# Submillimeter Continuum Emission in the 𝜌 Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud: Filaments, Arcs, and an Unidentified Far-Infrared Object

## 1 Introduction

Young star-forming regions can encompass a wide variety of sources and phenomena, from the pre-protostellar clumps and the quiescent filamentary structure of the parent molecular cloud, to low-mass protostars with their associated disks, jets, and outflows, to young massive stars powering extensive photon-dominated regions. In the nearest clouds, where we can achieve the best spatial resolution for studying small-scale phenomena such as circumstellar disks and for disentangling crowded clusters of protostars, the largest outflows may extend over tens of arcminutes (i.e. Dent, Matthews, & Walther 1995), while the molecular cloud itself may approach a degree or more in size (i.e. Maddalena et al. 1986). Thus, high resolution imaging over large fields of view is necessary for a complete understanding of such regions.

Many of these phenomena are best traced by continuum emission, particularly the high-density cores and envelopes associated with the early stages of star formation. Given the limited sensitivity of single-pixel bolometers, most surveys have targeted sources previously identified from larger area surveys in the near- or far-infrared (i.e. André & Montmerle 1994). Although such observations can give us a good understanding of the properties of young protostars, they cannot reveal the large-scale structures associated with the protostars and, in addition, may miss the coldest and most crowded objects. For example, a large-area survey of the $`\rho `$ Ophiuchus molecular cloud using the IRAM bolometer array (Motte, André, & Neri 1998) was able to identify a number of weaker sources located in and around the bright complex of emission associated with SM1 and VLA 1623 (André, Ward-Thompson, & Barsony 1993). With the advent of SCUBA (Holland et al. 1999) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, we now have the opportunity to survey large areas of the sky in submillimeter continuum emission routinely. Sensitive, large-area surveys that extend beyond the known regions of bright emission are likely to reveal previously unknown features, as was clearly demonstrated by recent maps of the Orion A molecular cloud (Johnstone & Bally 1999). In this Letter, we present the first results from a large-area unbiased survey of the $`\rho `$ Ophiuchus molecular cloud at 850 and 450 $`\mu `$m.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

We observed a $`20\times 20^{}`$ region of the $`\rho `$ Ophiuchus molecular cloud roughly centered on the Ophiuchus A core on 1998 July 10 and 11 with the bolometer array SCUBA (Holland et al. 1999) at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We observed in standard scan-mapping mode simultaneously at 850 and 450 $`\mu `$m. The region was broken down into four fields each measuring roughly $`10^{}\times 10^{}`$. In this paper, we present data for only the north-east field centered on 16:26:32 -24:22:30 (J2000); all subsequent discussion refers to this single field.

The field was mapped six times each night, with chop throws of 20<sup>′′</sup>, 30<sup>′′</sup>, and 65<sup>′′</sup> oriented in either the right ascension or declination directions. Each chop throw and direction was repeated at a different time on the two nights so that the scan direction would have a different orientation on each night. The data were acquired with 3<sup>′′</sup> sampling. The atmospheric optical depth, measured by sky dips approximately once an hour, was quite constant on the first night, with the value at zenith being 0.10 at 850 $`\mu `$m and 0.43 at 450 $`\mu `$m during the time these observations were obtained. On the second night, the optical depth improved steadily over the course of the observations, decreasing from 0.35 to 0.24 at 850 $`\mu `$m and from 1.77 to 1.33 at 450 $`\mu `$m. The pointing was checked every 45 minutes using the bright source IRAS 16293-2422 and was stable to better than 2<sup>′′</sup>. The beam sizes measured from observations of Uranus obtained with the same observing method were 15.1<sup>′′</sup> (FWHM) at 850 $`\mu `$m and 9.5<sup>′′</sup> at 450 $`\mu `$m. The presence of an extended error beam can be seen at both wavelengths, with a FWHM of 36<sup>′′</sup> at 850 $`\mu `$m and 72<sup>′′</sup> at 450 $`\mu `$m. At 850 $`\mu `$m the peak of the error beam is 5.6% of that of the main beam, while at 450 $`\mu `$m the peak of the error beam is 3.6%. The observations of Uranus were also used to determine the calibration factor, which was 198 Jy Volt<sup>-1</sup> at 850 $`\mu `$m and 629 Jy Volt<sup>-1</sup> at 450 $`\mu `$m.

