Abstract
The direct detection of accretion onto massive protostars through rotating disks constitutes an important tile in the massive-star-formation-theory mosaic. This task is however observationally very challenging. A very interesting example is Cepheus A HW2. The properties of the molecular emission around this YSO seems to suggest the presence of a massive rotating disk (cf. Patel et al. in Nature 437:109, 2005). We have carried out sub-arcsec-resolution PdBI observations of high-density and shock tracers such as SO2, SiO, CH3CN, and CH3OH towards the center of the outflow. A detailed analysis of the spatial distribution and of the velocity field traced by all observed species leads us to conclude that, on a ∼700 AU scale, the Cep-A “disk” is actually the result of the superposition of multiple hot-core-type objects, at least one of them ejecting an outflow at a small angle with respect to the line of sight. Together with the well-known large-scale outflow ejected by HW2, this setup makes for a very complex spatial and kinematic picture.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Beuther, H., et al.: Astron. Astrophys. 387, 931 (2002)
Brogan, C., et al.: Astrophys. Space Sci. (2007). doi: 10.1007/s10509-007-9598-1
Cesaroni, R., et al.: Astron. Astrophys. 325, 525 (1997)
Cesaroni, R., et al.: Astron. Astrophys. 434 (2005)
Comito, C., et al.: Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 156, 127 (2005)
Comito, C., et al.: Astron. Astrophys. 469, 207 (2007)
Edris, K.A., et al.: Astron. Astrophys. 434, 213 (2005)
Gómez, J.F., et al.: Astrophys. J. 514, 287 (1999)
Johnson, H.L.: Astrophys. J. 126, 121 (1957)
Martín-Pintado, J., et al.: Astrophys. J. Lett. 628, L61 (2005)
Patel, N.A., et al.: Nature 437, 109 (2005)
Rodríguez, L.F., et al.: Astrophys. J. 430, L65 (1994)
Schilke, P., et al.: In preparation
Sridharan, T.K., Williams, S.J., Fuller, G.A.: Astrophys. J. Lett. 631, L73 (2005)
Stahler, S.W., et al.: In: Mannings, V., Boss, A.P., Russel, S.S. (eds.) Protostars and Planets IV, p. 327. University of Arizona Press, Tucson (2000)
Torrelles, J.M., et al.: Astrophys. J. 457, L107 (1996)
Zhang, Q., et al.: Astrophys. J. 505, L151 (1998)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Comito, C., Schilke, P., Endesfelder, U., Jiménez-Serra, I., Martín-Pintado, J. (2008). High-resolution mm interferometry and the search for massive protostellar disks: the case of Cep-A HW2. In: Bachiller, R., Cernicharo, J. (eds) Science with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6935-2_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6935-2_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-6934-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-6935-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)