A&A 418, 607-616 (2004)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20040056
J. C. Correia1 - M. Griffin2 - P. Saraceno3
1 - Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências da Univ. de Lisboa,
Campo Grande, 1749 - 016 Lisboa, Portugal
2 -
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Queens Buildings, Cardiff University,
PO Box 913, 5 The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3YB, UK
3 -
CNR - Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, via Fosso del
Cavaliere, 00133 Roma, Italy
Received 19 August 1999 / Accepted 14 January 2004
Abstract
We present far-infrared (FIR) continuum observations of the deeply embedded source
IRAS 16293-2422 performed with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS) on-board
the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). We also report 450 and 850 m
mapping observations done with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) at the
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). We combined these observations with IRAS and other JCMT data
available in the literature to construct a complete spectral energy
distribution (SED) of the source. A spherically symmetric dusty envelope model was used to
reproduce the SED and to characterize the circumstellar matter around the object. We call
attention to the fact that when using models such as the one presented here, one needs
spatial information about the object to distinguish between different possible fits to the SED. A comparison between the intensity profiles at 450 and 850
m obtained from the SCUBA observations
and the profiles predicted by the model allowed us to constrain the size of the envelope and its density
distribution. The SED and the 850
m intensity profile of the source are consistent
with a centrally peaked power law dust density distribution of the form
with
p = 1.5-2, with a radius
AU, defining a very compact circumstellar
envelope. We estimate a bolometric luminosity
,
an envelope mass
,
and a submillimetre to bolometric luminosity ratio
,
confirming that the source shows a submillimetre excess characteristic of Class 0
sources.
Key words: ISM: individual objects: IRAS 16293-2422 - infrared: ISM - stars: circumstellar matter
The spectral energy distribution of a young stellar object (YSO) is determined by the amount and distribution of dust in its circumstellar environment. As an object evolves, the dust is redistributed between the infalling envelope and the eventual circumstellar disk. This means that different classes of objects, representing different evolutionary stages, have different SEDs (Adams et al. 1987). As a consequence, SEDs have been used to study the evolutionary status of YSOs. However, the SED of an object is not necessarily defined uniquely and can be reproduced by different models due to the degeneracy of various parameters, as has been noted by several authors (Thamm et al. 1994; Butner et al. 1994; Boss & Yorke 1995; Men'shchikov & Henning 1997). If one wants to obtain a physically meaningful fit to the SED, one has to obtain spatial information about the dust distribution and then compare it with the spatial intensity distribution predicted by the model. The analysis of the spatial information is the key to help us to put reliable contraints on the source model parameters. If we want to take advantage of spatial data, we need to have a source model and a radiative transport code to predict the expected intensity distribution of the source.
Before the launch of ISO, most of these
studies relied on IRAS data to cover the FIR part of the spectrum, limiting the spectral coverage to wavelengths below 100
m.
However, the coolest and most deeply embedded sources, such as Class 0 objects, emit most
of their radiation and have their peak emission beyond 100
m (André et al.
1993, 2000). We have used ISO-LWS data to access this region of
the spectrum in order to construct a detailed SED of the protostar IRAS 16293-2422.
We have also used a spherically symmetric envelope model to reproduce the SED and
characterize the circumstellar matter around the object. The model allows us to predict the
source intensity profiles at any chosen wavelengths.
We have complemented the ISO observations with
SCUBA data in order to study the intensity profiles of the object and to derive integrated
fluxes at 450 and 850
m. These were then combined with the 80
beam size ISO observations in order to plot the SED.
The analysis of the intensity profiles
enabled us to distinguish between different possible fits to the SED and get reliable
estimatives for the model parameters.
IRAS 16293-2422 is a Class 0 source (André et al. 2000) situated in an
isolated and cold molecular cloud core in Ophiuchi at a distance of 160 pc
(Whittet 1974).
This deeply embedded object, undetected at wavelengths shorter than 25
m, has
been the subject of many studies. Radio and interferometric observations have shown that
this IRAS source is actually a binary system whose two components are 800 AU
apart (Wootten 1989; Mundy et al. 1992; Walker et al. 1993).
