Hunting pre-stellar cores with APEX: Corona Australis 151, the densest pre-stellar core or the youngest protostar?
E. Redaelli, S. Spezzano, P. Caselli, J. Harju, D. Arzoumanian, O., Sipil\"a, A. Belloche, F. Wyrowski, J. E. Pineda

TL;DR
This study uses molecular line observations with APEX to confirm Corona Australis 151 as an extremely dense, cold pre-stellar core with signs of advanced evolution, high deuteration, and potential infall or outflow motions.
Contribution
It provides detailed physical and chemical characterization of Corona Australis 151, highlighting its high density, deuteration, and dynamic activity, advancing understanding of early star formation stages.
Findings
Core has very high densities (~10^7 cm^-3) and cold temperatures.
High deuteration level (N2D+/N2H+ = 0.50) indicates advanced evolution.
Detection of high-velocity wings suggests infall or outflow activity.
Abstract
Context. Pre-stellar cores are the birthplaces of Sun-like stars and represent the initial conditions for the assembly of protoplanetary systems. Due to their short lifespans, they are rare. In recent efforts to increase the number of such sources identified in the Solar neighbourhood, we have selected a sample of 40 starless cores from the publicly available core catalogs of the Herschel Gould Belt survey. In this work, we focus on one of the sources that stands out for its high central density: Corona Australis 151. Aims. We use molecular lines that trace dense gas (n>=10^6 cm-3) to confirm the exceptionally high density of this object, to study its physical structure, and to understand its evolutionary stage. Methods. We detected the N2H+ 3-2 and 5-4 transitions, and the N2D+ 3-2, 4-3, and 6-5 lines with the APEX telescope. We use the Herschel continuum data to infer a spherically…
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Taxonomy
TopicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
