NH3 (1,1) hyperfine intensity anomalies in infall sources

TL;DR

This study investigates the reliability of NH3 (1,1) hyperfine intensity anomalies as tracers for infall motions in star-forming regions, finding they are promising but not highly sensitive indicators, especially for cold gas infall.

Contribution

The paper provides observational evidence supporting the use of NH3 (1,1) hyperfine anomalies as infall tracers and compares their consistency with existing models in a sample of star-forming regions.

Findings

Most sources show hyperfine anomalies consistent with existing models.

HIAs are more sensitive to cold gas infall and less affected by outflow contamination.

Anomalies correlate with kinetic temperature under the HST model.

Abstract

Identifying infall motions is crucial for our understanding of accretion processes in regions of star formation. The NH3 (1,1) hyperfine intensity anomaly (HIA) has been proposed to be a readily usable tracer for such infall motions in star-forming regions harboring young stellar objects at very early evolutionary stages. In this paper, we seek to study the HIA toward fifteen infall candidate regions to assess its reliability as an infall tracer. By using deep observations of the NH3 (1,1) transition with the Effelsberg 100 m telescope, HIAs have been identified toward all the targets. Fourteen out of fifteen sources exhibit anomalous intensities either in the inner or outer satellite lines. All the derived HIAs conform to the framework of the existing two models, namely, hyperfine selective trapping (HST) and systematic contraction or expansion motion (CE) models. In our sample of infall candidates, a majority of the HIAs remain consistent with the HST model. Only in three targets, the HIAs are consistent with infall motions under the CE model. Thus HIAs could be used as an infall tracer but seem not highly sensitive to infall motions in our single-dish data. Nevertheless, the emission could be blended with emission from outflow activities. HIAs consistent with the HST model show stronger anomalies with increasing kinetic temperatures (Tk), which is expected by the HST model. On the other hand, HIAs consistent with infall motions show little dependence on Tk. Therefore, HIAs may preferably trace infall of cold gas.