English

A Detached Protostellar Disk around a $\sim$0.2$M_{\odot}$ protostar in a Possible Site of a Multiple Star Formation in a Dynamical Environment in Taurus

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2017-11-09 v2

Abstract

We report ALMA observations in 0.87 mm continuum and 12^{12}CO (JJ = 3--2) toward a very low-luminosity (<<0.1 LL_{\odot}) protostar, which is deeply embedded in one of the densest core MC27/L1521F, in Taurus with an indication of multiple star formation in a highly dynamical environment. The beam size corresponds to \sim20 AU, and we have clearly detected blueshifted/redshifted gas in 12^{12}CO associated with the protostar. The spatial/velocity distributions of the gas show there is a rotating disk with a size scale of \sim10 AU, a disk mass of \sim104^{-4} MM_{\odot} and a central stellar mass of \sim0.2 MM_{\odot}. The observed disk seems to be detached from the surrounding dense gas, although it is still embedded at the center of the core whose density is \sim106^{6} cm3^{-3}. The current low-outflow activity and the very low luminosity indicate that the mass accretion rate onto the protostar is extremely low in spite of a very early stage of star formation. We may be witnessing the final stage of the formation of \sim0.2 MM_{\odot} protostar. However, we cannot explain the observed low luminosity with the standard pre-main-sequence evolutionary track unless we assume cold accretion with an extremely small initial radius of the protostar (\sim0.65 RR_\odot). These facts may challenge our current understanding of the low mass star formation, in particular the mass accretion process onto the protostar and the circumstellar disk.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1709.07113,
  title  = {A Detached Protostellar Disk around a $\sim$0.2$M_{\odot}$ protostar in a Possible Site of a Multiple Star Formation in a Dynamical Environment in Taurus},
  author = {Kazuki Tokuda and Toshikazu Onishi and Kazuya Saigo and Takashi Hosokawa and Tomoaki Matsumoto and Shu-ichiro Inutsuka and Masahiro N. Machida and Kengo Tomida and Masanobu Kunitomo and Akiko Kawamura and Yasuo Fukui and Kengo Tachihara},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.07113},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal