The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores. II. Discovery of a Low-Luminosity Object in the “Evolved Starless Core” L1521F

By T. Bourke, P. Myers, N. Evans II, M. Dunham, Jens Kauffmann, Y. Shirley, A. Crapsi, C. Young, T. Huard, T. Brooke and 5 more. 2006

137 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the "evolved starless core" L1521F that reveal the presence of a very low luminosity object (L < 0.07 L☉). The object, L1521F-IRS, is directly detected at mid-infrared wavelengths (>5 μm), but only in scattered light at shorter infrared wavelengths, showing a bipolar nebula oriented east-west that is probably tracing an outflow cavity. The nebula strongly suggests that L1521F-IRS is embedded in the L1521F core. Thus, L1521F-IRS is similar to the recently discovered L1014-IRS and the previously known IRAM 04191 in its substellar luminosity and dense core environment. However, these objects differ significantly in their core density, core chemistry, and outflow properties, and some may be destined to be brown dwarfs rather than stars.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/baff9e723dba0cc3f222d4c5bbd8aff047c5301c

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. N. Evans II
2. P. Myers
3. K. Luhman
4. G. Herczeg
5. L. Hartmann
6. N. Calvet
7. L. Allen
8. C. Dullemond

In Instrumentation

1. N. Evans II
2. K. Luhman
3. G. Herczeg
4. L. Hartmann
5. N. Calvet
6. J. Jørgensen
7. E. V. van Dishoeck
8. M. Dunham

Citations in the corpus

• MAMBO Mapping Of Spitzer c2d Small Clouds And Cores (2008, methodology): “For L1521F P1, L1148 P1, and L1014 P1 results from the more involved Spitzer data analysis by Bourke et al. (2006), Kauffmann et al. (in prep.)”
• THE ASTRALUX LARGE M-DWARF MULTIPLICITY SURVEY (2012, background): “Although there are many indications that they may form as the low-mass tail of regular star formation (e.g., Luhman et al. 2005; Bourke et al. 2006), there have also been alternative mechanisms proposed for the formation of some or all of these objects (e.g., Reipurth & Clarke 2001; Goodwin &…”
• Identifying the Low-Luminosity Population of Embedded Protostars in the c2d Observations of Clouds and Cores (2007, background): “L1521F is also bright in molecular line and dust continuum emission and also shows evidence for infall, depletion, and deuteration (Crapsi et al. 2004), but the envelope is not as centrally condensed as IRAM 04191 and the presence of an outflow is uncertain (Crapsi et al. 2004; Bourke et al. 2006).”
• THE DISK POPULATION OF THE TAURUS STAR-FORMING REGION (2009, unknown): “5 0.10/−0.21 0.51/0.34 0.24/0.09 0.67/0.61 I · · · L1521F-IRS M6–M8c · · · · · · · · · · · · I J04284263+2714039 · · · M5.”
• The Formation and Early Evolution of Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs (2012, background): “…more than a dozen candidate class 0 sources with luminosities that are indicative of young brown dwarfs (L < 0.1 L⊙, Dunham et al. 2008), several of which have been confirmed as protostellar (Bourke et al. 2006, Dunham et al. 2006, 2010, Kauffmann et al. 2011, Lee et al. 2009, Young et al. 2004).”
• AN INFRARED/X-RAY SURVEY FOR NEW MEMBERS OF THE TAURUS STAR-FORMING REGION (2009, unknown): “…J04295422+1754041, 2MASS J04263055+2443558 (Luhman 2006), IRAS 04325+2402C (Hartmann et al. 1999), IRAS 04111+2800G (Prusti et al. 1992), L1521FIRS (Bourke et al. 2006), IRAM 04191+1522 (André et al. 1999), IRAS 04278+2253 B (White & Hillenbrand 2004), LH 0429+17 (Harris et al. 1999; Reid &…”
• EVOLUTIONARY SIGNATURES IN THE FORMATION OF LOW-MASS PROTOSTARS. II. TOWARD RECONCILING MODELS AND OBSERVATIONS (2005, background): “Other, more recent studies of individual sources using DUSTY to model the observed SEDs have attempted to correct for this by treating the total opacity (κabs+κscat) entirely as absorption (e.g., Bourke et al. 2006; Dunham et al. 2006).”
• Accretion onto Pre-Main-Sequence Stars (2016, background): “…wavelengths might increase luminosity estimates by a factor of two, the peak of the observed luminosity function is not far above the approximate completeness limits, suggesting that existing samples undercount very low luminosity objects (VeLLOs; Young et al. 2004, Bourke et al. 2006).”
• RESOLVING THE LUMINOSITY PROBLEM IN LOW-MASS STAR FORMATION (2011, background): “…the discovery of Very Low Luminosity Objects (VeLLOs), objects embedded within dense cores with Lint 5 ≤ 0.1 L⊙, most in cores previously classified as starless (Young et al. 2004; Bourke et al. 2006; Dunham et al. 2006, 2008, 2010a; Di Francesco et al. 2007; Terebey et al. 2009; Lee et al. 2009).”
• THE SPITZER c2d LEGACY RESULTS: STAR-FORMATION RATES AND EFFICIENCIES; EVOLUTION AND LIFETIMES (2008, background): “…part to geometry of the envelope-disk interface, the inner radius of the envelope (Jørgensen et al. 2005), different amounts of scattered light, emission from jets in the 4.5 µm band, and deep ice features (see, e.g., Huard et al. 2006; Dunham et al. 2006; Bourke et al. 2006; Boogert et al. 2008).”