The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores: Jet and Molecular Outflow Associated with a YSO in core A of L1251

TL;DR

This study reports the discovery of an infrared jet and associated molecular outflow in core A of L1251, revealing details about the jet's shock origin and the accretion activity of a young stellar object.

Contribution

It presents the first CO mapping of the molecular outflow in this region and analyzes the jet's shock properties and accretion luminosity using Spitzer data.

Findings

Infrared jet associated with a Class 0 object discovered.

Molecular outflow mapped for the first time in this region.

Estimated lower limit of accretion luminosity indicates decreasing accretion rate.

Abstract

A long infrared jet has been discovered by the Spitzer c2d legacy program in core A of L1251. It is associated with a very embedded Class 0 object with an accretion luminosity of about 0.9 Lsun derived by radiative transfer model fitting to the observed SED. Comparing the observed IRAC colors along the infrared jet with those calculated from a model of an admixture of gas with a power-law temperature distribution indicates that the jet is possibly created by a paraboloidal bow shock propagating into the ambient medium of n(H_2)=10^5 cm^{-3}. In addition, the variation of the power-law index along the jet suggests that the portion of hot gas decreases with distance from the jet engine. The molecular outflow in this region has been mapped for the first time using CO data. From the calculated outflow momentum flux, a very strong lower limit to the average accretion luminosity is 3.6 sin i/cos^3 i Lsun, indicative of a decrease in the accretion rate with time.