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(Abridged) The c2d Spitzer Legacy project obtained images and photometry with both IRAC and MIPS instruments for five large, nearby molecular clouds. This paper combines information drawn from studies of individual clouds into a combined and updated statistical analysis of star formation rates and efficiencies, numbers and lifetimes for SED classes, and clustering properties. Current star formation efficiencies range from 3% to 6%. Taken together, the five clouds are producing about 260 solar masses of stars per Myr. The star formation surface density is more than an order of magnitude larger than would be predicted from the Kennicutt relation used in extragalactic studies. Measured against the dense gas probed by the maps of dust continuum emission, the efficiencies are much higher, and the current stock of dense cores would be exhausted in 1.8 Myr on average. The derived lifetime for the Class I phase is 0.44 to 0.54 Myr, considerably longer than some estimates. Similarly, the lifetime for the Class 0 SED class, 0.10 to 0.16 Myr, is longer than early estimates. The great majority (90%) of young stars lie within loose clusters with at least 35 members and a stellar density of 1 solar mass per cubic pc. Accretion at the sound speed from an isothermal sphere over the lifetime derived for the Class I phase could build a star of about 0.25 solar masses, given an efficiency of 0.3. Our data confirm and aggravate the "luminosity problem" for protostars. Our results strongly suggest that accretion is time variable, with prolonged periods of very low accretion. Based on a very simple model and this sample of sources, half the mass of a star would be accreted during only 7% of the Class I lifetime, as represented by the eight most luminous objects., Comment: 41 pages, 14 figures, ApJSupp, in press. Sample tables included for tables 8-12. Full tables and higher quality figures available from http://peggysue.as.utexas.edu/SIRTF/

We report the detection of complex organic molecules in the young protostellar outflow L1157. We identify lines from HCOOCH3, CH3CN, HCOOH and C2H5OH at the position of the B1 shock in the blueshifted lobe, making it the first time that complex species have been detected towards a molecular outflow powered by a young low-mass protostar. The time scales associated with the warm outflow gas (< 2,000 yr) are too short for the complex molecules to have formed in the gas phase after the shock-induced sputtering of the grain mantles. It is more likely that the complex species formed in the surface of grains and were then ejected from the grain mantles by the shock. The formation of complex molecules in the grains of low-mass star forming regions must be relatively efficient, and our results show the importance of considering the impact of outflows when studying complex molecules around protostars. The relative abundance with respect to methanol of most of the detected complex molecules is similar to that of hot cores and molecular clouds in the galactic center region, which suggests that the mantle composition of the dust in the L1157 dark cloud is similar to dust in those regions., Comment: 8 pages, 2 tables, 2 figures

We discuss the results of the optical spectroscopic follow-up of pre-main sequence (PMS) objects and candidates selected in the Chamaeleon II dark cloud based on data from the Spitzer Legacy survey "From Molecular Cores to Planet Forming Disks" (c2d) and from previous surveys. Our sample includes both objects with infrared excess selected according to c2d criteria and referred to as Young Stellar Objects and other cloud members and candidates selected from complementary optical and near-infrared data. We characterize the sample of objects by deriving their physical parameters. The vast majority of objects have masses < 1 solar mass and ages < 6 Myr. Several of the PMS objects and candidates lie very close to or below the Hydrogen-burning limit. A first estimate of the slope of the Initial Mass Function in Cha II is consistent with that of other T associations. The star formation efficiency in the cloud (1-4%) is consistent with our own estimates for Taurus and Lupus, but significantly lower than for Cha I. This might mean that different star-formation activities in the Chamaeleon clouds may reflect a different history of star formation. We also find that the Cha II cloud is turning some 8 solar masses into stars every Myr, which is less than the star formation rate in the other c2d clouds. However, the star formation rate is not steady and evidence is found that the star formation in Cha II might have occurred very rapidly. The H_alpha emission of the Cha II PMS objects, as well as possible correlations between their stellar and disk properties, are also investigated., Comment: 51 pages, 14 figures

We present maps of 14.4 deg^2 of the Ophiuchus dark clouds observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). These high quality maps depict both numerous point sources as well as extended dust emission within the star-forming and non-star-forming portions of these clouds. Using PSF-fitting photometry, we detect 5779 sources at 24 um and 81 sources at 70 um at the 10 sigma level of significance. Three hundred twenty-three candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) were identified according to their positions on the MIPS/2MASS K versus K$-$[24] color-magnitude diagrams as compared to 24 um detections in the SWIRE extragalactic survey. We find that more than half of the YSO candidates, and almost all the ones with protostellar Class I spectral energy distributions, are confined to the known cluster and aggregates., Comment: 55 pages; 22 figures; accepted by Astrophysical Journal

Submillimeter observations with ALMA will be the essential next step in our understanding of how stars and planets form. Key projects range from detailed imaging of the collapse of pre-stellar cores and measuring the accretion rate of matter onto deeply embedded protostars, to unravelling the chemistry and dynamics of high-mass star-forming clusters and high-spatial resolution studies of protoplanetary disks down to the 1 AU scale., Comment: Invited review, 8 pages, 5 figures; to appear in the proceedings of "Science with ALMA: a New Era for Astrophysics". Astrophysics & Space Science, in press

