We report on the results of multiepoch very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry) of the 22 GHz H2O masers associated with the young stellar object SVS 13 in the NGC 1333 region. We carried out phase-referencing VLBI astrometry, and measured the annual parallax of the maser features in SVS 13 of 4.25 ˙ 0.32 mas, corresponding to a distance of 235 ˙ 18 pc from the Sun. Our result is consistent with a photometric distance of 220 pc, previously reported. Even though the maser features were detectable only for 6 months, the present result provides the distance to NGC 1333 with much higher accuracy than photometric methods. The absolute positions and proper motions have been derived, revealing that the H2O masers with LSR (local standard of rest) velocities of 7–8 km s � 1 are most likely associated with VLA 4A, which is a radio counterpart of SVS 13. It is currently difficult to attribute the observed proper motions of the maser features to either the jet or the rotating circumstellar disk associated with VLA 4A, which should be investigated through future high-resolution astrometric observations of VLA 4A and other radio sources in NGC 1333.

Astrometry of H2O Masers in Nearby Star-Forming Regions with VERA II SVS 13 in NGC 1333

Binary and multiple star systems are a frequent outcome of the star formation process(1,2) and as a result almost half of all stars with masses similar to that of the Sun have at least one companion star(3). Theoretical studies indicate that there are two main pathways that can operate concurrently to form binary/multiple star systems: large-scale fragmentation of turbulent gas cores and filaments(4,5) or smaller-scale fragmentation of a massive protostellar disk due to gravitational instability(6,7). Observational evidence for turbulent fragmentation on scales of more than 1,000 astronomical units has recently emerged(8,9). Previous evidence for disk fragmentation was limited to inferences based on the separations of more-evolved pre-main sequence and protostellar multiple systems(10-13). The triple protostar system L1448 IRS3B is an ideal system with which to search for evidence of disk fragmentation as it is in an early phase of the star formation process, it is likely to be less than 150,000 years old(14) and all of the protostars in the system are separated by less than 200 astronomical units. Here we report observations of dust and molecular gas emission that reveal a disk with a spiral structure surrounding the three protostars. Two protostars near the centre of the disk are separated by 61 astronomical units and a tertiary protostar is coincident with a spiral arm in the outer disk at a separation of 183 astronomical units(13). The inferred mass of the central pair of protostellar objects is approximately one solar mass, while the disk surrounding the three protostars has a total mass of around 0.30 solar masses. The tertiary protostar itself has a minimum mass of about 0.085 solar masses. We demonstrate that the disk around L1448 IRS3B appears susceptible to disk fragmentation at radii between 150 and 320 astronomical units, overlapping with the location of the tertiary protostar. This is consistent with models for a protostellar disk that has recently undergone gravitational instability, spawning one or two companion stars.

/pdf/a-triple-protostar-system-formed-via-fragmentation-of-a-41b6nas160.pdf

A triple protostar system formed via fragmentation of a gravitationally unstable disk

We present results of phase-referencing VLBI observations of SiO masers in the Orion-KL region made with VERA. Using a strong maser spot in the 43 GHz v = 2 J = 1–0 emission, we derived the trigonometric parallax of Orion-KL to be 2.39˙0.03mas, corresponding to a distance of 418˙6pc, with the highest accuracy among existing parallax measurements of the source. We made a superimposed image of v = 1 J = 1–0 and v = 2 J = 1–0 maser features in Orion-KL based on absolute positions obtained from the phase-referencing astrometry with a common reference source. The maser features of both transitions show similar X-shaped distributions centered at Source I. However, in each of the four arms of the X-shape, the SiO v = 2 features tend to lie closer to Source I than the SiO v = 1 features. The radial velocities of the maser emission decrease with the distance from Source I. The spatial and radial velocity distributions of the SiO masers suggest that the SiO masers lie in the rotating materials associated with a disk around Source I, rather than a decelerating outflow.

/pdf/sio-maser-observations-toward-orion-kl-with-vera-419bq6ynel.pdf

SiO Maser Observations toward Orion-KL with VERA

We present analyses to determine the fundamental parameters of the Galaxy based on VLBI astrometry of 52 Galactic maser sources obtained with VERA, VLBA, and EVN. We model the Galaxy’s structure with a set of parameters, including the Galaxy center distance R0, the angular rotation velocity at the LSR Ω0, the mean peculiar motion of the sources with respect to Galactic rotation (Usrc, Vsrc, Wsrc), the rotation-curve shape index, and the V component of the Solar peculiar motions, Vˇ. Based on a Markov chain Monte-Carlo method, we find that the Galaxy center distance is constrained at a 5% level to be R0 = 8.05 ˙ 0.45 kpc, where the error bar includes both statistical and systematic errors. We also find that the two components of the source peculiar motion Usrc and Wsrc are fairly small compared to the Galactic rotation velocity, being Usrc = 1.0 ˙ 1.5 km s � 1 and Wsrc = � 1.4 ˙ 1.2 km s � 1 . Also, the rotation curve shape is found to be basically flat between Galacto-centric radii of 4 and 13 kpc. On the other hand,

Fundamental Parameters of the Milky Way Galaxy Based on VLBI Astrometry

We present results of λ1.3 mm dust-polarization observations toward 16 nearby, low-mass protostars, mapped with ~2."5 resolution at CARMA. The results show that magnetic fields in protostellar cores on scales of ~1000 AU are not tightly aligned with outflows from the protostars. Rather, the data are consistent with scenarios where outflows and magnetic fields are preferentially misaligned (perpendicular), or where they are randomly aligned. If one assumes that outflows emerge along the rotation axes of circumstellar disks, and that the outflows have not disrupted the fields in the surrounding material, then our results imply that the disks are not aligned with the fields in the cores from which they formed.

/pdf/misalignment-of-magnetic-fields-and-outflows-in-protostellar-20awrma2zs.pdf

Misalignment of Magnetic Fields and Outflows in Protostellar Cores

We report on results of multi-epoch VLBI observations of H2O masers associated with a low-mass young stellar object, IRAS 16293 2422 in Oph East, and a fringe-phase and position reference source, ICRF J162546.8 252738, using the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA) for high-precision astrometry. We obtained an annual parallax of a maser feature to be = 5.6 0:5 mas, corresponding to a distance of D= 178 +18 37 pc. We also found 10 relative proper motions of maser features with respect to the maser feature mentioned above. The motion of the accompanying young stellar object (YSO) has already been found in thermal continuum emission previously observed with the Very Large Array. The intrinsic motions of masers have been estimated from the relative proper motions after the YSO’s motion is subtracted from, and a systemic secular motion of the position reference feature is added to the proper motions originally measured. The intrinsic maser kinematical structure may trace a bipolar outflow.

/pdf/astrometry-of-h-2-o-masers-in-nearby-star-forming-regions-au1gz4w9vd.pdf

Kohichiro Nakashima

Papers

Astrometry of H$_2$O Masers in Nearby Star-Forming Regions with VERA I. IRAS 16293$-$2422 in $\rho$ Oph East