Early Planet Formation in Embedded Disks (eDisk) VI: Kinematic Structures around the Very Low Mass Protostar IRAS 16253-2429

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution ALMA observations to analyze the kinematic structures around the very low-mass protostar IRAS 16253-2429, estimating its mass and disk properties, and revealing features like infall, rotation, and accretion shocks.

Contribution

First detailed ALMA kinematic analysis of a very low-mass protostar, estimating its mass and disk structure, and identifying accretion features near the brown dwarf threshold.

Findings

Estimated protostellar mass ~0.12-0.17 Msun

Disk radius ~13-19 au

Detection of accretion shock at ~28 au

Abstract

Precise estimates of protostellar masses are crucial to characterize the formation of stars of low masses down to brown-dwarfs (BDs; M* < 0.08 Msun). The most accurate estimation of protostellar mass uses the Keplerian rotation in the circumstellar disk around the protostar. To apply the Keplerian rotation method to a protostar at the low-mass end, we have observed the Class 0 protostar IRAS 16253-2429 using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the 1.3 mm continuum at an angular resolution of 0.07" (10 au), and in the 12CO, C18O, 13CO (J=2-1), and SO (J_N = 6_5-5_4) molecular lines, as part of the ALMA Large Program Early Planet Formation in Embedded Disks (eDisk). The continuum emission traces a non-axisymmetric, disk-like structure perpendicular to the associated 12CO outflow. The position-velocity (PV) diagrams in the C18O and 13CO lines can be interpreted as infalling and rotating motions. In contrast, the PV diagram along the major axis of the disk-like structure in the 12CO line allows us to identify Keplerian rotation. The central stellar mass and the disk radius are estimated to be ~0.12-0.17 Msun and ~13-19 au, respectively. The SO line suggests the existence of an accretion shock at a ring (r~28 au) surrounding the disk and a streamer from the eastern side of the envelope. IRAS 16253-2429 is not a proto-BD but has a central stellar mass close to the BD mass regime, and our results provide a typical picture of such very low-mass protostars.