Secondary Outflow Driven by the Protostar Ser-emb 15 in Serpens

Abstract

We present the detection of a secondary outflow associated with a Class I source, Ser-emb 15, in the Serpens Molecular Cloud. We reveal two pairs of molecular outflows consisting of three lobes, that is, primary and secondary outflows, using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 12CO and SiO line observations at a resolution of ∼318 au. The secondary outflow is elongated approximately perpendicular to the axis of the primary outflow in the plane of the sky. We also identify two compact structures, Sources A and B, within an extended structure associated with Ser-emb 15 in the 1.3 mm continuum emission at a resolution of ∼40 au. The projected sizes of Sources A and B are 137 au and 60 au, respectively. Assuming a dust temperature of 20 K, we estimate the dust mass to be 2.4 × 10−3 M ⊙ for Source A and 3.3 × 10−4 M ⊙ for Source B. C18O line data imply rotational motion around the extended structure, but we cannot resolve rotational motion in Source A and/or B because the angular and frequency resolutions are insufficient. Therefore, we cannot conclude whether Ser-emb 15 is a single or binary system. Thus, either Source A or Source B could drive the secondary outflow. We discuss two scenarios that might explain the driving mechanism of the primary and secondary outflows: the Ser-emb 15 system is (1) a binary system composed of Sources A and B, or (2) a single-star system composed of Source A alone. In either case, the system could be a suitable target for investigating the disk and/or binary formation processes in complicated environments. Detecting these outflows should contribute to understanding complex star-forming environments, which may be common in the star formation processes.