The molecular condensations ahead of Herbig-Haro objects. II: a theoretical investigation of the HH 2 condensation

Clumps of enhanced molecular emission are present close to a number of Herbig-Haro (HH) objects. These enhancements may be the consequence of an active photochemistry driven by the UV radiation originating from the shock front of the HH object. On the basis of this picture and as a follow up to a molecular line survey toward the quiescent molecular clump ahead of the HH object, HH 2 (Girart et al. 2002), we present a detailed time and depth dependent chemical model of the observed clump. Despite several difficulties in matching the observations, we constrain some of the physical and chemical parameters of the clump ahead of HH 2. In particular, we find that the clump is best described by more than one density component with a peak density of 3 × 105 cm-3 and a visual extinction of ≤3.5 mag; its lifetime can not be much higher than 100 years and the impinging radiation is enhanced with respect to the ambient one by probably no more than 3 orders of magnitude. Our models also indicate that carbon-bearing species should not completely hydrogenate as methane when freezing out on grains during the formation of the clump

The L723 low mass star forming protostellar system: resolving a double core

We present 1.35 mm SMA observations around the low-mass Class 0 source IRAS 19156+1906, at the the center of the L723 dark cloud. We detected emission from dust as well as emission from H2CO, DCN and CN, which arise from two cores, SMA 1 and SMA 2, separated by 2.9" (880 AU). SMA 2 is associated with VLA 2. SiO 5-4 emission is detected, possibly tracing a region of interaction between the dense envelope and the outflow. We modeled the dust and the H2CO emission from the two cores: they have similar physical properties but SMA 2 has a larger p-H2CO abundance than SMA 1. The p-H2CO abundances found are compatible with the value of the outer part of the circumstellar envelopes associated with Class 0 sources. SMA 2 is likely more evolved than SMA 1. The kinematics of the two sources show marginal evidence of infall and rotation motions. The mass detected by the SMA observation, which trace scales of ~1000 AU, is only a small fraction of the mass contained in the large scale molecular envelope, which suggests that L723 is still in a very early phase of star formation. Despite the apparent quiescent nature of the L723, fragmentation is occurring at the center of the cloud at different scales. Thus, at 1000 AU the cloud has fragmented in two cores, SMA 1 and SMA 2. At the same time, at least one of these cores, SMA 2, has undergone additional fragmentation at scales of 150 AU, forming a multiple stellar system.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figures. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

The clumpiness of molecular clouds: HCO+ (3--2) survey near Herbig-Haro objects

Some well-studied Herbig Haro objects have associated with them one or more cold, dense, and quiescent clumps of gas. We propose that such clumps near an HH object can be used as a general measure of clumpiness in the molecular cloud that contains that HH object. Our aim is to make a survey of clumps around a sample of HH objects, and to use the results to make an estimate of the clumpiness in molecular clouds. All known cold, dense, and quiescent clumps near HH objects are anomalously strong HCO+ emitters. Our method is, therefore, to search for strong HCO+ emission as an indicator of a clump near to an HH object. The searches were made using JCMT and SEST in the HCO+ 3-2 and also H13CO+ 1-0 lines, with some additional searches for methanol and sulphur monoxide lines. The sources selected were a sample of 22 HH objects in which no previous HCO+ emission had been detected. We find that half of the HH objects have clumps detected in the HCO+ 3-2 line and that all searches in H13CO$+ 1-0 lines show evidence of clumpiness. All condensations have narrow linewidths and are evidently unaffected dynamically by the HH jet shock. We conclude that the molecular clouds in which these HH objects are found must be highly heterogeneous on scales of less than 0.1 pc. An approximate calculation based on these results suggests that the area filling factor of clumps affected by HH objects is on the order of 10%. These clumps have gas number densities larger than 3e4 cm-2.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Analysis and test of the central-blue-spot infall hallmark

The infall of material onto a protostar, in the case of optically thick line emission, produces an asymmetry in the blue- and red-wing line emission. For an angularly resolved emission, this translates in a blue central spot in the first-order moment (intensity weighted velocity) map. An analytical expression for the first-order moment intensity as a function of the projected distance was derived, for the cases of infinite and finite infall radius. The effect of a finite angular resolution, which requires the numerical convolution with the beam, was also studied. This method was applied to existing data of several star-forming regions, namely G31.41+0.31 HMC, B335, and LDN 1287, obtaining good fits to the first-order moment intensity maps, and deriving values of the central masses onto which the infall is taking place (G31.41+0.31 HMC: 70-120 $M_\odot$; B335: 0.1 $M_\odot$; Guitar Core of LDN 1287: 4.8 $M_\odot$). The central-blue-spot infall hallmark appears to be a robust and reliable indicator of infall.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

