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Z. T. Webster (CSU San Bernardino, UC Berkeley)
Observed protostellar disk and envelope structures provide important measurements of fundamental timescales necessary for understanding the star and planet formation process. Comparisons of observed profiles to collapse models permit estimates of the age of the protostars and confirm the extreme youth of the sources in the nearby SVS~13 group. BIMA Interferometer observations of dust continuum emission at 1.3~mm probe protostellar disk and envelope structures of the two brightest millimeter sources in SVS~13, from 0\farcs3 to 10\arcsec. These observations, some of the highest angular resolution 1.3~mm observations available, resolve the disk structure of SVS~13A and SVS~13B. Multiple resolution elements across the disk permit comparisons of the disk brightness profile to models incorporating scattering. Large grains are present in these Class~0 sources and must be accounted for in millimeter wavelength emission models. Using a combination of interferometer configurations in conjunction with single dish measurements of the region (Chini et~al.\ 1997) demonstrates the transition between disk and envelope is a smooth one. Combining the interferometer data with the single dish map ensures all the envelope emission is traced. Comparisons of the measured envelope brightness profiles to the canonical inside-out collapse model of Shu et~al.\ (1977) delineate the boundary between collapse and pre-collapse material.
The BIMA Array is operated by the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association under funding from the National Science Foundation. Support for this work is provided by NASA.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.