Binary Formation in a 100 μm Dark Massive Core

Shuo Kong, Héctor G. Arce, John J. Tobin, Yichen Zhang, María José Maureira, Kaitlin M. Kratter, Thushara G.S. Pillai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report high-resolution ALMA observations toward a massive protostellar core C1-Sa (∼30 M ) in the Dragon infrared dark cloud. At the resolution of 140 au, the core fragments into two kernels (C1-Sa1 and C1-Sa2) with a projected separation of ∼1400 au along the elongation of C1-Sa, consistent with a Jeans length scale of ∼1100 au. Radiative transfer modeling using RADEX indicates that the protostellar kernel C1-Sa1 has a temperature of ∼75 K and a mass of 0.55 M . C1-Sa1 also likely drives two bipolar outflows, one being parallel to the plane of the sky. C1-Sa2 is not detected in line emission and does not show any outflow activity but exhibits ortho-H2D+ and N2D+ emission in its vicinity; thus it is likely still starless. Assuming a 20 K temperature, C1-Sa2 has a mass of 1.6 M . At a higher resolution of 96 au, C1-Sa1 begins to show an irregular shape at the periphery, but no clear sign of multiple objects or disks. We suspect that C1-Sa1 hosts a tight binary with inclined disks and outflows. Currently, one member of the binary is actively accreting while the accretion in the other is significantly reduced. C1-Sa2 shows hints of fragmentation into two subkernels with similar masses, which requires further confirmation with higher sensitivity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number187
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume950
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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