The detection and characterization of centimeter radio continuum emission from the low-mass protostar L1014-IRS

Observations by the Cores to Disk Legacy Team with the Spitzer Space Telescope have identified a low-luminosity, mid-infrared source within the dense core, Lynds 1014, which was previously thought to harbor no internal source. Follow-up near-infrared and submillimeter interferometric observations have confirmed the protostellar nature of this source by detecting scattered light from an outflow cavity and a weak molecular outflow. In this paper, we report the detection of centimeter continuum emission with the VLA. The emission is characterized by a quiescent, unresolved 90 μJy 6 cm source within 0.2″ of the Spitzer source. The spectral index of the quiescent component is σ = 0.37 ± 0.34 between 6 and 3.6 cm. A factor of 2 increase in 6 cm emission was detected during one epoch and circular polarization was marginally detected at the 5 σ level with Stokes V/I = 48% = 16%. We have searched for 22 GHz H₂O maser emission toward L1014-IRS, but no masers were detected during seven epochs of observations between 2004 June and 2006 December. L1014-IRS appears to be a low-mass, accreting protostar, which exhibits centimeter emission from a thermal jet or a wind, with a variable nonthermal emission component. The quiescent cm radio emission is noticeably above the correlation of 3.6 and 6 cm luminosity versus bolometric luminosity, indicating more radio emission than expected. In this paper, we characterize the centimeter continuum emission in terms of observations of other low-mass protostars, including updated correlations of centimeter continuum emission with bolometric luminosity and outflow force, and discuss the implications of recent larger distance estimates on the physical attributes of the protostar and dense molecular core.