Disentangling the entangled: Observations and analysis of the triple non-coeval protostellar system VLA1623

Commonplace at every evolutionary stage, Multiple Protostellar Systems (MPSs) are thought to be formed through fragmentation, but it is unclear when and how. The youngest MPSs, which have not yet undergone much evolution, provide important constraints to this question. It is then of interest to disentangle early stage MPSs. In this letter we present the results of our work on VLA1623 using our observations and archival data from the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Our continuum and line observations trace VLA1623's components, outflow and envelope, revealing unexpected characteristics. We construct the SED for each component using the results of our work and data from literature, as well as derive physical parameters from continuum and perform a simple kinematical analysis of the circumstellar material. Our results show VLA1623 to be a triple non-coeval system composed of VLA1623A, B & W, with each source driving its own outflow and unevenly distributed circumstellar material. From the SED, physical parameters and IR emission we conclude that VLA1623A & W are Class 0 and I protostars, respectively, and together drive the bulk of the observed outflow. Furthermore, we find two surprising results, first the presence of a rotating disk-like structure about VLA1623A with indications of pure Keplerian rotation, which, if real, would make it one of the first evidence of Keplerian disk structures around Class 0 protostars. Second, we find VLA1623B to be a bonafide extremely young protostellar object between the starless core and Class 0 stages.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, 1 Table, Accepted to Ap

Widening of Protostellar Outflows: an Infrared Outflow Survey in Low Luminosity Objects

We present an outflow survey toward 20 Low Luminosity Objects (LLOs), namely protostars with an internal luminosity lower than 0.2 Lsun. Although a number of studies have reported the properties of individual LLOs, the reasons for their low luminosity remain uncertain. To answer this question, we need to know the evolutionary status of LLOs. Protostellar outflows are found to widen as their parent cores evolve, and therefore, the outflow opening angle could be used as an evolutionary indicator. The infrared scattered light escapes out through the outflow cavity and highlights the cavity wall, giving us the opportunity to measure the outflow opening angle. Using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we detected outflows toward eight LLOs out of 20 at Ks band, and based on archival Spitzer IRAC1 images, we added four outflow-driving sources from the remaining 12 sources. By fitting these images with radiative transfer models, we derive the outflow opening angles and inclination angles. To study the widening of outflow cavities, we compare our sample with the young stellar objects from Arce & Sargent 2006 and Velusamy et al. 2014 in the plot of opening angle versus bolometric temperature taken as an evolutionary indicator.Our LLO targets match well the trend of increasing opening angle with bolometric temperature reported by Arce & Sargent and are broadly consistent with that reported by Velusamy et al., suggesting that the opening angle could be a good evolutionary indicator for LLOs. Accordingly, we conclude that at least 40% of the outflow-driving LLOs in our sample are young Class 0 objects.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ, 13 pages, 9 figure

The Overshooting Hypothesis of Agricultural Prices: The Role of Asset Substitutability

By allowing for various degrees of asset substitutability between bonds and agricultural products, this paper reexamines the robustness of the overshooting hypothesis of agricultural product prices. It is found, in both a closed economy and an open economy, that the crucial factor determining whether agricultural prices overshoot or undershoot their long-run response following an expansion in the money stock depends upon the extent of asset substitutability between bonds and agricultural goods.asset substitutability, commodity prices, overshooting, Demand and Price Analysis,

Multi-wavelength Stellar Polarimetry of the Filamentary Cloud IC5146: I. Dust Properties

We present optical and near-infrared stellar polarization observations toward the dark filamentary clouds associated with IC5146. The data allow us to investigate the dust properties (this paper) and the magnetic field structure (Paper II). A total of 2022 background stars were detected in $R_{c}$-, $i'$-, $H$-, and/or $K$-bands to $A_V \lesssim 25$ mag. The ratio of the polarization percentage at different wavelengths provides an estimate of $\lambda_{max}$, the wavelength of peak polarization, which is an indicator of the small-size cutoff of the grain size distribution. The grain size distribution seems to significantly change at $A_V \sim$ 3 mag, where both the average and dispersion of $P_{R_c}/P_{H}$ decrease. In addition, we found $\lambda_{max}$ $\sim$ 0.6-0.9 $\mu$m for $A_V>2.5$ mag, which is larger than the $\sim$ 0.55 $\mu$m in the general ISM, suggesting that grain growth has already started in low $A_V$ regions. Our data also reveal that polarization efficiency (PE $\equiv P_{\lambda}/A_V$) decreases with $A_V$ as a power-law in $R_c$-, $i'$-, and $K$-bands with indices of -0.71$\pm$0.10, -1.23$\pm$0.10 and -0.53$\pm$0.09. However, $H$-band data show a power index change; the PE varies with $A_V$ steeply (index of -0.95$\pm$0.30) when $A_V < 2.88\pm0.67$ mag but softly (index of -0.25$\pm$0.06) for greater $A_V$ values. The soft decay of PE in high $A_V$ regions is consistent with the Radiative Aligned Torque model, suggesting that our data trace the magnetic field to $A_V \sim 20$ mag. Furthermore, the breakpoint found in $H$-band is similar to the $A_V$ where we found the $P_{R_c}/P_{H}$ dispersion significantly decreased. Therefore, the flat PE-$A_V$ in high $A_V$ regions implies that the power index changes result from additional grain growth.Comment: 31 pages, 17 figures, and 3 tables; accepted for publication in Ap

The Mid-Infrared Extinction Law in the Ophiuchus, Perseus, and Serpens Molecular Clouds

We compute the mid-infrared extinction law from 3.6-24 microns in three molecular clouds: Ophiuchus, Perseus, and Serpens, by combining data from the "Cores to Disks" Spitzer Legacy Science program with deep JHKs imaging. Using a new technique, we are able to calculate the line-of-sight extinction law towards each background star in our fields. With these line-of-sight measurements, we create, for the first time, maps of the chi-squared deviation of the data from two extinction law models. Because our chi-squared maps have the same spatial resolution as our extinction maps, we can directly observe the changing extinction law as a function of the total column density. In the Spitzer IRAC bands, 3.6-8 microns, we see evidence for grain growth. Below $A_{K_s} = 0.5$, our extinction law is well-fit by the Weingartner & Draine (2001) $R_V = 3.1$ diffuse interstellar medium dust model. As the extinction increases, our law gradually flattens, and for $A_{K_s} >= 1$, the data are more consistent with the Weingartner & Draine $R_V = 5.5$ model that uses larger maximum dust grain sizes. At 24 microns, our extinction law is 2-4 times higher than the values predicted by theoretical dust models, but is more consistent with the observational results of Flaherty et al. (2007). Lastly, from our chi-squared maps we identify a region in Perseus where the IRAC extinction law is anomalously high considering its column density. A steeper near-infrared extinction law than the one we have assumed may partially explain the IRAC extinction law in this region.Comment: 38 pages, 19 figures in pre-print format. Accepted for publication in ApJ. A version with full-resolution figures can be found here: http://peggysue.as.utexas.edu/SIRTF