Infall and rotation motions in the HH 111 protostellar system: A flattened envelope in transition to a disk?

TL;DR

This study maps the HH 111 protostellar system revealing a flattened envelope transitioning from infall to rotation, indicating early disk formation, with detailed observations of the envelope's structure and dynamics.

Contribution

It provides high-resolution observations of the envelope and inner regions, showing a transition from infall to rotation, and suggests the envelope results from collapse of a magnetized rotating toroid.

Findings

The envelope is infalling with conserved specific angular momentum.

An inner region shows differential rotation, indicating disk formation.

The envelope likely results from collapse of a magnetized rotating toroid.

Abstract

We have mapped the central region of the HH 111 protostellar system in 1.33 mm continuum, C18O(J=2-1), 13CO (J=2-1), and SO (N_J=5_6-4_5) emission at ~3" resolution with the Submillimeter Array. There are two sources, VLA 1 (=IRAS 05491+0247) and VLA 2, with the VLA 1 source driving the HH 111 jet. Thermal emission is seen in 1.33 mm continuum tracing the dust in the envelope and the putative disks around the sources. A flattened, torus-like envelope is seen in C18O and 13CO around the VLA 1 source surrounding the dust lane perpendicular to the jet axis, with an inner radius of ~ 400 AU (1"), an outer radius of ~ 3200 AU (8"), and a thickness of ~ 1000 AU (2.5"). It seems to be infalling toward the center with conservation of specific angular momentum rather than with a Keplerian rotation as assumed by Yang et al. 1997. An inner envelope is seen in SO, with a radius of ~ 500 AU (1.3"). The inner part of this inner envelope, which is spatially coincident with the dust lane, seems to have a differential rotation and thus may have formed a rotationally supported disk. The outer part of this inner envelope, however, may have a rotation velocity decreasing toward the center and thus represent a region where an infalling envelope is in transition to a rotationally supported disk. A brief comparison with a collapsing model suggests that the flattened, torus-like envelope seen in C18O and 13CO could result from a collapse of a magnetized rotating toroid.