| Abstract | We present a characterization of the protostar embedded within the BHR7 dark cloud, based on both photometric measurements from the near-infrared to millimeter and interferometric continuum and molecular line observations at millimeter wavelengths. We find that this protostar is a Class 0 system, the youngest class of protostars, measuring its bolometric temperature to be 50.5 K, with a bolometric luminosity of 9.3 L ☉. The near-infrared and Spitzer imaging show a prominent dark lane from dust extinction separating clear bipolar outflow cavities. Observations of 13CO ($J=2\to 1$), C18O ($J=2\to 1$), and other molecular lines with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) exhibit a clear rotation signature on scales <1300 au. The rotation can be traced to an inner radius of ~170 au and the rotation curve is consistent with an R −1 profile, implying that angular momentum is being conserved. Observations of the 1.3 mm dust continuum with the SMA reveal a resolved continuum source, extended in the direction of the dark lane, orthogonal to the outflow. The deconvolved size of the continuum indicates a radius of ~100 au for the continuum source at the assumed distance of 400 pc. The visibility amplitude profile of the continuum emission cannot be reproduced by an envelope alone and needs a compact component. Thus, we posit that the resolved continuum source could be tracing a Keplerian disk in this very young system. If we assume that the continuum radius traces a Keplerian disk (R ~ 120 au) the observed rotation profile is consistent with a protostar mass of 1.0 M ☉. |
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