Assessing molecular outflows and turbulence in the protostellar cluster Serpens South

Abstract

Molecular outflows driven by protostellar cluster members likely impact their surroundings and contribute to turbulence, affecting subsequent star formation. The very young Serpens South cluster consists of a particularly high density and fraction of protostars, yielding a relevant case study for protostellar outflows and their impact on the cluster environment. We combined CO $J=1-0$ observations of this region using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) and the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) 30 m single dish telescope. The combined map allows us to probe CO outflows within the central, most active region at size scales of 0.01 pc to 0.8 pc. We account for effects of line opacity and excitation temperature variations by incorporating ${}^{12}$CO and ${}^{13}$CO data for the $J=1-0$ and $J=3-2$ transitions (using Atacama Pathfinder Experiment and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory observations for the higher CO transitions), and we calculate mass, momentum, and energy of the molecular outflows in this region. The outflow mass loss rate, force, and luminosity, compared with diagnostics of turbulence and gravity, suggest that outflows drive a sufficient amount of energy to sustain turbulence, but not enough energy to substantially counter the gravitational potential energy and disrupt the clump. Further, we compare Serpens South with the slightly more evolved cluster NGC 1333, and we propose an empirical scenario for outflow-cluster interaction at different evolutionary stages.

26 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (6)

• The Evolution of Outflow-Envelope Interactions in Low-Mass Protostars
• The Spitzer Gould Belt Survey of Large Nearby Interstellar Clouds: Discovery of a Dense Embedded Cluster in the Serpens-Aquila Rift
• CARMA Large Area Star Formation Survey: Observational Analysis of Filaments in the Serpens South Molecular Cloud
• Submillimeter arcsecond-resolution mapping of the highly collimated protostellar jet HH 211
• HH 212: SMA Observations of a Remarkable Protostellar Jet
• Evidence for Large Grains in the Star-forming Filament OMC-2/3

Cited by in corpus (19)

• The link between turbulence, magnetic fields, filaments, and star formation in the Central Molecular Zone cloud G0.253+0.016
• The Gould's Belt Distances Survey (GOBELINS) III. The distance to the Serpens/Aquila Molecular Complex
• The ALMA Survey of 70 $\mu \mathrm{m}$ Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). II: Molecular Outflows in the Extreme Early Stages of Protocluster Formation
• Massive and low-mass protostars in massive "starless" cores
• The fragmentation and stability of hierarchical structure in Serpens South
• A Unified Model for Bipolar Outflows from Young Stars: Kinematic Signatures of Jets, Winds, and Their Magnetic Interplay with the Ambient Toroids
• Data Combination: Interferometry and Single-dish Imaging in Radio Astronomy
• The CARMA-NRO Orion Survey: Protostellar Outflows, Energetics, and Filamentary Alignment
• Proper motions of collimated jets from intermediate-mass protostars in the Carina Nebula
• The link between solenoidal turbulence and slow star formation in G0.253+0.016
• A Novel Survey for Young Substellar Objects with the W-band filter II. The Coolest and Lowest Mass Members of the Serpens-South Star-forming Region
• Wide-Field ${}^{12}$CO ($J=2-1$) and ${}^{13}$CO ($J=2-1$) Observations toward the Aquila Rift and Serpens Molecular Cloud Complexes. I. Molecular Clouds and Their Physical Properties
• The distance to the Serpens South Cluster from H2O masers
• The CARMA-NRO Orion Survey: Statistical Signatures of Feedback in the Orion A Molecular Cloud
• Protonated hydrogen cyanide as a tracer of pristine molecular gas
• Mid-$J$ CO Line Observations of Protostellar Outflows in the Orion Molecular Clouds
• The JCMT Transient Survey: Four Year Summary of Monitoring the Submillimeter Variability of Protostars
• Characterizing Outflows in the Cygnus X Region
• The Kinematic and Dynamic Properties of HBC 494's Wide-Angle Outflows