Observing the onset of outflow collimation in a massive protostar

The current paradigm of star formation through accretion disks, and magnetohydrodynamically driven gas ejections, predicts the development of collimated outflows, rather than expansion without any preferential direction. We present radio continuum observations of the massive protostar W75N(B)-VLA 2, showing that it is a thermal, collimated ionized wind and that it has evolved in 18 years from a compact source into an elongated one. This is consistent with the evolution of the associated expanding water-vapor maser shell, which changed from a nearly circular morphology, tracing an almost isotropic outflow, to an elliptical one outlining collimated motions. We model this behavior in terms of an episodic, short-lived, originally isotropic, ionized wind whose morphology evolves as it moves within a toroidal density stratification.

A very young, compact bipolar H$_2$O maser outflow in the intermediate-mass star-forming LkH$alpha$ 234 region

We report multi-epoch VLBI H$_2$O maser observations towards the compact cluster of YSOs close to the Herbig Be star LkH$alpha$ 234. This cluster includes LkH$alpha$ 234 and at least nine more YSOs that are formed within projected distances of $sim$10 arcsec ($sim$9,000 au). We detect H$_2$O maser emission towards four of these YSOs. In particular, our VLBI observations (including proper motion measurements) reveal a remarkable very compact ($sim$0.2 arcsec = $sim$180 au), bipolar H$_2$O maser outflow emerging from the embedded YSO VLA 2. We estimate a kinematic age of $sim$40 yr for this bipolar outflow, with expanding velocities of $sim$20 km s$^{-1}$ and momentum rate $dot M_w V_w$ $simeq$ $10^{-4}-10^{-3}$ M$_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ km s$^{-1}$$times (Omega$/$4pi)$, powered by a YSO of a few solar masses. We propose that the outflow is produced by recurrent episodic jet ejections associated with the formation of this YSO. Short-lived episodic ejection events have previously been found towards high-mass YSOs. We show now that this behaviour is also present in intermediate-mass YSOs. These short-lived episodic ejections are probably related to episodic increases in the accretion rate, as observed in low-mass YSOs. We predict the presence of an accretion disk associated with VLA 2. If detected, this would represent one of the few known examples of intermediate-mass stars with a disk-YSO-jet system at scales of a few hundred au.

Multi-epoch VLBA H$_2$O maser observations toward the massive YSOs AFGL 2591 VLA 2 and VLA 3

We present multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) H$_2$O maser observations toward the massive young stellar objects (YSOs) VLA 2 and VLA 3 in the star-forming region AFGL 2591. Through these observations, we have extended the study of the evolution of the masers towards these objects up to a time span of $sim$ 10 yrs, measuring their radial velocities and proper motions. The H$_2$O masers in VLA 3, the most massive YSO in AFGL 2591 ($sim$ 30--40~M$_{odot}$), are grouped within projected distances of $lesssim$ 40 mas ($lesssim$ 130 AU) from VLA 3. In contrast to other H$_2$O masers in AFGL 2591, the masers associated with VLA 3 are significantly blueshifted (up to $sim$ 30 km s$^{-1}$) with respect to the velocity of the ambient molecular cloud. We find that the H$_2$O maser cluster as a whole, has moved westwards of VLA~3 between the 2001 and 2009 observations, with a proper motion of $sim$ 1.2 mas yr$^{-1}$ ($sim$ 20 km s$^{-1}$). We conclude that these masers are tracing blueshifted outflowing material, shock excited at the inner parts of a cavity seen previously in ammonia molecular lines and infrared images, and proposed to be evacuated by the outflow associated with the massive VLA 3 source. The masers in the region of VLA 2 are located at projected distances of $sim$ 0.7$$ ($sim$ 2300 AU) north from this source, with their kinematics suggesting that they are excited by a YSO other than VLA 2. This driving source has not yet been identified.

Water maser kinematics in massive star-forming regions: Cepheus A and W75N

VLBI multi-epoch water maser observations are a powerful tool to study the dense, warm shocked gas very close to massive protostars. The very high-angular resolution of these observations allow us to measure the proper motions of the masers in a few weeks, and together with the radial velocity, to determine their full kinematics. In this paper we present a summary of the main observational results obtained toward the massive star-forming regions of Cepheus A and W75N, among them: (i) the identification of different centers of high-mass star formation activity at scales of 100 AU; (ii) the discovery of new phenomena associated with the early stages of high-mass protostellar evolution (e.g., isotropic gas ejections); and (iii) the identification of the simultaneous presence of a wide-angle outflow and a highly collimated jet in the massive object Cep A HW2, similar to what is observed in some low-mass protostars. Some of the implications of these results in the study of high-mass star formation are discussed.