The Rotating Outflow, Envelope and Disk in Class-0/I protostar [BHB2007] 11 in the Pipe Nebula

TL;DR

This study uses multi-scale observations to reveal a rotating outflow, envelope, and disk structure in a Class-0/I protostar, providing insights into early star formation dynamics.

Contribution

First detailed multi-scale imaging of a protostar showing a rotating outflow, envelope, and disk, highlighting the interplay of these components in early star formation.

Findings

Detected a collimated outflow aligned with the plane of the sky.

Identified a dense gas envelope and a compact Keplerian disk around the protostar.

Observed velocity gradients indicating rotation in both the envelope and outflow.

Abstract

We present the results of observations toward a low-mass Class-0/I protostar, [BHB2007]#11 (afterwards B59#11) at the nearby (d=130 pc) star forming region, Barnard 59 (B59) in the Pipe Nebula with the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) 10 m telescope (~22" resolution) in CO(3--2), HCO+, H13CO+(4--3), and 1.1 mm dust-continuum emissions. We also show Submillimeter Array (SMA) data in 12CO, 13CO, C18O(2--1), and 1.3 mm dust-continuum emissions with ~5" resolution. From ASTE CO(3--2) observations, we found that B59#11 is blowing a collimated outflow whose axis lies almost on the plane of the sky. The outflow traces well a cavity-like structure seen in the 1.1 mm dust-continuum emission. The results of SMA 13CO and C18O(2--1) observations have revealed that a compact and elongated structure of dense gas is associated with B59#11, which is oriented perpendicular to the outflow axis. There is a compact dust condensation with a size of 350x180 AU seen in the SMA 1.3 mm continuum map, and the direction of its major axis is almost the same as that of the dense gas elongation. The distributions of 13CO and C18O emission also show the velocity gradients along their major axes, which are considered to arise from the envelope/disk rotation. From the detailed analysis of the SMA data, we infer that B59#11 is surrounded by a Keplerian disk with a size of less than 350 AU. In addition, the SMA CO(2--1) image shows a velocity gradient in the outflow along the same direction as that of the dense gas rotation. We suggest that this velocity gradient shows a rotation of the outflow.