Gas infalling motions in the envelopes of Very Low Luminosity Objects

TL;DR

This study investigates inward motions in the envelopes of Very Low Luminosity Objects (VeLLOs) using molecular line observations, revealing prevalent infall motions consistent with gravitational collapse and identifying potential proto-brown dwarf candidates.

Contribution

The paper provides the first comprehensive survey of infall motions in VeLLOs using HCN and N2H+ lines, quantifying infall speeds and rates, and linking these to their evolutionary status.

Findings

Most VeLLOs show signs of infall motions dominated by gravitational collapse.

Infall speeds range from 0.03 to 0.3 km/s, median 0.16 km/s.

Infall rates are around 10^-6 solar masses per year, correlating with internal luminosity.

Abstract

We present the results of a single dish survey toward 95 VeLLOs in optically thick (HCN 1-0) and thin ($\rm N_2H^+$ 1-0) lines performed for the purpose of understanding the physical processes of inward motions in the envelopes of the VeLLOs and characterizing their true nature. The normalized velocity differences ($\delta V_{HCN}$) between the peak velocities of the two lines were derived for 41 VeLLOs detected in both lines. The $\delta V$ distribution of these VeLLOs is found to be significantly skewed to the blue, indicating the dominance of infalling motions in their envelopes. The infall speeds were derived for 15 infall candidates by using the HILL5 radiative transfer model. The speeds were in the range of 0.03 $\rm km~s^{-1}$ to 0.3 $\rm km~s^{-1}$, with a median value of 0.16 $\rm km~s^{-1}$, being consistent with the gravitational free-fall speeds from pressure-free envelopes. The mass infall rates calculated from the infall speeds are mostly of the order of $10^{-6} M_{\odot}~yr^{-1}$ with a median value of $\rm 3.4 \pm 1.5 \times 10^{-6} M_{\odot}~yr^{-1}$. These are found to be also consistent with the values predicted with the inside-out collapse model and show a fairly good correlation with the internal luminosities of the VeLLOs. This again indicates that the infall motions observed toward the VeLLOs are likely to be due to the gravitational infall motions in their envelopes. Our study suggests that most of the VeLLOs are potentially faint protostars while two of the VeLLOs could possibly be proto-brown dwarf candidates.