How to identify the youngest protostars

Abstract

We study the transition from a prestellar core to a Class 0 protostar, using SPH to simulate the dynamical evolution, and a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to generate the SED and isophotal maps. For a prestellar core illuminated by the standard interstellar radiation field, the luminosity is low and the SED peaks at ~190 micron. Once a protostar has formed, the luminosity rises (due to a growing contribution from accretion onto the protostar) and the peak of the SED shifts to shorter wavelengths (~80-100 micron). However, by the end of the Class 0 phase, the accretion rate is falling, the luminosity has decreased, and the peak of the SED shifts back towards longer wavelengths (90-150 micron). In our simulations, the density of material around the protostar remains sufficiently high well into the Class 0 phase that the protostar only becomes visible in the NIR if it is displaced from the centre dynamically. Raw submm/mm maps of Class 0 protostars tend to be much more centrally condensed than those of prestellar cores. However, when convolved with a typical telescope beam, the difference in central concentration is less marked, although the Class 0 protostars appear more circular. Our results suggest that, if a core is deemed to be prestellar on the basis of having no associated IRAS source, no cm radio emission, and no outflow, but it has a circular appearance and an SED which peaks at wavelengths below ~170 micron, it may well contain a very young Class 0 protostar.