Herschel-PACS observations of shocked gas associated with the jets of L1448 and L1157

Journal article, 2013

Aims. In the framework of the Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel (WISH) key program, several H2O (E-u > 190 K), high-J CO, [OI], and OH transitions are mapped with Herschel-PACS in two shock positions along two prototypical outflows around the low-luminosity sources L1448 and L1157. Previous Herschel-HIFI H2O observations (E-u = 53-249 K) are also used. The aim is to derive a complete picture of the excitation conditions at the selected shock positions. Methods. We adopted a large velocity gradient analysis (LVG) to derive the physical parameters of the H2O and CO emitting gas. Complementary Spitzer mid-IR H-2 data were used to derive the H2O abundance. Results. Consistent with other studies, at all selected shock spots a close spatial association between H2O, mid-IR H-2, and high-J CO emission is found, whereas the low-J CO emission traces either entrained ambient gas or a remnant of an older shock. The excitation analysis, conducted in detail at the L1448-B2 position, suggests that a two-component model is needed to reproduce the H2O, CO, and mid-IR H-2 lines: an extended warm component (T similar to 450 K) is traced by the H2O emission with E-u = 53-137 K and by the CO lines up to J = 22-21, and a compact hot component (T = 1100 K) is traced by the H2O emission with E-u > 190 K and by the higher-J CO transitions. At L1448-B2 we obtain an H2O abundance (3-4) x 10(-6) for the warm component and (0.3-1.3) x 10(-5) for the hot component and a CO abundance of a few 10-5 in both components. In L1448-B2 we also detect OH and blue-shifted [OI] emission, spatially coincident with the other molecular lines and with [FeII] emission. This suggests a dissociative shock for these species, related to the embedded atomic jet. On the other hand, a non-dissociative shock at the point of impact of the jet on the cloud is responsible for the (HO)-O-2 and CO emission. The other examined shock positions show an H2O excitation similar to L1448-B2, but a slightly higher (HO)-O-2 abundance (a factor of similar to 4). Conclusions. The two gas components may represent a gas stratification in the post-shock region. The extended and low-abundance warm component traces the post-shocked gas that has already cooled down to a few hundred Kelvin, whereas the compact and possibly higher-abundance hot component is associated with the gas that is currently undergoing a shock episode. This hot gas component is more affected by evolutionary effects on the timescales of the outflow propagation, which explains the observed H2O abundance variations.