English

Submillimeter arcsecond-resolution mapping of the highly collimated protostellar jet HH 211

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

We have mapped the protostellar jet HH 211 in 342 GHz continuum, SiO (J=87J=8-7), and CO (J=32J=3-2) emission at \sim \arcs{1} resolution with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Thermal dust emission is seen in continuum at the center of the jet, tracing an envelope and a possible optically thick compact disk (with a size << 130 AU) around the protostar. A knotty jet is seen in CO and SiO as in \H2{}, but extending closer to the protostar. It consists of a chain of knots on each side of the protostar, with an interknot spacing of \sim \arcs{2}-\arcs{3} or 600-900 AU and the innermost pair of knots at only \sim \arcsa{1}{7} or 535 AU from the protostar. These knots likely trace unresolved internal (bow) shocks (i.e., working surfaces) in the jet, with a velocity range up to \sim 25 \vkm{}. The two-sided mass-loss rate of the jet is estimated to be (0.72.8)×106\sim (0.7-2.8)\times 10^{-6} \solarmass{} yr1^{-1}. The jet is episodic, precessing, and bending. A velocity gradient is seen consistently across two bright SiO knots (BK3 and RK2) perpendicular to the jet axis, with \sim 1.5±\pm0.8 \vkm{} at \sim 30±\pm15 AU, suggesting a presence of a jet rotation. The launching radius of the jet, derived from the potential jet rotation, is \sim 0.15-0.06 AU in the inner disk.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0708.1365,
  title  = {Submillimeter arcsecond-resolution mapping of the highly collimated protostellar jet HH 211},
  author = {Chin-Fei Lee and Paul T. P. Ho and Aina Palau and Naomi Hirano and Tyler L. Bourke and Hsien Shang and Qizhou Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0708.1365},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

24 pages, 11 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:06:21.421Z