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arXiv · 2504.13998

Probing the Kinematics of Multiple- and Single-Protostar Systems in Perseus with N2H+

Erica Behrens·Adele Plunkett·Zhi-Yun Li
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Abstract

We analyze the dense gas kinematics in two Class 0/I protostellar cores, Per 30 and NGC 1333 IRAS 7, in the Perseus molecular cloud to determine whether their velocity structures are indicative of rotation. We examine the hyperfine structure of the N2H+ J=1-0 transition by combining 3" (900 AU) Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) measurements with 9" (2700 AU) measurements from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). We use the CASA Feather method to combine these data in order to maximize our sensitivity across spatial scales. We fit the N2H+ spectra to constrain the centroid velocity of the gas at each pixel and use these values to calculate the linear velocity gradient and specific angular momentum within apertures centered on each protostar with radii ranging from 5-60". Our results indicate that the velocity structure probed by the N2H+ emission is likely not a result of core rotation. These findings are consistent with other studies in the literature which indicate rotation is often not evident on scales less than 1000 AU. We instead suggest that the velocity structure we see is a result of torques caused by irregular density distributions in these protostellar systems.

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Erica Behrens, Adele Plunkett, Zhi-Yun Li. 2025-04-18. Probing the Kinematics of Multiple- and Single-Protostar Systems in Perseus with N2H+. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.13998

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