ALMA observations of a proto-binary system, IRAS 04191+1523

  • Published : 2016.10.12

Abstract

About 50% of stars reside in binary or multiple systems. However, the formation mechanism of the multiplicity is poorly understood. Theoretical studies suggest two main mechanisms for the multiplicity: turbulent fragmentation and disk fragmentation. We can testify which mechanism is more plausible by measuring the separation between companions or the alignment of stellar spins. Here we present our ALMA Cycle 2 observational results of a proto-binary system, IRAS 04191+1523, which consists of two Class I sources. We detected disks around both Class I sources, which are located in a common dense filamentary structure traced by $C^{18}O$ J=2-1. Two protostellar disks are separated by ~900 AU and their rotational axes are almost perpendicular, which strongly support that this binary system formed by the turbulent fragmentation.

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