A complex molecular outflow was discovered independently by Walker et al. (1985), Fukui et al. (1986) and Wootten & Loren (1987). Later, higher spatial resolution showed a quadrupole signature (Walker et al. 1988; Mizuno et al. 1990). This was later interpreted as two separated and almost perpendicular molecular outflows (Walker et al. 1993).
Mundy et al. (1986) combined their 2.7 mm interferometric observation with IRAS fluxes
and with the 1.3 mm flux from Walker et al. (1986) to construct
the SED of the source. By fitting the observations with a
greybody they estimated a bolometric
luminosity of 27
and a total circumstellar mass in the range 0.9-6
.
Walker et al.
(1990) mapped the object at 1.3 mm as part of a continuum survey of cold IRAS sources.
Their
fit of the SED allowed them to estimate a bolometric luminosity of
29
and a
mass of 2
.
Observations at 870 and 1300
m allowed Mezger et al. (1992) to
estimate
an
envelope mass of 3
.
Later, André & Montmerle (1994), based on a 1.3 mm continuum
survey
for cold circumstellar dust in the
Ophiuchi cloud, estimated an envelope mass of 2.3
.
These studies relied on SEDs constructed with just a few
photometric points covering the far-infrared and submillimetre ranges, making it difficult
to estimate the peak emission with the resulting uncertainties for the temperature
distribution
and bolometric luminosity.
IRAS 16293-2422 was observed with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer (Clegg et al.
1996;
Swinyard et al. 1996). The observations were done in
grating mode with spectral resolution elements of 0.29 m between 43 and 90
m
and 0.6
m between 90 and 197
m. The on-source
observations were taken at the position
(
,
). An off-source spectrum was
obtained by
averaging eleven spectra taken around the on-source (see Fig. 1 of Ceccarelli et al. 1998).
The flux calibration of the LWS is referred to observations of Uranus and the absolute flux
calibration is better than 30% (Trams 1998). The LWS beam is about 80
at
all
wavelengths (Swinyard et al. 1996).
The reduction of the LWS data was performed using ISAP
. The spectra were
corrected for any fringing (a modulation of the signal, cosinusoidal in
wavelength space, caused by an optical interference in the instrument,
which affects some of the observations) by using a defringing algorithm written
by the LWS Consortium (Swinyard et al. 1996). No attempt was made to remove the
discrepancies
between the ten LWS
sub-spectra in order to get a single smooth spectrum as the results of this
operation can be strongly dependent on the detector used as a reference and, consequently,
can introduce significant errors on the final spectrum (Correia 2000). The
average
off-source
spectrum was then subtracted from the on-source one. Finally, the data were
binned
into ten data points, each one representing one detector.
The photometric results are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1:
ISO-LWS photometry of IRAS 16293-2422 (
).
The observations were made in August 1998 using the Submillimetre Common-User
Bolometer Array (SCUBA) (Holland et al. 1999) at the James Clerk Maxwell
Telescope
(JCMT) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. SCUBA
consists of
two bolometer arrays, the Long-Wave (LW)
array comprising 37 pixels operating in the 850 and 750
m atmospheric transmission
windows
and
the Short-Wave (SW) array with 91 pixels optimized for operation at 450 and 350
m.
The
pixels are placed in a hexagonal pattern. The observations were taken simultaneously at 450
and 850
m using a dichroic beam splitter. The jiggle-map observing mode, intended to map
small
areas, was used.
The full-width at half maximum (FWHM) beam sizes were 8.8
and 14.6
at 450 and 850
m, respectively.
The image at 850 m is presented in Fig. 1.
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Figure 1:
850 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Like the LWS observations described above, the calibration is
referred to observations of Uranus. The pointing
of the telescope was checked before and after the observations on a nearby quasar.
The observations were done using a chop throw of 120
in azimuth and a chop frequency
of 7.8 Hz. The atmospheric transmission was monitored by performing skydips along the night. The data were
analysed using the SCUBA User Reduction Facility (SURF) (Jenness & Lightfoot
1997). The images were
initially
flatfielded and corrected for extinction. The sky emission was then removed and data from bad
bolometers
were discarded. Finally, the maps were cleared of any spikes.
The black area indicates the region covered by the SCUBA map. The map shows a slightly elongated dust
emission oriented SE-NW with a PA of 145.
