Lynds 1527: An Embedded Protobinary System in Taurus

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Abstract
Submillimeter continuum maps at 800 μm of the embedded source IRAS 04368+2557 in L1527 in Taurus show that there are two sources separated by 20'', or 2800 AU. The secondary source is between 2 and 3 times less luminous than the primary source if both sources have similar spectral energy distributions. Large-scale C18O J = 1 → 0 emission shows the sources to be embedded in a single dense core, and observations of C18O and C17O show the sources to be associated with a compact region of high-density gas. Three transitions of C18O show a velocity gradient between the two sources. On the smallest size scale, the C18O J = 3 → 2 emission has a velocity gradient of 3-7 km s-1 pc-1. The proximity of the sources in both space and velocity suggest that they are a very young protobinary system. The estimated age of the primary source, 5 × 103 yr, is much less than the estimated orbital period, 1.4 × 105 yr. The separation and young age of the system indicates that it formed through fragmentation of the dense core during collapse.