ALMA Observations of the Transition from Infall Motion to Keplerian Rotation around the Late-phase Protostar TMC-1A

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations to investigate the transition from infall motion to Keplerian rotation in the protostar TMC-1A, revealing a Keplerian disk and infall motions influenced by magnetic fields.

Contribution

First detailed ALMA analysis of the transition from infall to Keplerian rotation around a late-phase protostar, highlighting magnetic field effects on infall velocity.

Findings

Detected a circumstellar disk and a flattened envelope around TMC-1A.

Found Keplerian rotation consistent with a 0.68 solar mass protostar.

Observed infall velocity slower than free-fall, possibly due to magnetic fields.

Abstract

We have observed the Class I protostar TMC-1A with Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in 12CO and C18O (J=2-1), and 1.3-mm dust continuum emission. Continuum emission with a deconvolved size of 0.50"x0.37", perpendicular to the 12CO outflow, is detected. It most likely traces a circumstellar disk around TMC-1A, as previously reported. In contrast, a more extended structure is detected in C18O although it is still elongated with a deconvolved size of 3.3"x2.2", indicating that C18O traces mainly a flattened envelope surrounding the disk and the central protostar. C18O shows a clear velocity gradient perpendicular to the outflow at higher velocities, indicative of rotation, while an additional velocity gradient along the outflow is found at lower velocities. The radial profile of the rotational velocity is analyzed in detail, finding that it is given as a power-law \propto r^{-a} with an index of ~0.5 at higher velocities. This suggests that the rotation at higher velocities can be explained as Keplerian rotation orbiting a protostar with a dynamical mass of 0.68 Mo (inclination-corrected). The additional velocity gradient of C18O along the outflow is considered to be mainly infall motions in the envelope. Position-Velocity diagrams made from models consisting of an infalling envelope and a Keplerian disk are compared with the observations, revealing that the observed infall velocity is ~0.3 times smaller than the free fall velocity yielded by the dynamical mass of the protostar. Magnetic fields could be responsible for the slow infall velocity. A possible scenario of Keplerian disk formation is discussed.