A New Intermediate-Mass Protostar in the Cepheus A HW2 Region
A New Intermediate-Mass Protostar in the Cepheus A HW2 Region
复制标题
仙王座 A HW2 区域中一颗新的中等质量原恒星
DOI:
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发表时间:
2005
期刊:
影响因子:
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通讯作者:
C. Thum
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
J. Martín;I. Jímenez;A. Rodríguez;S. Martín;C. Thum
We present the discovery of the first molecular hot core associated with an intermediate-mass protostar in the Cep A HW2 region. The hot condensation was detected from single-dish and interferometric observations of several high-excitation rotational lines (from 100 to 880 K above the ground state) of SO2 in the ground vibrational state and of HC3N in the vibrationally excited states v7 = 1 and v7 = 2. The kinetic temperature derived from both molecules is ~160 K. The high angular resolution observations (1.″25 × 0.″99) of the SO2 J = 287, 21 → 296, 24 line (488 K above the ground state) show that the hot gas is concentrated in a compact condensation with a size of ~0.″6 (~430 AU), located 0.″4 (300 AU) east from the radio jet HW2. The total SO2 column density in the hot condensation is ~1018 cm-2, with an H2 column density ranging from ~1023 to 6 × 1024 cm-2. The H2 density and the SO2 fractional abundance must be larger than 107 cm-3 and 2 × 10-7, respectively. The most likely alternatives for the nature of the hot and very dense condensation are discussed. From the large column densities of hot gas, the detection of the HC3N vibrationally excited lines, and the large SO2 abundance, we favor the interpretation of a hot core heated by an intermediate-mass protostar of 103 L☉. This indicates that the Cep A HW2 region contains a cluster of very young stars.