Water in low-mass star-forming regions with Herschel: HIFI spectroscopy of NGC 1333

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • L. E. Kristensen
  • R. Visser
  • E. F. Van Dishoeck
  • U. A. Yildiz
  • S. D. Doty
  • G. J. Herczeg
  • F. C. Liu
  • B. Parise
  • T. A. Van Kempen
  • Christian Brinch
  • Susanne Franziska Wampfler
  • S. Bruderer
  • A. O. Benz
  • M. R. Hogerheijde
  • E. Deul
  • R. Bachiller
  • A. Baudry
  • M. Benedettini
  • E. A. Bergin
  • Per Bjerkeli
  • G. A. Blake
  • S. Bontemps
  • J. Braine
  • P. Caselli
  • J. Cernicharo
  • C. Codella
  • F. Daniel
  • Th De Graauw
  • A. M. Di Giorgio
  • C. Dominik
  • P. Encrenaz
  • M. Fich
  • A. Fuente
  • T. Giannini
  • J. R. Goicoechea
  • F. Helmich
  • F. Herpin
  • T. Jacq
  • D. Johnstone
  • M. J. Kaufman
  • B. Larsson
  • D. Lis
  • R. Liseau
  • M. Marseille
  • C. McCoey
  • G. Melnick
  • D. Neufeld
  • B. Nisini
  • M. Olberg
  • J. C. Pearson
  • R. Plume
  • C. Risacher
  • J. Santiago-García
  • P. Saraceno
  • R. Shipman
  • M. Tafalla
  • A. G G M Tielens
  • F. Van Der Tak
  • F. Wyrowski
  • D. Beintema
  • A. De Jonge
  • P. Dieleman
  • V. Ossenkopf
  • P. Roelfsema
  • J. Stutzki
  • N. Whyborn

"Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel" (WISH) is a key programme dedicated to studying the role of water and related species during the star-formation process and constraining the physical and chemical properties of young stellar objects. The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) on the Herschel Space Observatory observed three deeply embedded protostars in the low-mass star-forming region NGC 1333 in several H216O, H218O, and CO transitions. Line profiles are resolved for five H216O transitions in each source, revealing them to be surprisingly complex. The line profiles are decomposed into broad (>20 km s-1), medium-broad (∼5-10 km s-1), and narrow (<5 km s-1) components. The H218O emission is only detected in broad 110-101 lines (>20 km s -1), indicating that its physical origin is the same as for the broad H216O component. In one of the sources, IRAS4A, an inverse P Cygni profile is observed, a clear sign of infall in the envelope. From the line profiles alone, it is clear that the bulk of emission arises from shocks, both on small (1000 AU) and large scales along the outflow cavity walls (∼10 000 AU). The H2O line profiles are compared to CO line profiles to constrain the H2O abundance as a function of velocity within these shocked regions. The H2O/CO abundance ratios are measured to be in the range of ∼0.1-1, corresponding to H2O abundances of ∼10-5-10-4 with respect to H 2. Approximately 5-10% of the gas is hot enough for all oxygen to be driven into water in warm post-shock gas, mostly at high velocities.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL30
JournalAstronomy & Astrophysics
Volume521
Number of pages6
ISSN0004-6361
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2010

ID: 142072047