How to identify the youngest protostars

Stamatellos, Dimitrios, Whitworth, Anthony Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-5486, Boyd, D. F. A. and Goodwin, S. P. 2005. How to identify the youngest protostars. Astronomy and Astrophysics 439 (1) , pp. 159-169. 10.1051/0004-6361:20052952

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Abstract

We study the transition from a prestellar core to a Class 0 protostar, using SPH to simulate the dynamical evolution, and a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to generate the SED and isophotal maps. For a prestellar core illuminated by the standard interstellar radiation field, the luminosity is low and the SED peaks at ~ $190\,\mu {\rm m}$. Once a protostar has formed, the luminosity rises (due to a growing contribution from accretion onto the protostar) and the peak of the SED shifts to shorter wavelengths ( $80~{\rm to}\,100\,\mu {\rm m}$). However, by the end of the Class 0 phase, the accretion rate is falling, the luminosity has decreased, and the peak of the SED shifts back towards longer wavelengths ( $90\;{\rm to}\,150\,\mu {\rm m}$). In our simulations, the density of material around the protostar remains sufficiently high well into the Class 0 phase that the protostar only becomes visible in the NIR if it is displaced from the centre dynamically. Raw submm/mm maps of Class 0 protostars tend to be much more centrally condensed than those of prestellar cores. However, when convolved with a typical telescope beam, the difference in central concentration is less marked, although the Class 0 protostars appear more circular. Our results suggest that, if a core is deemed to be prestellar on the basis of having no associated IRAS source, no cm radio emission, and no outflow, but it has a circular appearance and an SED which peaks at wavelengths below ~ $170\,\mu {\rm m}$, it may well contain a very young Class 0 protostar.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	stars: formation; ISM: clouds; dust, extinction; methods: numerical; radiative transfer; hydrodynamics
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0004-6361/ (accessed 17/04/2014)
Publisher:	edp sciences
ISSN:	0004-6361
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 17:24
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/46573

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