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The development of a protoplanetary disk from its natal envelope

Nature volume 448, pages 1026–1028 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Class 0 protostars, the youngest type of young stellar objects, show many signs of rapid development from their initial, spheroidal configurations, and therefore are studied intensively for details of the formation of protoplanetary disks within protostellar envelopes. At millimetre wavelengths, kinematic signatures of collapse have been observed in several such protostars, through observations of molecular lines that probe their outer envelopes. It has been suggested that one or more components of the proto-multiple system NGC 1333–IRAS 4 (refs 1, 2) may display signs of an embedded region that is warmer and denser than the bulk of the envelope3,4. Here we report observations that reveal details of the core on Solar System dimensions. We detect in NGC 1333–IRAS 4B a rich emission spectrum of H2O, at wavelengths 20–37 μm, which indicates an origin in extremely dense, warm gas. We can model the emission as infall from a protostellar envelope onto the surface of a deeply embedded, dense disk, and therefore see the development of a protoplanetary disk. This is the only example of mid-infrared water emission from a sample of 30 class 0 objects, perhaps arising from a favourable orientation; alternatively, this may be an early and short-lived stage in the evolution of a protoplanetary disk.

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Figure 1: Spitzer-IRS low-resolution spectra of IRAS 4A and IRAS 4B, and false-colour mid-infrared image.
Figure 2: Comparison of observed and model spectra of IRAS 4B.
Figure 3: Cartoon depiction of our model for IRAS 4B.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by NASA through the Spitzer-IRS Instrument Team, Origins and Astrobiology programmes, and by CONACyT (México). We are grateful to R. Gutermuth for use of the Spitzer-IRAC data on NGC 1333, and to M. Jura, L. Keller, G. Sloan and D. Hollenbach for discussions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627-0171, USA,

    Dan M. Watson, C. J. Bohac, C. Hull, William J. Forrest, B. Sargent, Joel D. Green & Kyoung Hee Kim

  2. Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA,

    C. Hull

  3. NASA Astrobiology Institute,

    E. Furlan

  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA,

    E. Furlan

  5. NOAO, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA,

    J. Najita

  6. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA,

    Nuria Calvet & Lee Hartmann

  7. Centro de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, UNAM, 58089 Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico,

    Paola d’Alessio

  8. Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA,

    J. R. Houck

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  1. Dan M. Watson
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Correspondence to Dan M. Watson.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Discussion to which the main-body text refers, Supplementary Tables 1-2 and Supplementary Figures 1-2 with Legends. Supplementary Figure S1 shows the rotational energy level diagram of water and Supplementary Figure 2 is a large rendition of the high-resolution spectra of NGC 1333 IRAS4B and the model of this object, with all spectral features identified. (PDF 221 kb)

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Watson, D., Bohac, C., Hull, C. et al. The development of a protoplanetary disk from its natal envelope. Nature 448, 1026–1028 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06087

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