Filamentary mass accretion towards the high-mass protobinary system G11.92-0.61 MM2

Suinan Zhang*, Claudia Jane Cyganowski, J.D. Henshaw, C.L. Brogan, T.R. Hunter, R. Friesen, Ian Alexander Bonnell, S. Viti

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present deep, sub-arcsecond (∼2000 AU) resolution ALMA 0.82 mm observations of the former high-mass prestellar core candidate G11.92-0.61 MM2, recently shown to be an ~500 AU-separation protobinary. Our observations show that G11.92-0.61 MM2, located in the G11.92-0.61 protocluster, lies on a filamentary structure traced by 0.82 mm continuum and N2H+(4-3) emission. The N2H+(4-3) spectra are multi-peaked, indicative of multiple velocity components along the line of sight. To analyse the gas kinematics, we performed pixel-by-pixel Gaussian decomposition of the N2H+$ spectra using SCOUSEPY and hierarchical clustering of the extracted velocity components using ACORNS. Seventy velocity- and position-coherent clusters (called "trees") are identified in the N2H+-emitting gas, with the 8 largest trees accounting for > 60 per cent  of the fitted velocity components. The primary tree, with ~20 per cent of the fitted velocity components, displays a roughly north-south velocity gradient along the filamentary structure traced by the 0.82 mm continuum. Analysing a ~0.17 pc-long substructure, we interpret its velocity gradient of ~10.5 km s-1pc-1 as tracing filamentary accretion towards MM2 and estimate a mass inflow rate of ~1.8 × 10-4 to 1.2 × 10-3 M yr-1. Based on the recent detection of a bipolar molecular outflow associated with MM2, accretion onto the protobinary is ongoing, likely fed by the larger-scale filamentary accretion flows. If 50% of the filamentary inflow reaches the protostars, each member of the protobinary would attain a mass of 8 M within ~1.6 × 105 yr, comparable to the combined timescale of the 70-μm- and mid-infrared-weak phases derived for ATLASGAL-TOP100 massive clumps using chemical clocks.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1075–1094
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume533
Issue number1
Early online date1 Aug 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2024

Keywords

  • Stars: formation
  • Stars: protostars
  • ISM: kinematics and dynamics
  • ISM: molecules

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