Observations of a high-mass protostar in NGC 7538S

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution multi-wavelength observations to analyze the structure and properties of a high-mass protostar in NGC 7538S, revealing a massive, optically thick accretion disk and multiple compact sources.

Contribution

First detailed high-resolution multi-wavelength imaging of NGC 7538S's protostar and its surrounding core, identifying a massive accretion disk and multiple compact sources.

Findings

The protostar is associated with a massive (~60 solar masses) optically thick accretion disk.

The core contains three compact millimeter sources, with the strongest coinciding with the protostar.

The spectral index suggests low dust emissivity or optically thick dust in the disk.

Abstract

We present high angular resolution continuum observations of the high-mass protostar NGC 7538S with BIMA and CARMA at 3 and 1.4 mm, VLA observations at 1.3, 2, 3.5 and 6 cm, and archive IRAC observations from the Spitzer Space Observatory, which detect the star at 4.5, 5.8, and 8 $\mu$m. The star looks rather unremarkable in the mid-IR. The excellent positional agreement of the IRAC source with the VLA free-free emission, the OH, CH$_3$OH, H$_2$O masers, and the dust continuum confirms that this is the most luminous object in the NGC 7538S core. The continuum emission at millimeter wavelengths is dominated by dust emission from the dense cold cloud core surrounding the protostar. Including all array configurations, the emission is dominated by an elliptical source with a size of ~ 8" x 3". If we filter out the extended emission we find three compact mm-sources inside the elliptical core. The strongest one, $S_A$, coincides with the VLA/IRAC source and resolves into a double source at 1.4 mm, where we have sub-arcsecond resolution. The measured spectral index, $\alpha$, between 3 and 1.4 mm is ~ 2.3, and steeper at longer wavelengths, suggesting a low dust emissivity or that the dust is optically thick. We argue that the dust in these accretion disks is optically thick and estimate a mass of an accretion disk or infalling envelope surrounding S$_A$ to be ~ 60 solar masses.