This
marginal elongation is parallel to the separation of the binary system (Wootten
1989; Mundy et al. 1992). This centrally peaked emission is surrounded by a more
extended dust emission spreading towards East. This emission is associated with the separate NH3 core
discussed by Wootten & Loren (1987) which lies only 80
away from IRAS
16293-2422. The position of the chop of our observation is 72
and 96
away from IRAS
16293-2422 in RA and Dec, respectively, which allows us to say that our maps were not affected by this
neighbouring NH3 core.
The 450 m image is shown in Fig. 2. The map is more irregular in this case due to the lower
signal-to-noise.
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Figure 2:
450 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 3 shows the radial intensity profiles of IRAS 16293-2422 at 850 m and 450
m as measured from the maps shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The
analysis of the intensity profiles derived from the SCUBA maps seem to suggest an apparent
break at
,
indicating that the envelope merges with the background at a
distance corresponding to
3000 AU from the centre of the emission. We will use
this fact as a constraint of the radius of the envelope. Based on this analysis, integrated fluxes
were obtained from the maps using a 20
circular radius aperture.
Such an aperture, corresponding to
3000 AU at the distance of 160 pc, was chosen to include all the emission revealed by the maps at both wavelengths. The results
are summarized in Table 2.
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Figure 3:
Radial intensity profiles of IRAS 16293-2422 at 850 ![]() ![]() |
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These integrated fluxes are higher than the UKT14 fluxes measured by Sandell 1994
(by 17% and 29% at 450 and 850 m, respectively, although the fluxes at 450
m agree
within
the error bars),
something that we were already expecting due to the extended nature of the emission. Some of
this
emission was missed
by the UKT14 observations (these observations correspond to apertures much smaller than the
ones
defined by ISO-LWS
and IRAS). We will have the opportunity to estimate what fraction of the total emission was not
detected and correct the
respective UKT14 fluxes.
Table 2: SCUBA photometry of IRAS 16293-2422.
Figure 4 shows the spectral energy distribution of IRAS 16293-2422 constructed with IRAS PSC (Point Source Catalog) data (open circles) and with the ISO-LWS and the SCUBA data presented in this paper (filled circles and open squares, respectively). We have also included the submillimetre data obtained by Sandell (1994) with UKT14 at the JCMT (filled triangles).
There is a good agreement between the IRAS-PSC data and the LWS data,
especially at 100 m. We can also see that the LWS is giving us
access to the peak emission of IRAS 16293-2422 which is very important in defining
the dust temperature. There is also an excellent agreement between the integrated fluxes
obtained from the SCUBA images at 450 and 850
m (open squares) and the corresponding
corrected UKT14 fluxes from the Sandell (1994) (filled triangles). The UKT14 fluxes
were
corrected to account for the fact that the JCMT beam did not detect all the emission, as
mentioned above. The correction is explained below.
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Figure 4:
The spectral energy distribution of IRAS 16293-2422 and the fit from the
model obtained with
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It is generally accepted that the circumstellar mass in Class 0 sources is distributed mainly
in an
envelope
surrounding
the central young stellar object (André et al. 2000; Mundy et al.
2000).
Based on
mm continuum interferometric measurements of IRAS
16293-2422,
Looney et al.
(2000) concluded that most of the flux (
)
is indeed in a large-scale
circumbinary envelope, and
that any disk flux is less than
of the total flux. Despite the high spatial resolution
achieved, the authors
noted that the envelope and any possible disk contribution are difficult to disentangle.
In a more recent paper, Looney et al. (2003) could not model the inner structure of IRAS 16293-2422 due to the unresolved detection of their observations.
Considering this scenario, and although the possiblity of IRAS 16293-2422 having a
disk is
not ruled out, we
modelled the dust emission assuming one circumstellar component, an
envelope. The model consists of a
spherically symmetric dust envelope with a certain radius
within which the
temperature T and the density
vary according to power laws, with exponents q and p, respectively:
and
.
The emission from each point in the envelope is taken to be a blackbody modified by the
frequency-dependent dust grain emissivity (
,
where
is the extinction coefficient and
is the dust opacity law
coefficient).
