The Launch Region of the SVS 13 Outflow and Jet

TL;DR

This study uses adaptive optics spectroscopy to analyze the innermost outflow regions of SVS 13, revealing episodic bubble ejections, a microjet, and possible precessing disk activity linked to binary interactions.

Contribution

It provides new high-resolution observations of the SVS 13 outflow, connecting bubble ejections to historical outbursts and suggesting a precessing disk influenced by a binary companion.

Findings

Identification of a microjet traced by [FeII] emission.

Detection of multiple bubbles with varying directions.

Correlation of bubble ages with historical outbursts.

Abstract

We present the results of Keck Telescope laser adaptive optics integral field spectroscopy with OSIRIS of the innermost regions of the NGC 1333 SVS 13 outflow that forms the system of Herbig-Haro objects 7-11. We find a bright 0.2 arc sec long microjet traced by the emission of shock-excited [FeII]. Beyond the extent of this jet, we find a series of bubbles and fragments of bubbles that are traced in the lower excitation H_2 1-0 S(1) line. While the most recent outflow activity is directed almost precisely (PA ~145 deg) to the south-east of SVS 13, there is clear indication that prior bubble ejections were pointed in different directions. Within these variations, a clear connection of the newly observed bubble ejection events to the well-known, poorly collimated HH 7-11 system of Herbig-Haro objects is established. Astrometry of the youngest of the expanding shock fronts at 3 epochs covering a time span of over two years gives kinematic ages for two of these. The kinematic age of the youngest bubble is slightly older than the historically observed last photometric outburst of SVS 13 in 1990, consistent with that event launching the bubble and some deceleration of its expansion. A re-evaluation of historic infrared photometry and new data show that SVS 13 has not yet returned to its brightness before that outburst and thus shows a behavior similar to FUor outbursts, albeit with a smaller amplitude. We postulate that the creation of a series of bubbles and the changes in outflow direction are indicative of a precessing disk and accretion events triggered by a repetitive phenomenon possibly linked to the orbit of a close binary companion. We have tried, but failed to detect, the kinematic signature of rotation of the microjet in the [FeII] emission line at 1.644 micrometers.