High-Resolution λ = 2.7 Millimeter Observations of L1551 IRS 5: A Protobinary System?

Abstract

We present subarcsecond resolution imaging of the λ = 2.7 mm continuum emission from the young, embedded system L1551 IRS 5 using the nine-element, high-resolution configuration of the BIMA array. The observed emission arises from two compact sources separated by 035, coinciding with the two sources seen at λ = 2 cm and λ = 1.3 cm. When the high-resolution data are combined with data from two compact configurations, L1551 IRS 5 is argued to consist of a protobinary system separated by ~50 AU with individual circumstellar disks, a circumbinary structure, and a large-scale envelope. The characteristic masses of the components are 0.024 M☉ for the northern circumstellar disk, 0.009 M☉ for the southern circumstellar disk, 0.04 M☉ for the circumbinary material, and 0.28 M☉ for the envelope.