A low-mass hub-filament with double centre revealed in NGC2071-North

Abstract

We present the first analysis in NGC2071-North as a resolved hub-filament featuring a double centre. This ∼1.5 × 1.5 parsec-scale filament hub contains ∼500 M⊙. Seen from Planck, magnetic field lines may have facilitated the gathering of material at this isolated location. The energy balance analysis, supported by infalling gas signatures, reveal that these filaments are currently forming stars. Herschel 100 μm emission concentrates in the hub, at IRAS 05451+0037 and LkHα 316, and presents diffuse lobes and loops around them. We suggest that such a double centre could be formed, because the converging locations of filament pairs are offset, by 2.3′ (0.27 pc). This distance also matches the diameter of a hub-ring, seen in column density and molecular tracers, such as HCO+ (1–0) and HCN (1–0), that may indicate a transition and the connection between the hub and the radiating filaments. We argue that all of the three components of the emission star LkHα 316 are in physical association. We find that a ∼0.06 pc-sized gas loop, attached to IRAS 05451+0037, can be seen at wavelengths all the way from Pan-STARRS-i to Herschel-100 μm. These observations suggest that both protostars at the double hub centre are interacting with the cloud material. In our 13CO data, we do not seem to find the outflow of this region that was identified in the 80s with much lower resolution.