Resolved Depletion Zones and Spatial Differentiation of N2H+ and N2D+

We present a study on the spatial distribution of N2D+ and N2H+ in thirteen protostellar systems. Eight of thirteen objects observed with the IRAM 30m telescope show relative offsets between the peak N2D+ (J=2-1) and N2H+ (J=1-0) emission. We highlight the case of L1157 using interferometric observations from the Submillimeter Array and Plateau de Bure Interferometer of the N2D+ (J=3-2) and N2H+ (J=1-0) transitions respectively. Depletion of N2D+ in L1157 is clearly observed inside a radius of ~2000 AU (7") and the N2H+ emission is resolved into two peaks at radii of ~1000 AU (3.5"), inside the depletion region of N2D+. Chemical models predict a depletion zone in N2H+ and N2D+ due to destruction of H2D+ at T ~ 20 K and the evaporation of CO off dust grains at the same temperature. However, the abundance offsets of 1000 AU between the two species are not reproduced by chemical models, including a model that follows the infall of the protostellar envelope. The average abundance ratios of N2D+ to N2H+ have been shown to decrease as protostars evolve by Emprechtinger et al., but this is the first time depletion zones of N2D+ have been spatially resolved. We suggest that the difference in depletion zone radii for N2H+ and N2D+ is caused by either the CO evaporation temperature being above 20 K or an H2 ortho-to-para ratio gradient in the inner envelope.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 44 pages 13 Figure

Protoplanetary Disks in ρ\rho Ophiuchus as Seen From ALMA

We present a high angular resolution ($\sim 0.2^{\prime\prime}$), high sensitivity ($\sigma \sim 0.2$ mJy) survey of the 870 $\mu$m continuum emission from the circumstellar material around 49 pre-main sequence stars in the $\rho$ Ophiuchus molecular cloud. Because most millimeter instruments have resided in the northern hemisphere, this represents the largest high-resolution, millimeter-wave survey of the circumstellar disk content of this cloud. Our survey of 49 systems comprises 63 stars; we detect disks associated with 29 single sources, 11 binaries, 3 triple systems and 4 transition disks. We present flux and radius distributions for these systems; in particular, this is the first presentation of a reasonably complete probability distribution of disk radii at millimeter-wavelengths. We also compare the flux distribution of these protoplanetary disks with that of the disk population of the Taurus-Auriga molecular cloud. We find that disks in binaries are both significantly smaller and have much less flux than their counterparts around isolated stars. We compute truncation calculations on our binary sources and find that these disks are too small to have been affected by tidal truncation and posit some explanations for this. Lastly, our survey found 3 candidate gapped disks, one of which is a newly identified transition disk with no signature of a dip in infrared excess in extant observations.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

A Sub-arcsecond Survey Toward Class 0 Protostars in Perseus: Searching for Signatures of Protostellar Disks

We present a CARMA 1.3 mm continuum survey toward 9 Class 0 protostars in the Perseus molecular cloud at $\sim$0.3$^{\prime\prime}$ (70 AU) resolution. This study approximately doubles the number of Class 0 protostars observed with spatial resolutions $<$ 100 AU at millimeter wavelengths, enabling the presence of protostellar disks and proto-binary systems to be probed. We detect flattened structures with radii $>$ 100 AU around 2 sources (L1448 IRS2 and Per-emb-14) and these sources may be strong disk candidates. Marginally-resolved structures with position angles within 30$^{\circ}$ of perpendicular to the outflow are found toward 3 protostars (L1448 IRS3C, IRAS 03282+3035, and L1448C) and are considered disk candidates. Two others (L1448 IRS3B and IRAS 03292+3039) have resolved structure, possibly indicative of massive inner envelopes or disks; L1448 IRS3B also has a companion separated by 0.9$^{\prime\prime}$ ($\sim$210 AU). IC348-MMS does not have well-resolved structure and the candidate first hydrostatic core L1451-MMS is marginally resolved on 1$^{\prime\prime}$ scales. The strong disk candidate sources were followed-up with C$^{18}$O ($J=2\rightarrow1$) observations, detecting velocity gradients consistent with rotation, but it is unclear if the rotation is Keplerian. We compare the observed visibility amplitudes to radiative transfer models, finding that visibility amplitude ratios suggest a compact component (possibly a disk) is necessary for 5 of 9 Class 0 sources; envelopes alone may explain the other 4 systems. We conclude that there is evidence for the formation of large disks in the Class 0 phase with a range of radii and masses dependent upon their initial formation conditions.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 58 pages, 19 Figures, 5 Table

Complex Structure in Class 0 Protostellar Envelopes III: Velocity Gradients in Non-Axisymmetric Envelopes, Infall or Rotation?

We present an interferometric kinematic study of morphologically complex protostellar envelopes based on observations of the dense gas tracers N2H+ and NH3. The strong asymmetric nature of most envelopes in our sample leads us to question the common interpretation of velocity gradients as rotation, given the possibility of projection effects in the observed velocities. Several "idealized" sources with well-ordered velocity fields and envelope structures are now analyzed in more detail. We compare the interferometric data to position-velocity diagrams of kinematic models for spherical rotating collapse and filamentary rotating collapse. For this purpose, we developed a filamentary parametrization of the rotating collapse model to explore the effects of geometric projection on the observed velocity structures. We find that most envelopes in our sample have PV structures that can be reproduced by an infalling filamentary envelope projected at different angles within the plane of the sky. The infalling filament produces velocity shifts across the envelope that can mimic rotation, especially when viewed at single-dish resolutions and the axisymmetric rotating collapse model does not uniquely describe any dataset. Furthermore, if the velocities are assumed to reflect rotation, then the inferred centrifugal radii are quite large in most cases, indicating significant fragmentation potential or more likely another component to the line-center velocity. We conclude that ordered velocity gradients cannot be interpreted as rotation alone when envelopes are non-axisymmetric and that projected infall velocities likely dominate the velocity field on scales larger than 1000 AU.Comment: 37 pages, 15 Figures, 2 Tables, Accepted to Ap