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Issue A&A
Volume 439, Number 1, August III 2005
Page(s) 159 - 169
Section Interstellar and circumstellar matter
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20052952



A&A 439, 159-169 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20052952

How to identify the youngest protostars

D. Stamatellos, A. P. Whitworth, D. F. A. Boyd and S. P. Goodwin

School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, 5 The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3YB, Wales, UK
    e-mail: D.Stamatellos@astro.cf.ac.uk

(Received 28 February 2005 / Accepted 25 April 2005)

Abstract
We study the transition from a prestellar core to a Class 0 protostar, using SPH to simulate the dynamical evolution, and a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to generate the SED and isophotal maps. For a prestellar core illuminated by the standard interstellar radiation field, the luminosity is low and the SED peaks at ~ $190\,\mu {\rm m}$. Once a protostar has formed, the luminosity rises (due to a growing contribution from accretion onto the protostar) and the peak of the SED shifts to shorter wavelengths ( $80~{\rm to}\,100\,\mu {\rm m}$). However, by the end of the Class 0 phase, the accretion rate is falling, the luminosity has decreased, and the peak of the SED shifts back towards longer wavelengths ( $90\;{\rm to}\,150\,\mu {\rm m}$). In our simulations, the density of material around the protostar remains sufficiently high well into the Class 0 phase that the protostar only becomes visible in the NIR if it is displaced from the centre dynamically. Raw submm/mm maps of Class 0 protostars tend to be much more centrally condensed than those of prestellar cores. However, when convolved with a typical telescope beam, the difference in central concentration is less marked, although the Class 0 protostars appear more circular. Our results suggest that, if a core is deemed to be prestellar on the basis of having no associated IRAS source, no cm radio emission, and no outflow, but it has a circular appearance and an SED which peaks at wavelengths below ~ $170\,\mu {\rm m}$, it may well contain a very young Class 0 protostar.


Key words: stars: formation -- ISM: clouds -- dust, extinction -- methods: numerical -- radiative transfer -- hydrodynamics

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