by the plane-parallel photodissociation region (PDR) model, which predicts that this ratio is close to 0 due to the heavy shielding of the ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Our results suggest that the molecular gas in this cluster is highly clumpy, allowing deep penetration of UV radiation even at averaged \(A_V\) values of 100 mag. Recent theoretical works have presented models consistent with such clumped gas distribution with a sub-pc clump size (e.g., Tachihara et al. 2018).
We have made mapping observations of L1551 IRS 5, L1551NE, L723, and L43 and single-point observations of IRAS 16293-2422 in the submillimeter CS (J = 7-6) and HCN (J = 4-3) lines with ASTE. ...Including our previous ASTE observations of L483 and B335, we found a clear linear correlation between the source bolometric luminosities and the total integrated intensities of the submillimeter lines (I_CS ~L_bol^0.92). The combined ASTE + SMA CS (7-6) image of L1551 IRS 5 exhibits an extended (~2000 AU) component tracing the associated reflection nebula at the west and southwest, as well as a compact (< 500 AU) component centered on the protostellar position. The emission peaks of the CS and HCN emissions in L1551 NE are not located at the protostellar position but offset (~1400 AU) toward the associated reflection nebula at the west. With the statistical analyses, we confirmed the opposite velocity gradients of the CS (7-6) emission to those of the millimeter lines along the outflow direction, which we reported in our early paper. The magnitudes of the submillimeter velocity gradients are estimated to be (9.7\pm1.7) \times 10-3 km s-1 arcsec-1 in L1551 IRS 5 and (7.6\pm2.4) \times 10-3 km s-1 arcsec-1 in L483. We suggest that the "skewed" submillimeter molecular emissions toward the associated reflection nebulae at a few thousands AU scale trace the warm (> 40 K) walls of the envelope cavities, excavated by the associated outflows and irradiated by the central protostars directly. The opposite velocity gradients along the outflow direction likely reflect the dispersing gas motion at the wall of the cavity in the envelopes perpendicular to the outflow.
We present the results of ALMA observations toward the low-mass Class-0 binary system, VLA 1623Aab in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud in \(^{12}\)CO, \(^{13}\)CO, and C\(^{18}\)O(2--1) lines. Our ...\(^{12}\)CO (\(J\)=2--1) data reveal that the VLA 1623 outflow consists of twin spatially overlapped outflows/jets. The redshifted northwestern jet exhibits the three cycles of wiggle with a spatial period of 1360\(\pm\)10 au, corresponding to a time period of 180 yr. The wiggle-like structure is also found in the position-velocity (PV) diagram, showing an amplitude in velocity of about 0.9 km s\(^{-1}\). Both the period and the velocity amplitude of the wiggle are roughly consistent with those expected from the binary parameters, i.e., the orbital period (460\(\pm\)20 yr) and the Keplerian velocity (2.2 km s\(^{-1}\)). Our \(^{13}\)CO and C\(^{18}\)O images reveal the nature of the dense gas in the two cm/mm sources, VLA 1623-B and -W, and its relation to the outflows, and strongly support the previous interpretation that both are shocked cloudlets. The driving sources of the twin molecular outflows are, therefore, likely to be within the VLA 1623Aab binary. The axes of the two molecular outflows are estimated to be inclined by 70\(\arcdeg\) from each other across the plane of sky, implying that the associated protostellar disks are also misaligned by \(70\arcdeg\). Such a misalignment, together with a small binary separation of 34 au in the one of the youngest protobinary systems known, is difficult to explain by models of disk fragmentation in quiescent environments. Instead, other effects such as turbulence probably play roles in misaligning the disks.
We present the results of data analysis of the CI (\(^{3}P_{1}\)-\(^{3}P_{0}\)) emission from the \(\rho\) Ophiuchi A photon-dominated region (PDR) obtained in the ALMA ACA stand-alone mode with a ...spatial resolution of 2.''6 (360 au). The CI emission shows filamentary structures with a width of \(\sim\)1000 au, which are adjacent to the shell structure seen in the 4.5 \(\mu\)m map. We found that the 4.5 \(\mu\)m emission, C\(^0\), and CO are distributed in this order from the excitation star (S1) in a complementary pattern. These results indicate that CI is emitted from a thin layer in the PDR generated by the excitation star, as predicted in the plane-parallel PDR model. In addition, extended CI emission was also detected, which shows nearly uniform integrated intensity over the entire field-of-view (1.'6\(\times\)1.'6). The line profile of the extended component is different from that of the above shell component. The column density ratio of C\(^0\) to CO in the extended component was \(\sim\)2, which is significantly higher than those of Galactic massive star-forming regions (0.1-0.2). These results suggest that CI is emitted also from the extended gas with a density of \(n_\mathrm{H_2} \sim 10^3\) cm\(^{-3}\), which is not greatly affected by the excitation star.
On the basis of various data such as ALMA, JVLA, Chandra, {\it Herschel}, and {\it Spitzer}, we confirmed that two protostellar candidates in Oph-A are bona fide protostars or proto-brown dwarfs ...(proto-BDs) in extremely early evolutionary stages. Both objects are barely visible across infrared (IR, i.e., near-IR to far-IR) bands. The physical nature of the cores is very similar to that expected in first hydrostatic cores (FHSCs), objects theoretically predicted in the evolutionary phase prior to stellar core formation with gas densities of \(\sim\) 10\(^{11-12}\) cm\(^{-3}\). This suggests that the evolutionary stage is close to the FHSC formation phase. The two objects are associated with faint X-ray sources, suggesting that they are in very early phase of stellar core formation with magnetic activity. In addition, we found the CO outflow components around both sources which may originate from the young outflows driven by these sources. The masses of these objects are calculated to be \(\sim 0.01-0.03\) \(M_\odot\) from the dust continuum emission. Their physical properties are consistent with that expected from the numerical model of forming brown dwarfs. These facts (the X-ray detection, CO outflow association, and FHSC-like spectral energy distributions) strongly indicate that the two objects are proto-BDs or will be in the very early phase of protostars which will evolve more massive protostars if they gain enough mass from the surroundings. The ages of these two objects are likely to be within \(\sim 10^3\) years after the protostellar core (or second core) formation, taking into account the outflow dynamical times (\(\lesssim\) 500 yrs).
