Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userThe L1157 protostellar outflow imaged with the SMA
487
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
Arturo Gomez-Ruiz A.I.
Publication date
2013
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We use the Submillimeter Array to observe, at 1.4 mm, the blue-lobe of the L1157 outflow at high spatial resolution (~ 3). We detected SiO, H_2CO, and CH_3OH lines from several molecular clumps that constitute the outflow. All three molecules were detected along the wall of the inner cavity that is supposedly related with the later ejection event. On the other hand, no emission was detected towards positions related to an old ejection episode, likely due to space filtering from the interferometer. The H_2CO and CH_3OH emission is detected only at velocities close to the systemic velocity. The spatial distributions of the H_2CO and CH_3OH are similar. These emission lines trace the U-shaped structure seen in the mid-infrared image. In contrast, the SiO emission is detected in wider velocity range with a peak at ~14 km s/s blue-shifted from the systemic velocity. The SiO emission is brightest at the B1 position, which corresponds to the apex of the U-shaped structure. There are two compact SiO clumps along the faint arc-like feature to the east of the U-shaped structure. At the B1 position, there are two velocity components; one is a compact clump with a size of ~1500 AU seen in the high-velocity and the other is an extended component with lower velocities. The kinematic structure at the B1 position is different from that expected in a single bow shock. It is likely that the high-velocity SiO clump at the B1 position is kinetically independent from the low-velocity gas. The line ratio between SiO (5--4) and SiO (2--1) suggests that the high velocity SiO clumps consist of high density gas of n ~ 10^5 - 10^6 cm^-3, which is comparable to the density of the bullets in the extremely high velocity (EHV) jets. It is likely that the high-velocity SiO clumps in L1157 have the same origin as the EHV bullets.
rate research
Read More
We present a multiline CS survey towards the brightest bow-shock B1 in the prototypical chemically active protostellar outflow L1157. We made use of (sub-)mm data obtained in the framework of the Chemical HErschel Surveys of Star forming regions (CHESS) and Astrochemical Surveys at IRAM (ASAI) key science programs. We detected $^{12}$C$^{32}$S, $^{12}$C$^{34}$S, $^{13}$C$^{32}$S, and $^{12}$C$^{33}$S emissions, for a total of 18 transitions, with $E_{rm u}$ up to $sim$ 180 K. The unprecedented sensitivity of the survey allows us to carefully analyse the line profiles, revealing high-velocity emission, up to 20 km s$^{-1}$ with respect to the systemic. The profiles can be well fitted by a combination of two exponential laws that are remarkably similar to what previously found using CO. These components have been related to the cavity walls produced by the $sim$ 2000 yr B1 shock and the older ($sim$ 4000 yr) B2 shock, respectively. The combination of low- and high-excitation CS emission was used to properly sample the different physical components expected in a shocked region. Our CS observations show that this molecule is highlighting the dense, $n_{rm H_2}$ = 1--5 $times$ 10$^{5}$ cm$^{-3}$, cavity walls produced by the episodic outflow in L1157. In addition, the highest excitation (E$_u$ $geq$ 130 K) CS lines provide us with the signature of denser (1--5 $times$ 10$^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$) gas, associated with a molecular reformation zone of a dissociative J-type shock, which is expected to arise where the precessing jet impacting the molecular cavities. The CS fractional abundance increases up to $sim$ 10$^{-7}$ in all the kinematical components. This value is consistent with what previously found for prototypical protostars and it is in agreement with the prediction of the abundances obtained via the chemical code Astrochem.
We present the first detection of N2H+ towards a low-mass protostellar outflow, namely the L1157-B1 shock, at about 0.1 pc from the protostellar cocoon. The detection was obtained with the IRAM 30-m antenna. We observed emission at 93 GHz due to the J = 1-0 hyperfine lines. The analysis of the emission coupled with the HIFI CHESS multiline CO observations leads to the conclusion that the observed N2H+(1-0) line originates from the dense (> 10^5 cm-3) gas associated with the large (20-25 arcsec) cavities opened by the protostellar wind. We find a N2H+ column density of few 10^12 cm-2 corresponding to an abundance of (2-8) 10^-9. The N2H+ abundance can be matched by a model of quiescent gas evolved for more than 10^4 yr, i.e. for more than the shock kinematical age (about 2000 yr). Modelling of C-shocks confirms that the abundance of N2H+ is not increased by the passage of the shock. In summary, N2H+ is a fossil record of the pre-shock gas, formed when the density of the gas was around 10^4 cm-3, and then further compressed and accelerated by the shock.
