L1448 IRS2E: A candidate first hydrostatic core

Abstract

Intermediate between the prestellar and Class 0 protostellar phases, the first core is a quasi-equilibrium hydrostatic object with a short lifetime and an extremely low luminosity. Recent MHD simulations suggest that the first core can even drive a molecular outflow before the formation of the second core (i.e., protostar). Using the Submillimeter Array and the Spitzer Space Telescope, we present high angular resolution observations towards the embedded dense core IRS2E in L1448. We find that source L1448 IRS2E is not visible in the sensitive Spitzer infrared images (at wavelengths from 3.6 to 70 um), and has weak (sub-)millimeter dust continuum emission. Consequently, this source has an extremely low bolometric luminosity (< 0.1 L_sun). Infrared and (sub-)millimeter observations clearly show an outflow emanating from this source; L1448 IRS2E represents thus far the lowest luminosity source known to be driving a molecular outflow. Comparisons with prestellar cores and Class 0 protostars suggest that L1448 IRS2E is more evolved than prestellar cores but less evolved than Class 0 protostars, i.e., at a stage intermediate between prestellar cores and Class 0 protostars. All these results are consistent with the theoretical predictions of the radiative/magneto hydrodynamical simulations, making L1448 IRS2E the most promising candidate of the first hydrostatic core revealed so far.

20 pages, 4 figures, to be published by ApJ

References in corpus (11)

• Identifying the Low Luminosity Population of Embedded Protostars in the c2d Observations of Clouds and Cores
• The Large and Small Scale Structures of Dust in the Star-Forming Perseus Molecular Cloud
• An Ammonia Spectral Atlas of Dense Cores in Perseus
• Dynamics of Dense Cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud
• The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores: I: First Direct Detection of the Embedded Source in IRAM 04191+1522
• Shells, jets, and internal working surfaces in the molecular outflow from IRAS 04166+2706
• OVRO N2H+ Observations of Class 0 Protostars: Constraints on the Formation of Binary Stars
• The evolutionary state of the southern dense core Cha-MMS1
• A shallow though extensive H2 2.12 micron imaging survey of Taurus-Auriga-Perseus: I. NGC1333, L1455, L1448 and B1
• ATCA and Spitzer Observations of the Binary Protostellar Systems CG30 and BHR71
• Warm Extended Dense Gas Lurking At The Heart Of A Cold Collapsing Dense Core

Cited by in corpus (81)