The individual scan maps were processed using the standard SCUBA software (Holland et al. 1999) into six independent dual-beam maps at each wavelength, with pixel size 3<sup>′′</sup>. The maps have not been corrected for sky noise. The six dual-beam maps were exported to the MIRIAD software package (Sault, Teuben, & Wright 1995) to be analyzed using the maximum entropy algorithm. Each map was shifted by one half the chop throw and the six shifted maps were averaged to produce a “dirty map” of the region showing the pattern of the 6 chop throws. We then created an ideal “beam” consisting of the sum of one positive gaussian and six negative gaussians, each with a FWHM equal to that of the observed main beam, with the six negative gaussians offset from the origin by the six chop throws, and with peak amplitude one-sixth that of the positive gaussian. The contribution of the error beam was ignored in this analysis; the effect of this will be to increase artificially the integrated fluxes of extended sources above what would be observed with an ideal beam. For a gaussian source with a full-width half-maximum diameter of 35<sup>′′</sup>, the net effect would be to increase the total 450 $`\mu `$m flux inside a 40<sup>′′</sup> radius annulus by about 30%. However, peak fluxes will be unaffected by this problem. The dirty map and the beam were then used as inputs to the miriad routine “maxen” to create a maximum entropy restored image of the scan-mapped field. Clean boxes were used to isolate the large negative bowls around the bright sources SM1, SM1N, SM2, and VLA 1623, which improved the image restoration. The final images still contain residuals of the negative chop throws at a level of 4-6% of the peak flux in the map. However, the negative bowls are much reduced in area and depth compared to the images obtained with the “Emerson II” technique (Holland et al. 1999) and, thus, are more useful for identifying large scale features in the map. The typical rms noise in the final maps far from the negative bowl is estimated to be 30 mJy beam<sup>-1</sup> at 850 $`\mu `$m and 250 mJy beam<sup>-1</sup> at 450 $`\mu `$m.

## 3 A Wealth of Previously Unknown Structures

### 3.1 Linear Features

Color images of the 850 $`\mu `$m and 450 $`\mu `$m maps of the region around the Ophiuchus A cloud core are shown in Figure 3.3. One of the most striking aspects of these images is the two linear emission features extending from the northern tip of the bright complex of emission associated with the protostellar cores SM1, SM1N, SM2, and VLA 1623 (André et al. 1993). The two linear features appear to intersect near 16:26:29 -24:22:45 (J2000) and extend for at least 4 (0.2 pc) to the north-east and the north-west. The peak surface brightness in these linear features is 0.6-0.7 Jy beam<sup>-1</sup> at 850 $`\mu `$m near the SM1 complex, while at large distances from the complex the peak surface brightness falls to $`0.10.2`$ Jy beam<sup>-1</sup>. These linear features are so weak that they can only be identified with the high sensitivity of SCUBA and in wide-field images which allow their large linear extent to be traced. Similar linear features have been seen recently in Orion A (Johnstone & Bally 1999).

