Discovery of an Extremely Young Accreting Protostar in Taurus

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Abstract
We report the discovery of a new, very young accreting class 0 protostar in the southern part of the Taurus molecular cloud. This object, designated by IRAM 04191+1522, coincides with a cold (T~12 K) dust continuum condensation found at 1.3 mm with the IRAM 30 m telescope ~1' southwest of the class I infrared source IRAS 04191+1523. Although IRAM 04191+1522 was not seen by IRAS, it is associated with a weak 3.6 cm VLA radio continuum source, a highly collimated CO bipolar outflow, and 60-850 μm emission detected by ISOPHOT and SCUBA. Molecular line observations are consistent with the protostellar condensation currently undergoing gravitational collapse. The spectral energy distribution and low bolometric luminosity (Lbol~0.15 L☉) we derive suggest that the protostellar core at the center of IRAM 04191+1522 may still be dissociating molecular hydrogen. High-resolution snapshot 1.4 mm continuum observations with the IRAM interferometer fail to detect this protostar, implying it has not yet developed a large accretion disk.