The emission is integrated along lines of sight through the envelope at a range of angular
distances from the centre to determine the angular dependence of
the surface brightness. The model does not assume optically thin emission but includes a
radiative transfer integration along each line of sight. The total emission is computed by
integrating the surface brightness
over the whole envelope. Beyond the radius of the envelope, the emission is assumed to be
constant and equal to the emission at the distance
.
Figure 4 shows the
fit to
the data obtained with it.
As we approach the centre of the envelope, the
temperature increases and we should expect not to have any dust closer to the centre
than a certain distance, defined here as the inner radius of the envelope Ri.
This radius is defined by the sublimation temperature of the dust
.
For a typical mixture of dust grains, a sublimation temperature
of
1000-2000 K is normally adopted (Evans 1994).
Changing this temperature between 1000 K and 2000 K does not introduce a
considerable change in the final emission. This is due to the fact that such change
in temperature only implies a very small change in the inner radius Ri when
compared with the size of the envelope
.
We adopted a sublimation
temperature
K.
A sublimation temperature of this order defines an inner radius of a few tenths of an AU for
typical envelope sizes
and temperature distributions, making the "hole'' very small when compared with the size of
the
envelope.
If a disk component exists, as it is suggested by high-angular resolution observations (Looney et al. 2000, 2003), this disk will have to have a size much bigger than the size of the "hole'' defined here by the sublimation temperature. However, even a "hole'' with 10 AU of radius will be only a very small fraction (less than 1%) of the total size of the envelopes considered here. The influence of the inner radius of the envelope on the spectral energy distribution will be mentioned in the next section.
Table 3: Model parameters.
Based on
experimental and observational works available at the time, Hildebrand (1983)
considered
two different values for the dust emissivity index
in the far-infrared and the submillimetre regions (
for 50
m
m and
for
m).
We used the same approach but we let
be a free parameter. Two values of
were used in the model,
and
,
to account for different opacities in the far-infrared and submillimetre/millimetre
regimes. The need for two different dust opacity indices is made clear in the next section
where
the
influence of each parameter on the SED is studied.
Although it is clear that
should be a function of wavelength, it is not physically
realistic to assume that
it changes from
1 to
2 in a discontinous way. For
this reason, and in order to have a smooth transition between the two regimes, we defined
a region between 200
m and 300
m where
changes from its
short-wavelength
value (
)
to its long-wavelength value (
). For simplicity, the
dependence of
over the transition region was assumed to be linear. Following
Hildebrand's approach, we considered spherical grains with an average
radius a = 0.1
m, a grain density box
g cm-3 and an
extinction efficiency at 250
m,
.
Q0 is believed to be good within a factor of two (Hildebrand 1983;
Mezger
1990;
Henning 1996).
The model shown in Fig. 4 corresponds to an envelope with a radius
AU and a power law density distribution
.
The
remaining
parameters used for the model are summarized in Table 3 under "Model 1" (
and
are the
temperature and the density of the dust at the radius
,
respectively, q is the
power law
temperature distribution index and
and
are the infrared and
submillimetre/millimetre indices, respectively).
At the distance of 160 pc, the radius of the envelope
AU
corresponds to
20
which is comparable to the UKT14 19
average beam FWH. This implies that the UKT14 observations from Sandell
(1994) missed a significant fraction of the emission. From the angular dependence
of
the
surface brightness predicted by our model we estimate that an average of
of
the
emission from the envelope was lost by the UKT14 beam at all wavelengths. For this reason, we
corrected the fluxes by multiplying them, on average, by 1.4 and plotted them together with
our data to construct the SED, as shown in Fig. 4.
The fit shows that it is possible to reproduce most of the dust emission from the
mid-infrared
to the millimetre range of the spectrum without the need for another circumstellar component
in addition to the
envelope. However, the model fails to reproduce the millimetre excess detected at 1300 m
and 2000
m.
We believe that this excess is due to the existence of the small disk not resolved by
the 2.7 mm interferometric survey from Looney et al. (2000). Due to the difficulty in
disentangling
the
disk and the envelope, we cannot constrain any parameters of the disk and so we have not
included
it in our
modelling. However, we would like to point out that the inclusion of a disk in the model does
not
introduce a significant
change in the intensity profiles. This inclusion affects significantly the slopes of the SED
in the
mid-infrared and in the submm regions of the spectrum, the two regions where the contribution
from the
envelope
is not sufficient enough to mask the contribution from the disk. To model the contribution
from a disk
we would
need high-resolution thermal infrared imaging observations.
