Water cooling of shocks in protostellar outflows: Herschel-PACS map of L1157

TL;DR

This study uses Herschel-PACS observations to map water emission in the L1157 outflow, revealing water's role in shock cooling and its spatial correlation with other shock tracers, providing insights into shock chemistry and energetics.

Contribution

First Herschel-PACS water map of L1157 revealing water distribution, abundance, and cooling contribution in protostellar shocks, enhancing understanding of shock chemistry and cooling processes.

Findings

Water peaks at shock knots and protostar, correlating with H2, SiO, NH3.

Water abundance estimated at ~10^-4, indicating long-term heating.

Water cooling accounts for ~40% of shock energy dissipation.

Abstract

In the framework of the Water in Star-forming regions with Herschel (WISH) key program, maps in water lines of several outflows from young stars are being obtained, to study the water production in shocks and its role in the outflow cooling. This paper reports the first results of this program, presenting a PACS map of the o-H2O 179 um transition obtained toward the young outflow L1157. The 179 um map is compared with those of other important shock tracers, and with previous single-pointing ISO, SWAS, and Odin water observations of the same source that allow us to constrain the water abundance and total cooling. Strong H2O peaks are localized on both shocked emission knots and the central source position. The H2O 179 um emission is spatially correlated with emission from H2 rotational lines, excited in shocks leading to a significant enhancement of the water abundance. Water emission peaks along the outflow also correlate with peaks of other shock-produced molecular species, such as SiO and NH3. A strong H2O peak is also observed at the location of the proto-star, where none of the other molecules have significant emission. The absolute 179 um intensity and its intensity ratio to the H2O 557 GHz line previously observed with Odin/SWAS indicate that the water emission originates in warm compact clumps, spatially unresolved by PACS, having a H2O abundance of the order of 10^-4. This testifies that the clumps have been heated for a time long enough to allow the conversion of almost all the available gas-phase oxygen into water. The total water cooling is ~10^-1 Lo, about 40% of the cooling due to H2 and 23% of the total energy released in shocks along the L1157 outflow.