Herschel-PACS observations of far-IR lines in YSOs I: [OI] and H2O at 63 microns

TL;DR

This study compiles and analyzes Herschel-PACS far-infrared observations of [OI] and H2O lines in 362 young stellar objects, revealing emission characteristics across evolutionary stages and their relation to circumstellar environments.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive dataset of [OI] and H2O 63 micron line fluxes in a large YSO sample, including spatial and dynamical analysis, and explores correlations with infrared continuum.

Findings

[OI] emission detected in 194 sources

H2O emission detected in 42 sources

Extended [OI] emission found in 77 sources

Abstract

Gas plays a major role in the dynamical evolution of young stellar objects. Its interaction with the dust is the key to our understanding planet formation later on in the protoplanetary disc stage. Studying the gas content is a crucial step towards understanding YSO and planet formation. Such a study can be made through spectroscopic observations of emission lines in the far-infrared, where some of the most important gas coolants emit. We provide a compilation of observations of far-IR lines in 362 young stellar objects covering all evolutionary stages, from Class 0 to Class III with debris discs. In the present paper we focus on [OI] and o-H2O emission at 63 microns. We have retrieved all the available Herschel -PACS spectroscopic observations at 63 microns that used the dominant observing mode, the chop-nod technique. We provide measurements of line fluxes for the [OI] 3P1-3P2 and o-H2O 808-717 transitions at 63 microns computed using different methods. We check for spatially extended emission and further study the presence of multiple dynamical components in line emission. The final compilation consists of line and continuum fluxes at 63 microns for a total of 362 young stellar objects (YSOs). We detected [OI] line emission at 63 microns in 194 sources out of 362, and line absorption in another five sources. o-H2O was detected in 42 sources. We find evidence of extended [OI] emission in 77 sources, and detect 3sigma residual emission in 71 of them. We also looked for different components contributing to the line emission, and found evidence for multiple components in 30 sources. We explored correlations between line emission and continuum emission and find a clear correlation between WISE fluxes from 4.6 to 22 microns and [OI] line emission. We conclude that the observed emission is typically a combination of disc/envelope and jet emission.