Skewed Distributions and Opposite Velocity Gradients of Submillimeter Molecular Lines in Low-Mass Protostellar Envelopes

TL;DR

This study maps submillimeter molecular lines in low-mass protostellar envelopes, revealing skewed emissions and opposite velocity gradients that trace cavity walls and dispersing gas motions influenced by outflows.

Contribution

It provides new high-resolution observations of submillimeter lines, demonstrating the correlation with luminosity and the dynamics of envelope cavity walls in protostars.

Findings

Linear correlation between bolometric luminosity and line intensity (I_CS ~L_bol^0.92)

Detection of extended and compact emission components in protostellar envelopes

Opposite velocity gradients in submillimeter and millimeter lines indicating dispersing gas motion

Abstract

We have made mapping observations of L1551 IRS 5, L1551NE, L723, and L43 and single-point observations of IRAS 16293-2422 in the submillimeter CS (J = 7-6) and HCN (J = 4-3) lines with ASTE. Including our previous ASTE observations of L483 and B335, we found a clear linear correlation between the source bolometric luminosities and the total integrated intensities of the submillimeter lines (I_CS ~L_bol^0.92). The combined ASTE + SMA CS (7-6) image of L1551 IRS 5 exhibits an extended (~2000 AU) component tracing the associated reflection nebula at the west and southwest, as well as a compact (< 500 AU) component centered on the protostellar position. The emission peaks of the CS and HCN emissions in L1551 NE are not located at the protostellar position but offset (~1400 AU) toward the associated reflection nebula at the west. With the statistical analyses, we confirmed the opposite velocity gradients of the CS (7-6) emission to those of the millimeter lines along the outflow direction, which we reported in our early paper. The magnitudes of the submillimeter velocity gradients are estimated to be (9.7\pm1.7) \times 10-3 km s-1 arcsec-1 in L1551 IRS 5 and (7.6\pm2.4) \times 10-3 km s-1 arcsec-1 in L483. We suggest that the "skewed" submillimeter molecular emissions toward the associated reflection nebulae at a few thousands AU scale trace the warm (> 40 K) walls of the envelope cavities, excavated by the associated outflows and irradiated by the central protostars directly. The opposite velocity gradients along the outflow direction likely reflect the dispersing gas motion at the wall of the cavity in the envelopes perpendicular to the outflow.