The Gould Belt 'MISFITS' Survey: The Real Solar Neighborhood Protostars

TL;DR

This survey uses HCO$^{+}$ J=3-2 observations to classify and analyze embedded protostars in the Gould Belt, providing insights into their evolutionary timescales, correlations with physical parameters, and environmental associations.

Contribution

It introduces a uniform HCO$^{+}$-based criterion for identifying Stage 0+I protostars and refines understanding of their properties and environmental contexts in the Gould Belt.

Findings

84% of detected sources meet protostar criteria

Estimated embedded protostar lifetime of 0.54 Myr

Higher detection rates in high-extinction regions

Abstract

We present an HCO$^{+}$ J=3-2 survey of Class 0+I and Flat SED young stellar objects (YSOs) found in the Gould Belt clouds by surveys with Spitzer. Our goal is to provide a uniform Stage 0+I source indicator for these embedded protostar candidates. We made single point HCO$^{+}$ J = 3-2 measurements toward the source positions at the CSO and APEX of 546 YSOs (89% of the Class 0+I + Flat SED sample). Using the criteria from van Kempen et al. (2009), we classify sources as Stage 0+I or bona fide protostars and find that 84% of detected sources meet the criteria. We recommend a timescale for the evolution of Stage 0+I (embedded protostars) of 0.54 Myr. We find significant correlations of HCO$^{+}$ integrated intensity with ${\alpha}$ and $T_{bol}$ but not with $L_{bol}$. The detection fraction increases smoothly as a function of ${\alpha}$ and $L_{bol}$, while decreasing smoothly with $T_{bol}$. Using the Stage 0+I sources tightens the relation between protostars and high extinction regions of the cloud; 89% of Stage I sources lie in regions with $A_{V}$ >8 mag. Class 0+I and Flat SED YSOs that are not detected in HCO$^{+}$ have, on average, a factor of ~2 higher $T_{bol}$ and a factor of ~5 lower $L_{bol}$ than YSOs with HCO$^{+}$ detections. We find less YSO contamination, defined as the number of undetected YSOs divided by the total number surveyed, for sources with $T_{bol}\lesssim$ 600 K and $L_{bol} \gtrsim$ 1 $L_{\odot}$. The contamination percentage is >90% at $A_{V}$< 4 mag and decreases as $A_{V}$ increases.