A brief exploration of the parameter space associated with the model used in this paper was
carried
out by
Correia et al. (1999), and a more complete analysis was done by Correia
(2000).
In this paper, we show the results from running the model for different values of the radius
of the
envelope (
),
different temperature and density power law indices (q and p) and for different dust
opacity
indices (
and
). These results can be seen in the following figures. The parameters that
gave the
fit shown in Fig. 4 were used and only the parameter whose role we were
studying
was allowed to
change.
Figure 5 shows the effect of changing
from 2750 AU to 3750 AU at intervals of 250 AU.
![]() |
Figure 5:
Fits for different values of
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As we would expect, lower values of
imply lower
fluxes. Increasing the radius of the envelope corresponds to the introduction of more
mass to the system, so the total emission increases. The submillimetre/millimetre
emission goes up but the slope remains basically unchanged. The increase in the radius
results essentially in a significant increase in the peak emission.
Figure 6 shows the effect of changing the density power law index from 1.6 to 2.4. Different values of p give almost the same SED. The slopes are almost
exactly
the same, only the peak flux is slightly higher for the sharper density profiles,
with the "best fit'' being obtained for
.
In fact, the effect of changing p is very similar to the effect of changing
(see Fig. 5). The comparison of the two figures shows us
that there is a clear cross-correlation between the two parameters and that different
parameter
combinations
could produce equally acceptable fits to the SED. We conclude that constraining these two
parameters with only continuum SED data is a very difficult task, if not impossible.
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Figure 6:
Fits for different values of p. Fits are shown for p = 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4 with the solid line corresponding to the "best fit''
(
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Figure 7 illustrates well the effect of changing the temperature power law index.
![]() |
Figure 7: Fits for different values of q. Fits are shown for q = 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2 with the higher values shifting the peak emission towards the short wavelengths and higher flux densities. The solid line corresponds to q = 0.4. |
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The slope and the fluxes in the submm/mm are not significantly affected, but very different fluxes are obtained at shorter wavelengths. Increasing q, which corresponds to sharper temperature profiles, means shifting the peak emission towards the short wavelengths, increasing the IR emission and broadening the SED. This figure shows how important LWS data can be. The LWS data define the peak emission of the object giving us access to the turnover of the SED which is vital in constraining the temperature power law index.
Figure 8 shows fits obtained with different values of ,
ranging
from 0.8 to 1.4. Higher values of
produce sharper SEDs, decreasing the
emission below
60
m and increasing slightly the peak flux.
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Figure 8:
Fits for different values of
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A comparison with Fig. 6 shows that
is difficult to be well
constrained by short wavelength far-infrared data. A similar effect is caused on the SED either by
increasing
or the density power law index p. This is explained by the strong
dependence of the shape of the SED on the optical depth at the shortest wavelengths.
A similar dependence could eventually be expected on the inner radius of the envelope. In this paper this radius was defined by the sublimation temperature. If a disk exists, then this inner radius
should be larger than that assumed here. However, an examination of the influence of the inner
radius
on the shape of the SED has shown that only residual changes are introduced even if an inner radius
of
several tens of AU is considered. This is explained by the fact that even such an inner radius would be less than
of the total radius of the envelope. This would still define a very small inner
"hole" whose emission is negligible when compared with the emission from the rest of the
envelope. In this sense, the small inner radius considered here (defined by the sublimation
temperature) does not exclude the existence of a disk. Due to the lack of information
that could constrain such a disk and the resulting inner "hole'' in the envelope (even considering
the high-angular resolution data of Looney et al. 2000, 2003), we do not have data
available that would allow us to change the size of the inner "hole'' considered here.
The effects of changing
are shown in Fig. 9. Decreasing the
index produces higher fluxes at the submillimetre/millimetre range. The slope is clearly
defined by
,
meaning that
can be very well constrained by
submillimetre data. The comparison with Fig. 8 shows that two very
different values of the dust opacity index have to be chosen to fit, at the same
time, the infrared and the submillimetre slopes of the SED.