In the vicinity of the intersection of the two features, there is strong CO emission which is blueshifted by 1-2 km s<sup>-1</sup> compared to the central velocity of the emission around VLA 1623 (D. Koerner, private communication). Thus, it is possible that these two linear features trace the walls of a previously unidentified outflow cavity. For comparison, the walls of the south-east outflow lobe created by VLA 1623 are faintly visible in Figure 3.3. This outflow would have an opening angle of 56<sup>o</sup>, comparable to that observed for the L1551 outflow (Moriarty-Schieven et al. 1987). At the apex of the “V” formed by the two features there is a weak compact source, seen most easily in the 20% contour of Figure 3.3b. This source has been identified previously at 1.3 mm as A-MM6 (Motte et al. 1998) and could be the protostellar driver of the outflow (Figure 3.3). However, there are many other possible interpretations for these linear features. For example, they could trace two independent outflows, which would then have collimation factors of at least 7-10. Two independent outflows emanating from a single position have been observed in several other protostellar sources (i.e. L723, Anglada et al. 1991; IRAS 16293-2422, Mundy et al. 1992). Another possibility is that these structures are being externally heated by the photon-dominated region (PDR) produced by the young B3 star S1, which lies approximately 1.5 east of SM1N (i.e., see Motte et al. 1998). In this scenario, the north-east feature could mark the cavity wall containing gas and dust swept up by the PDR; indeed, the location of this feature matches well the edge of the PDR seen in ISO images (Abergel et al. 1996). The north-west feature might be material associated with a second outflow recently identified in this region (Kamazaki et al. 1998), which could be heated from the outside by the PDR. The presence of a weak linear feature along the southern edge of the map, which appears to lie along the northern edge of CO outflow associated with VLA 1623 (André et al. 1990), provides some support for this interpretation. Clearly, sensitive CO observations in the region of these new linear filaments, as well as continuum observations of regions which are not illuminated by a nearby massive star, would help to distinguish between these different interpretations.

Assuming a dust temperature of 30 K, a distance to $`\rho `$ Ophiuchus of 160 pc, and a dust opacity coefficient $`\kappa =0.02`$ cm<sup>2</sup> g<sup>-1</sup> at 850 $`\mu `$m (i.e. Motte et al. 1998), we can estimate the total mass (gas plus dust) contained in these linear features. The 850 $`\mu `$m fluxes in the peak regions near the SM1 complex correspond to masses within a 15<sup>′′</sup> beam of 0.04-0.05 M. However, the presence of extended low level emission associated with the SM1 complex means that these masses are likely upper limits to the true masses. The masses in the strongest emission regions 2-4 along the linear features from this bright complex are each of order 0.01 M. The average surface brightness of 0.04 Jy beam<sup>-1</sup> along the outer 150<sup>′′</sup> of the north-east linear feature (excluding the bright base) translates into a mass of 0.03 M. Thus, the total mass in the north-east linear feature is likely to be of order 0.1 M. For comparison, this is similar to the mass of 0.09 M estimated from CO observations of the IRAS 03282 outflow (Bachiller, Martin-Pintado, & Planesas 1991). However, the masses of $`0.01`$ M in the individual clumps are substantially larger than the masses of $`10^4`$ M obtained for the CO bullets seen in extremely high velocity outflows (i.e. Bachiller et al. 1990).

### 3.2 A New Compact Source in Ophiuchus

Another striking feature of the images presented in Figure 3.3 is the presence of four bright compact sources that lie well outside the bright emission associated with SM1 and VLA 1623. Three of these sources are the previously identified protostars EL24, EL27, and GSS26 (i.e. André & Montmerle 1994), while the fourth, located in the north-east corner of our field, appears to be previously unidentified. We will refer to this north-east source as SMM16267-2417. (Note that Loren, Wootten, and Wilking (1990) detected DCO<sup>+</sup> emission $`1^{}`$ north of this source, but the line emission was too weak for it to be designated as a DCO<sup>+</sup> core.) This source is located at 16:26:43.5 -24:17:26 (J2000) and has a peak flux of 0.4 Jy beam<sup>-1</sup> at 850 $`\mu `$m and 1.9 Jy beam<sup>-1</sup> at 450 $`\mu `$m. Its full-width half-maximum diameter at 850 $`\mu `$m deconvolved from the 15.1<sup>′′</sup> beam is $`26\times 34^{\prime \prime }`$ or $`5000`$ AU. Assuming an uncertainty of 10% for each point in the observed 450 $`\mu `$m radial profile, a “by-eye” fit between radii of 9<sup>′′</sup> and 24<sup>′′</sup> suggests a slope of $`0.8\pm 0.2`$. This slope is comparable to that seen in the outer portions of the pre-protostellar cores by Ward-Thompson et al. (1994). A more complete modeling of the radial profile of SMM16267-2417 will be presented in a future paper. No point-like source, or indeed any obvious emission, can be seen at any waveband in either the IRAS FRESCO or HIRES images, except at 100 $`\mu `$m where SMM16267-2417 is located on the northern slope of another structure to the south. Assuming a dust temperature of 10-20 K for SMM16267-2417 and the other parameters as described above for the linear features, the 850 $`\mu `$m flux implies a total mass of 0.3-1 M. These properties are all consistent with SMM16267-2417 being a pre-protostellar core (i.e. Ward-Thompson et al. 1994). However, if the linear features identified in this region indeed correspond to a molecular outflow, it is possible that SMM16267-2417 corresponds to shocked gas within the outflow cavity. Here again, CO and other line observations would help distinguish between these various possibilities.

