HOPS 108: Star-formation triggered by a non-thermal jet?

TL;DR

This study reveals that the radio source VLA 12 near HOPS 108 is part of a jet driven by a different source, VLA 11, suggesting that HOPS 108's formation was triggered by jet-medium interaction.

Contribution

The paper provides new multi-wavelength observations showing VLA 12 is part of a jet from VLA 11, proposing jet-triggered star formation for HOPS 108.

Findings

VLA 12 consists of three non-thermal knots not ejected by HOPS 108.

VLA 12 knots are part of a jet from VLA 11 (HOPS 370).

HOPS 108's formation may have been triggered by jet interaction.

Abstract

The nature of the far-IR source HOPS 108 has been a matter of debate in the last years. Previous radio observations detected a 3.6 cm source (VLA 12), coincident with HOPS 108, that was interpreted as a radio jet from this protostar. We present new multi-wavelength (0.7-5 cm), multi-configuration VLA observations as well as archive data (3.6 cm) that reveal VLA 12 as three knots of non-thermal emission, with HOPS 108 close to the central knot. We show that these knots have not been ejected by HOPS 108. We propose that the VLA 12 knots are actually part of a radio jet driven by VLA 11 (HOPS 370), a strong nearby source clearly elongated in the direction of the knots. The position of HOPS 108 in the path of the VLA 11-VLA 12 jet suggests an appealing new scenario: the triggered formation of HOPS 108 by the interaction of the jet with the surrounding medium.