![]() |
Figure 9:
Fits for different values of
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We conclude that the radius of the envelope and the dust density index p have similar effects on the SED of the object, with larger radius and steeper density distributions implying higher emissions in the far-infrared and in the submillimetre, with the consequent higher peak emissions.
The degeneracy of the fits was studied by looking at different possible sets of parameters giving the same fit. The idea behind this approach was to analyse the ambiguities resulting from not being able to constrain each of the parameters uniquely without spatial information about the dust distribution.
To illustrate this problem, Fig. 10 shows another possible good fit to the
SED obtained with
and
AU (the remaining parameters
are listed in Table 3 under "Model 2").
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Figure 10:
The spectral energy distribution of IRAS 16293-2422 and the fit from the
model obtained with
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A less sharp density distribution implies lower fluxes in the far-infrared and in the submillimetre, but this effect is compensated with a larger radius, resulting in a SED very similar to the one shown in Fig. 4. This example shows that the widely adopted practice of fitting only SEDs in order to derive circumstellar parameters can be misleading and incorrect, and emphasises the need for spatial information about the object.
Figure 11 shows the intensity profiles at 850 m and 450
m predicted by
Model 2 (upper and lower panels, respectively). The dotted lines shows the intensity profiles
predicted
by the model, the dashed lines
corresponds to the Gaussian beam profile measured from the SCUBA maps of Uranus at the two
wavelengths
and the solid
lines corresponds to the intensity profiles after a two-dimensional convolution with the
respective
beams.
The dotted strips represents the intensity profiles of the object measured from the maps shown
in Figs. 1 and 2.
The figures shows that, although a good fit to the SED was obtained, the profile
predicted by the model at 850
m is at the upper end of the profile derived from the SCUBA map.
![]() |
Figure 11:
Comparison of the radial intensity profiles of IRAS 16293-2422 at 850 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 12 shows the measured profiles and the intensity profiles from
the model at 850 m and 450
m obtained with
and
AU
(Model 1).
In this case the emission is more centrally concentrated, resulting in sharper intensity
profiles. In this case, the predicted profile at 850
m is at the lower end of the measured
profile. For angles greater than 20
this model profile is actually better than the one
shown in
the previous figure. The predicted profile at 450
m is a clear underestimate of the observed
profile.
The analysis and comparison of the two figures shows us that, just on the basis of the 850
m
profiles, a value between
and
is the most appropriate
value.
The data at 450
m implies a value at the bottom end of this range. However, we call the
attention to
the fact that these data suffers from lower S/N ratio and from the higher probablility that the
large
error beam at this wavelength can be picking up some power.
The finite chop throw is believed not to have an influence in the intensity profiles
as the 120
used guarantees us that no significant on-source emission is included.
Contamination from the NH3 core discovered by Wootten & Loren (1987) is
also
discarded as mentioned in Sect. 2.2.
![]() |
Figure 12:
Comparison of the radial intensity profiles of IRAS 16293-2422 at 850 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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These results are in agreement with the idea that the envelopes of Class 0 and Class I
protostars are always found to be strongly centrally condensed, with density profiles
consistent with
with
(André et al.
2000; Mundy et al. 2000). In most cases, it is difficult
to distinguish between r-1.5 and r-2 density profiles, or to establish the radius
where these gradients apply. Although the SCUBA observations presented in this paper
do not allow us to eliminate completly any of the two possible density profiles, the results
from out modelling tell us that the envelope of
IRAS
16293-2422 is observed to be very compact and centrally peaked, with a finite radius of
influence. This is in agreement
with the conclusions of Motte et al. (1998): in
Ophiuchi, the circumstellar
envelopes
of Class 0 and Class I protostars are found to be very compact, merging with dense cores,
other
envelopes or the diffuse ambient cloud at a radius
AU.
The fact that we found two distinct values for the dust opacity index is in agreement with
the
idea that it is not possible to fit all the photometric
data, ranging from the infrared to the submillimetre, with only one dust opacity index valid
for all the spectral range. The opacity index found for the submillimetre (
)
is too high for the infrared range of the spectrum, making the envelope optically
thick. André et al. (1993) also found
for the proto-typical Class 0
object VLA1623 and similar values have been found for other extremely young objects.
