Observations and Modeling of the 2-25um Emission From High Mass Protostellar Object Candidates

Abstract

This is a report on detailed modeling of young high-mass protostellar candidates during their most embedded and obscured phases. We performed narrowband mid-infrared imaging of three candidate high-mass protostellar objects in G11.94-0.62, G29.96-0.02, and G45.07+0.13 at Gemini Observatory using the Thermal-Region Camera and Spectrograph (T-ReCS). The sources were imaged through up to 11 narrowband filters, sampling their SEDs over the entire 2-25um infrared range. For the first time, we have fit the observed SEDs of massive protostars with models that take into account departures from spherical symmetry in the infalling envelopes. In this way, we have been able to back out of the models detailed physical parameters for these earliest stages of massive stellar life. Our detailed modeling suggests that massive star formation can proceed in a way very similar to the formation of low-mass stars.

23 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication by ApJ. For a version with high-resolution images go here http://www.ctio.noao.edu/~debuizer/

References in corpus (5)

• Resolution of Distance Ambiguities of Inner Galaxy Massive Star Formation Regions II
• Observations of Massive Star Forming Regions with Water Masers: Mid-Infrared Imaging
• IRAS 16293-2442B: A Compact, Possibly Isolated Protoplanetary Disk in a Class 0 Object
• High-velocity gas toward hot molecular cores: evidence for collimated outflows from embedded sources
• Search for Calibrators for the Submillimeter Array: I. High-Mass Star Forming Regions

Cited by in corpus (21)

• A disk of dust and molecular gas around a high-mass protostar
• Methanol masers : Reliable tracers of the early stages of high-mass star formation
• A Herschel and APEX Census of the Reddest Sources in Orion: Searching for the Youngest Protostars
• Outflow and Infall in a Sample of Massive Star Forming Regions
• SMA millimeter observations of Hot Molecular Cores
• Resolved 24.5 micron emission from massive young stellar objects
• Collapsing Hot Molecular Cores: A Model for the Dust Spectrum and Ammonia Line Emission of the G31.41+0.31 Hot Core
• Digging into NGC 6334I(N): Multiwavelength Imaging of a Massive Protostellar Cluster
• The origin of mid-infrared emission in massive young stellar objects: multi-baseline VLTI observations of W33A
• Evidence for a Massive Protocluster in S255N
• Feedback-Driven Evolution of the Far-Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions of Luminous and Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
• 12 and 18 micron images of dust surrounding HD 32297
• The Circumstellar Structure and Excitation Effects around the Massive Protostar Cepheus A HW 2
• Modeling the accretion disk around the high-mass protostar GGD 27-MM1
• First Science Observations with SOFIA/FORCAST: Properties of Intermediate-Luminosity Protostars and Circumstellar Disks in OMC-2
• The SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. II. High Luminosity Protostars
• Spectral Energy Distributions of High Mass Proto Stellar Objects - Evidence for High Accretion Rates
• High Resolution Mid-Infrared Imaging of Radio Ultra-Compact HII Regions
• Mid-Infrared Photometry and Spectra of Three High Mass Protostellar Candidates at IRAS 18151-1208 and IRAS 20343+4129
• Young massive stars and their environment in the mid-infrared at high angular resolution
• The infrared environments of masers associated with star formation