The spectral index $`\gamma `$, defined such that the flux $`S_\nu `$ is proportional to $`\nu ^\gamma `$ between 450 and 850 $`\mu `$m, is related to the dust index $`\beta `$ and the dust temperature $`T`$. At temperatures below $`30`$K (Ward-Thompson et al. 1994), the Rayleigh-Jeans assumption is inappropriate, and $`\gamma `$, $`\beta `$, and $`T`$ are related by

$$\frac{S_{450}}{S_{850}}=(850/450)^\gamma =\frac{e^{16.9/T}1}{e^{32.0/T}1}(850/450)^{3+\beta }$$

where $`S_{450}`$ and $`S_{850}`$ are the fluxes at 450 and 850 $`\mu `$m. We have assumed that the gas is optically thin at 450 $`\mu `$m, which is appropriate if the flux originates from material that fills the beam. Using the integrated fluxes of 2.3 Jy at 850 $`\mu `$m and 19.3 Jy at 450 $`\mu `$m (correcting for the error beam as discussed in §2), SMM16267-2417 has an average spectral index of 3.3. The value of $`\beta `$ derived from these wavelengths is highly dependent on the assumed dust temperature. Assuming an uncertainty in the flux ratio of 20% and a dust temperature of 20 K, this spectral index corresponds to a value for $`\beta `$ of $`2.1_{0.4}^{+0.2}`$. This value of $`\beta `$ is consistent with that found on large scales in the interstellar medium (Hildebrand 1983), but somewhat larger than the values of $`\beta 1`$ that are typically found in compact cores and circumstellar disks (Beckwith & Sargent 1991).

### 3.3 Arcs and Other Features

Two curved arcs of continuum emission are clearly visible in the 850 $`\mu `$m image of Figure 3.3a to the north-west of the SM1 complex. The more distant arc (Arc #2, at 16:26:10, -24:20) has a peak surface brightness of 0.29 Jy beam<sup>-1</sup> and an integrated flux of 3.7 Jy. Arc #2 appears quite smooth and does not obviously break up into point sources. Assuming a dust temperature of 30 K, the total mass in this arc is 0.3 M. This arc may be related to the VLA 1623 outflow; although the outflow has not been mapped out this far (André et al. 1990, Dent et al. 1995), if the outflow continues on in the same direction in the outer portions, it would pass just to the south of this arc.

The inner arc (Arc #1, at 16:26:20, -24:23), although similar in structure to Arc #2, clearly breaks up into five clumps in the 850 $`\mu `$m map. From north to south, these clumps are A-MM4, LFAM1, A-MM1, A-MM3, and LFAM3 (André & Montmerle 1994, Motte et al. 1998). (We do not see a clear peak corresponding to A-MM2 in our 850 $`\mu `$m images.) At 850 $`\mu `$m, the emission from LFAM1 dominates the emission from GSS30-IRS1 and IRS2, although weak peaks at the approximate location of these sources can be seen in the higher resolution 450 $`\mu `$m map. Motte et al. (1998) suggested that the clumps A-MM1 to A-MM3 may be related to the VLA 1623 outflow, which passes through this region; however, A-MM4 lies well outside the outflow. The presence of Arc #2 more distant from VLA 1623 but still coincident with the outflow suggests that in both cases we may be seeing continuum emission associated with bow shocks in the VLA 1623 outflow.

The research of MF, DJ, GJ, GFM, REP, and CDW is supported through grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The JCMT is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and the National Research Council of Canada.