• The VLA Nascent Disk and Multiplicity Survey of Perseus Protostars (VANDAM). II. Multiplicity of Protostars in the Perseus Molecular Cloud
• Resolving the Luminosity Problem in Low-Mass Star Formation
• Radiation Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Protostellar Collapse: Non-Ideal Magnetohydrodynamic Effects and Early Formation of Circumstellar Disks
• A Herschel and APEX Census of the Reddest Sources in Orion: Searching for the Youngest Protostars
• The VLA Nascent Disk And Multiplicity Survey of Perseus Protostars (VANDAM). IV. Free-Free Emission from Protostars: Links to Infrared Properties, Outflow Tracers, and Protostellar Disk Masses
• SMA Observations of Class 0 Protostars: A High-Angular Resolution Survey of Protostellar Binary Systems
• Evolution of Protostellar Outflow around Low-mass Protostar
• The seeds of star formation in the filamentary infrared-dark cloud G011.11-0.12
• Herschel observations of B1-bS and B1-bN: two first hydrostatic core candidates in the Perseus star-forming cloud
• The enigmatic core L1451-mm: a first hydrostatic core? or a hidden VeLLO?
• The Luminosities of Protostars in the Spitzer c2d and Gould Belt Legacy Clouds
• Alignment Between Flattened Protostellar Infall Envelopes and Ambient Magnetic Fields
• A Sub-arcsecond Survey Toward Class 0 Protostars in Perseus: Searching for Signatures of Protostellar Disks
• Collapse of a molecular cloud core to stellar densities: the formation and evolution of pre-stellar discs
• A Candidate Detection of the First Hydrostatic Core
• Exposed Long-lifetime First-core: A New Model of First Cores Based on Radiation Hydrodynamics
• Alignment Between Protostellar Outflows and Filamentary Structure
• Collimated jets from the first core
• IC348-SMM2E: a Class 0 proto-brown dwarf candidate forming as a scaled-down version of low-mass stars
• Nonlinear Evolution of Global Hydrodynamic Shallow-Water Instability in Solar Tachocline
• Detection of a Bipolar Molecular Outflow Driven by a Candidate First Hydrostatic Core
• Synthetic observations of first hydrostatic cores in collapsing low-mass dense cores. I. Spectral energy distributions and evolutionary sequence
• Impact of Protostellar Outflow on Star Formation: Effects of Initial Cloud Mass
• Zooming in on Individual Star Formation: Low- and High-mass Stars
• An ALMA Search for Substructure, Fragmentation, and Hidden Protostars in Starless Cores in Chamaeleon I
• The VLA Nascent Disk And Multiplicity (VANDAM) Survey of Perseus Protostars. Resolving the Sub-Arcsecond Binary System in NGC 1333 IRAS2A
• The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores. IX. Discovery of a Very Low Luminosity Object Driving a Molecular Outflow in the Dense Core L673-7
• Survival of interstellar molecules to prestellar dense core collapse and early phases of disk formation
• Two Extreme Young Objects in Barnard 1-b
• Chemical and physical characterization of collapsing low-mass prestellar dense cores
• The Spitzer c2d Survey of Large, Nearby, Interstellar Clouds. XII. The Perseus YSO Population as Observed with IRAC and MIPS
• SMA and Spitzer Observations of Bok Glouble CB17: A Candidate First Hydrostatic Core?
• Accretion Phase of Star Formation in Clouds with Different Metallicities
• FRagmentation and Evolution of dense cores Judged by ALMA (FREJA). I (Overview). Inner $\sim$1000 au structures of prestellar/protostellar cores in Taurus
• How Starless Are Starless Cores?
• Direct Imaging of a Compact Molecular Outflow from a Very Low-luminosity Object; L1521F-IRS
• ALMA and VLA observations of the outflows in IRAS 16293-2422
• Mass Assembly of Stellar Systems and their Evolution with the SMA - 1.3 mm Subcompact Data Release
• Synthetic observations of star formation and the interstellar medium
• Chemistry in the First Hydrostatic Core Stage By Adopting Three-Dimensional Radiation Hydrodynamic Simulations
• A (sub)millimetre study of dense cores in Orion B9
• Characterizing the Youngest Herschel-detected Protostars I. Envelope Structure Revealed by CARMA Dust Continuum Observations
• The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores XI : Infrared and Submillimeter Observations of CB130
• The dynamical state of the First Hydrostatic Core Candidate Cha-MMS1
• ALMA detections of the youngest protostars in Ophiuchus
• Do siblings always form and evolve simultaneously? Testing the coevality of multiple protostellar systems through SEDs
• Confirmation of the VeLLO L1148-IRS: Star Formation at very low (Column) Density
• The dependence of protostar formation on the geometry and strength of the initial magnetic field
• Organic chemistry of low-mass star-forming cores I: 7 mm spectroscopy of Chamaeleon MMS1
• Mass Assembly of Stellar Systems and their Evolution with the SMA (MASSES) -- Full Data Release
• Probing the Earliest Stage of Protostellar Evolution -- Barnard 1-bN and Barnard 1-bS
• Revealing The Millimeter Environment of the New FU Orionis Candidate HBC722 with the Submillimeter Array
• Characterizing the Youngest Herschel-detected Protostars II. Molecular Outflows from the Millimeter and the Far-infrared
• An analysis of the deuterium fractionation of star-forming cores in the Perseus molecular cloud
• Synthetic observations of first hydrostatic cores in collapsing low-mass dense cores II. Simulated ALMA dust emission maps
• Initial conditions for star formation in clusters: physical and kinematical structure of the starless core Oph A-N6
• ALMA observations of envelopes around first hydrostatic core candidates
• Kinematics of a young low-mass star forming core: Understanding the evolutionary state of the First Core Candidate L1451-mm
• R CrA SMM1A: Fragmentation in A Prestellar Core
• Contraction Signatures Toward Dense Cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud
• The evolutionary status of dense cores in the NGC 1333 IRAS 4 region
• A low-velocity bipolar outflow from a deeply embedded object in Taurus revealed by the Atacama Compact Array
• A Systematic Search for Molecular Outflows Toward Candidate Low-Luminosity Protostars and Very Low Luminosity Objects
• The Earliest Phases of Star formation (EPoS): Temperature, density, and kinematic structure of the star-forming core CB 17
• High-resolution ammonia mapping of the very young protostellar core Chamaeleon-MMS1
• Properties of the Molecular Cores of Low Luminosity Objects
• The nature of very low luminosity objects (VeLLOs)
• ALMA Observations of SMM11 Reveal an Extremely Young Protostar in Serpens Main Cluster
• A turbulent origin for the complex envelope kinematics in the young low-mass core Per-Bolo 58
• Seeds of Life in Space (SOLIS).VII. Discovery of a cold dense methanol blob toward the L1521F VeLLO system
• Observational Identification of First Cores: Non-LTE Radiative Transfer Simulation
• VLA and NOEMA view of the Bok Globule CB 17: the starless nature of a proposed FHSC candidate
• Early phases in the stellar and substellar formation and evolution: Infrared and submillimeter data in the Barnard 30 dark cloud
• Massive Quiescent Cores in Orion: VI. The Internal Structures and a Candidate of Transiting Core in NGC 2024 Filament
• A 1000 AU Scale Molecular Outflow Driven by a Protostar with an age of <4000 Years
• Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations of Spherical Protostellar Collapse for Very Low Mass Objects
• Extremely-bright submillimeter galaxies beyond the Lupus-I star-forming region
• Insights into the first and second hydrostatic core stages from numerical simulations
• A search for water maser emission from brown dwarfs and low-luminosity young stellar objects
• Modeling Two First Hydrostatic Core Candidates Barnard 1b-N and 1b-S
• Substellar candidates at the earliest stages: the SUCANES database