The isocyanic acid (HNCO) presents an extended distribution in the centers of the Milky Way and the spiral galaxy IC342. Based on the morphology of the emission and the HNCO abundance with respect to H2, several authors made the hypothesis that HNCO could be a good tracer of interstellar shocks. Here we test this hypothesis by observing a well-known Galactic source where the chemistry is dominated by shocks. We have observed several transitions of HNCO towards L1157-mm and two positions (B1 and B2) in the blue lobe of the molecular outflow. The HNCO line profiles exhibit the same characteristics of other well-known shock tracers like CH3OH, H2CO, SO or SO2. HNCO, together with SO2 and OCS, are the only three molecules detected so far whose emission is much more intense in B2 than in B1, making these species valuable probes of chemical differences along the outflow. The HNCO abundance with respect to H2 is 0.4-1.8 10^-8 in B1 and 0.3-1 10^-7 in B2. These abundances are the highest ever measured, and imply an increment with respect to L1157-mm of a factor up to 83, demonstrating that this molecule is actually a good shock tracer. Our results probe that shocks can actually produce the HNCO abundance measured in galactic nuclei and even higher ones. We propose that the gas phase abundance of HNCO is due both to grain mantles erosion by the shock waves and by neutral-neutral reactions in gas phase involving CN and O2. The observed anticorrelation of CN and HNCO fluxes supports this scenario. The observed similarities of the HNCO emission and the sulfured molecules may arise due to formation pathways involving also O2.
The isotopic ratio of nitrogen presents a wide range of values in the Solar System and in star forming system whose origin is still unclear. Chemical reactions in the gas phase are one of the possible processes that could modify the $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratio. We aim at investigating if and how the passage of a shock wave in the interstellar medium, can affect the relative fraction of nitrogen isotopes. The ideal place for such a study is the L1157 outflow, where several shocked clumps are present. We present the first measurement of the $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratio in the two shocked clumps, B1 and B0, of the protostellar outflow L1157, derived from the interferomteric maps of the H$^{13}$CN(1-0) and the HC$^{15}$N(1-0) lines. In B1, we find that the H$^{13}$CN(1-0) and HC$^{15}$N(1-0) emission traces the front of the clump, with averaged column density of $N$(H$^{13}$CN) $sim$ 7$times$10$^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$ and $N$(HC$^{15}$N) $sim$ 2$times$10$^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$. In this region the ratio H$^{13}$CN(1-0)/HC$^{15}$N(1-0) is quite uniform with an average value of $sim$ 5$pm$1. The same average value is also measured in the smaller clump B0e. Assuming the standard $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C = 68, we obtain $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N = 340$pm$70, similar to those usually found in prestellar cores and protostars. We analysed the prediction of a chemical shock model for several shock conditions and we found that the nitrogen and carbon fractionations do not vary much for the first period after the shock. The observed H$^{13}$CN/HC$^{15}$N can be reproduced by a non-dissociative, C-type shock with parameters in agreement with previous modelling of L1157-B1. Both observations and chemical models indicate that the shock propagation does not affect the nitrogen isotopic ratio that remains similar to that measured in lower temperature gas in prestellar cores and in protostellar envelopes.
Previous far-infrared observations at low-angular resolution have reported the presence of water associated with low-velocity outflow shocks and protostellar envelopes. The outflow driven by the intermediate-mass class 0 protostar Cep E is among the most luminous outflows detected so far. Using the IRAM 30m telescope, we searched for and detected the para-water line emission at 183 GHz in the Cep E star-forming core. The emission arises from high-velocity gas close to the protostar, which is unresolved in the main beam of the telescope. Complementary observations at 2 resolution with the Plateau de Bure interferometer helped establish the origin of the emission detected and the physical conditions in the emitting gas. The water line profile and its spatial distribution are very similar to those of SiO. We find that the water emission arises from warm ($sim 200K$), dense ($(1-2)times 10^6cmmt$) gas, and its abundance is enhanced by one to two orders of magnitude with respect to the protostellar envelope. We detect water emission in strong shocks from the high-velocity jet at 1000 AU from the protostar. Despite the large beam size of the telescope, such emission should be detectable with Herschel.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