We present an observational study of the protostellar core B335 harboring a low-mass Class 0 source. The observations of the H13CO+(J=1-0) line emission were carried out using the Nobeyama 45 m ...telescope and Nobeyama Millimeter Array. Our combined image of the interferometer and single-dish data depicts detailed structures of the dense envelope within the core. We found that the core has a radial density profile of n(r) prop. r^-p and a reliable difference in the power-law indices between the outer and inner regions of the core: p~2 for r >= 4000 AU and p ~ 1.5 for r <= 4000 AU}. The dense core shows a slight overall velocity gradient of ~1.0 km s^-1 over the scale of 20,000 AU across the outflow axis. We believe that this velocity gradient represents a solid-body-like rotation of the core. The dense envelope has a quite symmetrical velocity structure with a remarkable line broadening toward the core center, which is especially prominent in the position-velocity diagram across the outflow axis. The model calculations of position-velocity diagrams do a good job of reproducing observational results using the collapse model of an isothermal sphere in which the core has an inner free-fall region and an outer region conserving the conditions at the formation stage of a central stellar object. We derived a central stellar mass of ~0.1 M_sun, and suggest a small inward velocity, v(r>r_inf) ~ 0 km s^-1 in the outer core at >= 4000 AU. We concluded that our data can be well explained by gravitational collapse with a quasi-static initial condition, such as Shu's model, or by the isothermal collapse of a marginally critical Bonnor-Ebert sphere.
We have developed a FX-architecture digital spectro-correlator, Atacama Compact Array Correlator for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The ACA Correlator processes four pairs of dual ...polarization signals, whose bandwidth is 2 GHz, from up to sixteen antennas, and calculates auto- and cross-correlation spectra including cross-polarization in all combinations of sixteen antennas. We report the detailed design of the correlator and the verification results of the correlator hardware.
With the ASTE telescope, we have made observations of three low-mass
protostellar envelopes around L483, B335, and L723 in the submillimeter CS
($J$=7--6) and HCN ($J$=4--3) lines. We detected both ...the CS and HCN lines
toward all the targets, and the typical CS intensity ($\sim$ 1.0 K in T$_{B}$)
is twice higher than that of the HCN line. Mapping observations of L483 in
these lines have shown that the submillimeter emissions in the low-mass
protostellar envelope are resolved, exhibit a western extension from the
central protostar, and that the deconvolved size is $\sim$ 5500 AU $\times$
3700 AU (P.A. = 78$^{\circ}$) in the HCN emission. The extent of the
submillimeter emissions in L483 implies the presence of higher-temperature
($\gtrsim$ 40 K) gas at 4000 AU away from the central protostar, which suggests
that we need to take 2-dimensional radiative transfer models with a flattened
disklike envelope and bipolar cavity into account to explain the temperature
structure inside the low-mass protostellar envelope. The position-velocity
diagrams of these submillimeter lines in L483 and B335 exhibit different
velocity gradients from those found in the previous millimeter observations. In
particular, along the axis of the associated molecular outflow the sense of the
velocity gradient traced by the submillimeter lines is opposite to that of the
millimeter observations or the associated molecular outflow, both in L483 and
B335. We suggest that expanding gas motions at the surface of the flattened
disklike envelope around the protostar, which is irradiated from the central
star directly, are the origin of the observed submillimeter velocity structure.
The Millimeter Sky Transparency Imager (MiSTI) is a small millimeter-wave scanning telescope with a 25-cm diameter dish operating at 183 GHz. MiSTI is installed at Atacama, Chile, and it measures ...emission from atmospheric water vapor and its fluctuations to estimate atmospheric absorption in the millimeter to submillimeter. MiSTI observes the water vapor distribution at a spatial resolution of 0.5 deg, and it is sensitive enough to detect an excess path length of <~ 0.05 mm for an integration time of 1 s. By comparing the MiSTI measurements with those by a 220 GHz tipper, we validate that the 183 GHz measurements of MiSTI are correct, down to the level of any residual systematic errors in the 220 GHz measurements. Since 2008, MiSTI has provided real-time (every 1 hr) monitoring of the all-sky opacity distribution and atmospheric transmission curves in the (sub)millimeter through the internet, allowing to know the (sub)millimeter sky conditions at Atacama.
We present the results of CO (J=3-2) and CO (J=1-0) mapping observations toward the active cluster forming clump, L1688, in the rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud. From the CO (J=3-2) and CO (J=1-0) data ...cubes, we identify five outflows, whose driving sources are VLA 1623, EL 32, LFAM 26, EL 29, and IRS 44. Among the identified outflows, the most luminous outflow is the one from the prototypical Class 0 source, VLA 1623. We also discover that the EL 32 outflow located in the Oph B2 region has very extended blueshifted and redshifted lobes with wide opening angles. This outflow is most massive and have the largest momentum among the identified outflows in the CO (J=1-0) map. We estimate the total energy injection rate due to the molecular outflows identified by the present and previous studies to be about 0.2 L_solar, larger than or at least comparable to the turbulence dissipation rate ~(0.03 - 0.1) L_solar. Therefore, we conclude that the protostellar outflows are likely to play a significant role in replenishing the supersonic turbulence in this clump.