3-D Kinematics of the HH 110 jet

We present new results on the kinematics of the jet HH 110. New proper motion measurements have been calculated from [SII] CCD images obtained with a time baseline of nearly fifteen years. HH 110 proper motions show a strong asymmetry with respect to the outflow axis, with a general trend of pointing towards the west of the axis direction. Spatial velocities have been obtained by combining the proper motions and radial velocities from Fabry-Perot data. Velocities decrease by a factor ~3 over a distance of ~10$^{18}$ cm, much shorter than the distances expected for the braking caused by the jet/environment interaction. Our results show evidence of an anomalously strong interaction between the outflow and the surrounding environment, and are compatible with the scenario in which HH 110 emerges from a deflection in a jet/cloud collision.Comment: (1)Universitat de Barcelona; (2)UNAM; (3)UPC; (4)University of Hawaii; (5)Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope. 9 pages; 7 Figures Accepted by A&

The high-velocity outflow in the proto-planetary nebula Hen 3-1475

The proto-planetary nebula Hen 3-1475 shows a remarkable highly collimated optical jet with an S-shaped string of three pairs of knots and extremely high velocities. We present here a detailed analysis of the overall morphology, kinematic structure and the excitation conditions of these knots based on deep ground-based high dispersion spectroscopy complemented with high spatial resolution spectroscopy obtained with STIS onboard HST, and WFPC2 [N II] images. The spectra obtained show double-peaked, extremely wide emission line profiles, and a decrease of the radial velocities with distance to the source in a step-like fashion. We find that the emission line ratios observed in the intermediate knots are consistent with a spectrum arising from the recombination region of a shock wave with shock velocities ranging from 100 to 150 km/s. We propose that the ejection velocity is varying as a function of time with a quasi-periodic variability (with timescale of the order of 100 years) and the direction of ejection is also varying with a precession period of the order of 1500 years.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Multitransitional observations of the CS core of L673

A multitransitional study with the BIMA interferometric array was carried out toward the starless core found in the L673 region, in order to study the small-size structure of the cores detected with previous single--dish observations, which provides us with a test of the predictions of the chemical model of Taylor et al. (1996; 1998). We detected emission in the CS (2-1), N2H+ (1-0), and HCO+ (1-0) lines. Several clumps of size ~0.08 pc were found for each line distributed all over the region where previous single-dish emission was found (Morata et al. 1997). Each molecular transition traces differently the clump distribution, although in some cases the detected clumps are coincident. The distribution of the N2H+ emission and the single-dish NH3 emission are coincident and compatible with an origin in the same gas. The large fraction of missing flux measured for the CS (2-1) transition can be explained if the cloud is formed by a clumpy and heterogeneous medium. Four positions were selected to derive the abundance ratios [N2H+/CS] and [HCO+/CS] from the molecular column density determinations, and to compare them with the values predicted by the chemical model. The model was able to explain the interferometric observations, and, in particular, the chemical differentiation of the detected clumps and the coincidence of the NH3 and N2H+ emissions. The lack of HCO+ towards the two selected positions that trace the more evolved clumps cannot be accounted for by the model, but it is possibly due to strong self-absorption. We propose a classification of the studied clumps according to the stage of chemical evolution indicated by the molecular abundances.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&

The nature of HH 223 from long-slit spectroscopy

HH 223 is a knotty, wiggling nebular emission of ~30" length found in the L723 star-forming region. It lies projected onto the largest blueshifted lobe of the cuadrupolar CO outflow powered by a low-mass YSO system embedded in the core of L723. We analysed the physical conditions and kinematics along HH 223 with the aim of disentangling whether the emission arises from shock-excited, supersonic gas characteristic of a stellar jet, or is only tracing the wall cavity excavated by the CO outflow. We performed long-slit optical spectroscopy along HH 223, crossing all the bright knots (A to E) and part of the low-brightness emission nebula (F filament). One spectrum of each knot, suitable to characterize the nature of its emission, was obtained. The physical conditions and the radial velocity of the HH 223 emission along the slits were also sampled at smaller scale (0.6") than the knot sizes. {The spectra of all the HH 223 knots appear as those of the intermediate/high excitation Herbig-Haro objects. The emission is supersonic, with blueshifted peak velocities ranging from -60 to -130 km/s. Reliable variations in the kinematics and physical conditions at smaller scale that the knot sizes are also found. The properties of the HH 223 emission derived from the spectroscopy confirm the HH nature of the object, the supersonic optical outflow most probably also being powered by the YSOs embedded in the L723 core.Comment: A&A accepte