The departure from spherical symmetry, which might be explained by the presence of the two outflows associated with the source, for example, is expected to be more pronounced at shorther wavelengths. Moreover, the JCMT beam deviates from a Gaussian, especially at short wavelengths, where the main beam is superimposed on a broad error lobe (Holland 1999) making the interpretation of spatially extended maps more difficult.
It is difficult to assign any formal errors to the derived model parameters. Our phenomenological model is capable of reproducing the photometric and spatial data available to us. While a multi-parameter chi-square fit to the SED could give a mathematical solution to the problem with the respective errors associated, such an approach would be of limited use due to the large number of free parameters involved and could mislead us through providing us a mathematical solution with dubious physical meaning. For instance, our model and others like it make simplifying assumptions of spherical symmetry, power law indices for temperature and density variation, and uniform dust properties throughout the envelope. There will be departures from all these assumptions in real sources, and the results these models should therefore be interpreted with caution.
We can compute the optical depth of the envelope for any given line of sight and
at any chosen wavelength.
Figure 13 shows the optical depth as a function of the distance from
the
centre of the envelope
at six different wavelengths: 60, 100, 200, 450, 850 and 1100 m. The analysis of the
figure
shows
that the envelope
is optically thin almost over its entire volume, even at the shortest wavelengths. At 100
m, for
example, only the
regions inside the volume defined by
20% of the radius are optically thick. At 450
m,
these regions
are only at a distance of
5% of the radius. Notice, however, the extremely sharp
increase
in the optical
depth once we approach the inner regions of the envelope. This is due to the highly centred
dust
distribution
defined by the peaked density distribution (p=2).
![]() |
Figure 13:
IRAS 16293-2422: line of
sight optical depth as a function of radius predicted by the model (p = 2.0 and
![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 14 shows the optical depth as a function of wavelength for five
different lines of sight
along the envelope,
corresponding to distances of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 75% of the radius of the envelope. The
inflexion
points that can be
seen between 200 and 300 m for the lines corresponding to the inner most regions of the
envelope
are due to
the linear change in the optical depth imposed by the change in the dust opacity index
.
Figure 14 shows that the envelope, even in its innermost regions, is optically thin
at wavelengths
m. At a distance of 25% of
the
radius from the
centre, the dust becomes optically thick at
m but at a distance of 75% the
emission is
optically thin over the entire
range of the spectrum shown in the figure. At 100
m, the inner regions of the envelope are
optically thick. At 10
m, even
the outer regions of the envelope are optically thick. Concluding,
the envelope is optically thin in the submillimetre and millimetre but it quickly becomes
optically
thick in the
far-infrared.
![]() |
Figure 14:
IRAS 16293-2422:
optical depth as a function of wavelength predicted by the model for five different lines of sight along the
envelope, corresponding to distances of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 75% of the radius of the envelope.
The horizontal line corresponds to ![]() |
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Using the parameters from Model 1 and integrating the density distribution along the
envelope, we estimate an envelope mass of 3.4
(a typical gas-to-dust ratio of 100 was
assumed (Hildebrand 1983)). Integrating the emission under the model
spectrum yields a bolometric luminosity of 36
and a submillimetre luminosity of 0.7
(defined as the luminosity radiated longward of 350
m). This gives a
ratio of 1.9%, confirming the young status of the source (Class 0
sources are defined by
(André et al.
2000)).
The fact that our estimate for the
bolometric luminosity is higher than the values found by Walker
et al. (1990), Mezger et al. (1992) and André & Montmerle
(1994)
can be explained by our better characterization of the SED, achieved by the use of LWS and
SCUBA data.
Our main conclusions are:
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Wayne Holland for his help with the SCUBA observations and data reduction, Philippe André for useful discussions and the LWS Consortium for making the ISO observations possible. We also thank the anonymous referee for careful reading and useful comments and suggestions that have improved the original manuscript. J. C. Correia gratefully acknowledges the financial support from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - Portugal) through the grants Programa PRAXIS XXI/BD/2961/94 and SFRH/BPD/3614/2000.