A Jet-driven, Extreme High-Velocity Outflow Powered by a Cold, Low-Luminosity Protostar near NGC 2023

We have discovered an extreme high-velocity bipolar CO outflow in the vicinity of NGC 2023, with total outflow velocities of ~200 km s-1. At very high velocities this outflow is jetlike with an opening angle ≤4°, while it shows a separate outflow lobe at low velocities. The outflow is bipolar and exhibits a clear mirror symmetry, which suggests that the source powering the outflow is episodic or precessing. The dynamical timescales for the outflow are ≤3000 yr. We identify the source driving the CO jet with a deeply embedded low-luminosity submillimeter double source (separation ~23''), where the primary component lies on the symmetry axis of the outflow and has all the signatures of a "class 0" protostellar object. Analysis of molecular data and (sub)millimeter photometry suggests that the driving source is cold and compact, with a luminosity of ≲10 L☉ and a total mass of 1.8-4.6 M☉. It has no near-IR counterpart, it drives an extremely young outflow, and it emits a large fraction of its luminosity in the submillimeter regime. Both millimeter sources have low dust emissivity, β ~ 0.8-1.3, similar to what is found for other class 0 objects, while the surrounding molecular cloud core appears to have a β ~ 2.0, the canonical value for "normal" interstellar dust in the submillimeter regime.

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