The Warm And Dense Gas In Embedded Low-mass Protostars
Abstract
The central regions of embedded low-mass protostars is characterized by warm (T K) and dense (10^6 cm-3) gas. Although short (10^5 years), these stages are critical for the subsequent evolution of the system. The total mass of the system and the initial conditions for (massive) planet formation are determined. Outflows, disks and envelopes all exist on scales of a few hundred to thousand AU, but except for a few cases, the physical structure has mainly been constrained on scales of a few thousand AU through observations of the cold, quiescent gas and dust.
We present recent observations of observations using newly commisioned array receivers HARP-B on the JCMT and CHAMP+ on APEX of rotational emission lines of CO, HCO+ and their isotopologues ranging in frequency from 230 to 900 GHz for to probe the warm and dense gas, both close to the star and within the immedeate surroundings of the protostellar system. Observations were supplemented with continuum data ranging from the near-IR to radio. Special emphasis was put on the results obtained by the c2d program carried out on Spitzer. A large number of sources was observed, ranging from luminous, deeply embedded sources to weak sources where most of the envelope has accreted onto the central star/disk system. Initial results show that the amount of warm and dense gas is not necessarily related. Warm gas seems to be more present at more evolved sources, even at low luminosities, while dense gas is more present in the massive envelopes surrounding the deeply embedded Class 0 protostars. It is also shown that the warm (T 100 K) gas is mostly quiescent and not related to outflow activity. It is likely that the gas is thermally heated.- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #211
- Pub Date:
- March 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AAS...21116220V