Magnetically regulated disk-formation in the inner 100 au region of the Class 0 young stellar object OMC-3/MMS~6 resolved by JVLA and ALMA

TL;DR

This study uses JVLA and ALMA observations to reveal a magnetically regulated, hourglass-shaped magnetic field in the inner 100 au of a Class 0 YSO, suggesting previous dust mass estimates may be significantly underestimated.

Contribution

First combined JVLA and ALMA polarization data to analyze magnetic field topology and dust properties in a Class 0 YSO, highlighting the importance of dust scattering in mass estimates.

Findings

Magnetic field has an hourglass shape inclined by 40°.

Inner 100 au region is optically thick at 1 mm, optically thin at 9 mm.

Previous 9 mm surveys likely underestimated dust masses.

Abstract

We have carried out polarization calibration for archival JVLA ($\sim$9 mm) full polarization observations towards the Class 0 young stellar object (YSO) OMC-3/MMS 6 (also known as HOPS-87), and then compared with the archival ALMA 1.2 mm observations. We found that the innermost $\sim$100 au region of OMC-3/MMS 6 is likely very optically thick (e.g., $\tau\gg$1) at $\sim$1 mm wavelength such that the dominant polarization mechanism is dichroic extinction. It is marginally optically thin (e.g., $\tau\lesssim$1) at $\sim$9 mm wavelength such that the JVLA observations can directly probe the linearly polarized emission from non-spherical dust. Assuming that the projected long axis of dust grains is aligned perpendicular to magnetic field (B-field) lines, we propose that the overall B-field topology resembles an hourglass shape, while this "hourglass" appears $\sim$40$^{\circ}$ inclined with respect to the previously reported outflow axis. The geometry of this system is consistent with a magnetically regulated dense (pseudo-)disk. Based on the observed 29.45 GHz flux density and assuming a dust absorption opacity $\kappa^{abs}_{29.45\,GHz}=$0.0096 cm$^{2} $g$^{-1}$, the derived overall dust mass within a $\sim$43 au radius is $\sim$14000 $M_{\oplus}$. From this case study, it appears to us that some previous 9 mm surveys towards Class 0/I YSOs might have systematically underestimated dust masses by one order of magnitude, owing to that they assumed the too high dust absorption opacity ($\sim$0.1 cm$^{2}$ g$^{-1}$) for $\sim$9 mm wavelengths but without self-consistently considering the dust scattering opacity.