A DETAILED STUDY OF THE ACCRETION DISK SURROUNDING THE HIGH-MASS PROTOSTAR NGC 7538 S

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/715/2/919· OSTI ID:21450927

Sandell, Goeran ^[1]; Wright, Melvyn ^[2]

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1. SOFIA-USRA, NASA Ames Research Center, MS N211-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)
2. Radio Astronomy Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

We present deep high-angular resolution observations of the high-mass protostar NGC 7538 S, which is in the center of a cold dense cloud core with a radius of 0.5 pc and a mass of {approx}2000 M {sub sun}. These observations show that NGC 7538 S is embedded in a compact elliptical core with a mass of 85-115 M {sub sun}. The star is surrounded by a rotating accretion disk, which powers a very young, hot molecular outflow approximately perpendicular to the rotating accretion disk. The accretion rate is very high, {approx}(1.4-2.8) x 10{sup -3} M {sub sun} yr{sup -1}. Evidence for rotation of the disk surrounding the star is seen in all largely optically thin molecular tracers, H{sup 13}CN J = 1 {yields} 0, HN{sup 13}C J = 1 {yields} 0, H{sup 13}CO{sup +} J = 1 {yields} 0, and DCN J = 3 {yields} 2. Many molecules appear to be affected by the hot molecular outflow, including DCN and H{sup 13}CO{sup +}. The emission from CH{sub 3}CN, which has often been used to trace disk rotation in young high-mass stars, is dominated by the outflow, especially at higher K levels. Our new high angular resolution observations show that the rotationally supported part of the disk is smaller than we previously estimated. The enclosed mass of the inner, rotationally supported part of the disk (D {approx} 5'', i.e., 14,000 AU) is {approx}14-24 M {sub sun}.

• OSTI ID: 21450927
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 715; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCRETION DISKS
ACETONITRILE
EMISSION
MASS
NITRILES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
STARS