We present maps of 7.78 square degrees of the Lupus molecular cloud complex at 24, 70, and $160\:\mu$m. They were made with the Spitzer Space Telescope's Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) instrument as part of the Spitzer Legacy Program, ``From Molecular Cores to Planet-Forming Disks'' (c2d). The maps cover three separate regions in Lupus, denoted I, III, and IV. We discuss the c2d pipeline and how our data processing differs from it. We compare source counts in the three regions with two other data sets and predicted star counts from the Wainscoat model. This comparison shows the contribution from background galaxies in Lupus I. We also create two color magnitude diagrams using the 2MASS and MIPS data. From these results, we can identify background galaxies and distinguish them from probable young stellar objects. The sources in our catalogs are classified based on their spectral energy distribution (SED) from 2MASS and Spitzer wavelengths to create a sample of young stellar object candidates. From 2MASS data, we create extinction maps for each region and note a strong corresponence between the extinction and the $160\:\mu$m emission. The masses we derived in each Lupus cloud from our extinction maps are compared to masses estimated from $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O and found to be similar to our extinction masses in some regions, but significantly different in others. Finally, based on our color-magnitude diagrams, we selected 12 of our reddest candidate young stellar objects for individual discussion. Five of the 12 appear to be newly-discovered YSOs., Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, uses emulateapj.cls. Accepted for publication in ApJ. A version with high-quality figures can be found at http://peggysue.as.utexas.edu/SIRTF/

This paper presents a large spectral line and continuum survey of 8 deeply embedded, low-mass protostellar cores using the Submillimeter Array. Each source was observed in high excitation lines of some of the most common molecular species, CO, HCO+, CS, SO, H2CO, CH3OH and SiO. Line emission from 11 species originating from warm and dense gas have been imaged at high angular resolution (1-3"; typically 200-600 AU) together with continuum emission at 230 GHz (1.3 mm) and 345 GHz (0.8 mm). Compact continuum emission is observed for all sources which likely originates in marginally optically thick circumstellar disks, with typical lower limits to their masses of 0.1 M_sun (1-10% of the masses of their envelopes) and having a dust opacity law with beta approximately 1. Prominent outflows are present in CO 2-1 observations in all sources: the most diffuse outflows are found in the sources with the lowest ratios of disk-to-envelope mass, and it is suggested that these sources are in a phase where accretion of matter from the envelope has almost finished and the remainder of the envelope material is being dispersed by the outflows. Other characteristic dynamical signatures are found with inverse P Cygni profiles indicative of infalling motions seen in the 13CO 2-1 lines toward NGC1333-IRAS4A and -IRAS4B. Outflow-induced shocks are present on all scales in the protostellar environments and are most clearly traced by the emission of CH3OH in NGC1333-IRAS4A and -IRAS4B. These observations suggest that the emission of CH3OH and H2CO from these proposed "hot corinos" are related to the shocks caused by the protostellar outflows. Only one source, NGC1333-IRAS2A, has evidence for hot, compact CH3OH emission coincident with the embedded protostar., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (52 pages; 9 figures). Abstract abridged

We present IRAC (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 micron) observations of the Chamaeleon II molecular cloud. The observed area covers about 1 square degree defined by $A_V >2$. Analysis of the data in the 2005 c2d catalogs reveals a small number of sources (40) with properties similar to those of young stellaror substellar objects (YSOs). The surface density of these YSO candidates is low, and contamination by background galaxies appears to be substantial, especially for sources classified as Class I or flat SED. We discuss this problem in some detail and conclude that very few of the candidate YSOs in early evolutionary stages are actually in the Cha II cloud. Using a refined set of criteria, we define a smaller, but more reliable, set of 24 YSO candidates., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, in press ApJ

CONTEXT - Low-mass stars form with disks in which the coagulation of grains may eventually lead to the formation of planets. It is not known when and where grain growth occurs, as models that explain the observations are often degenerate. A way to break this degeneracy is to resolve the sources under study. AIMS - To find evidence for the existence of grains of millimetre sizes in disks around in T Tauri stars, implying grain growth. METHODS - The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) was used to observe 15 southern T Tauri stars, five in the constellation Lupus and ten in Chamaeleon, at 3.3 millimetre. The five Lupus sources were also observed with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at 1.4 millimetre. Our new data are complemented with data from the literature to determine the slopes of the spectral energy distributions in the millimetre regime. RESULTS - Ten sources were detected at better than 3sigma with the ATCA, with sigma ~1-2 mJy, and all sources that were observed with the SMA were detected at better than 15sigma, with sigma ~4 mJy. Six of the sources in our sample are resolved to physical radii of ~100 AU. Assuming that the emission from such large disks is predominantly optically thin, the millimetre slope can be related directly to the opacity index. For the other sources, the opacity indices are lower limits. Four out of six resolved sources have opacity indices <~1, indicating grain growth to millimetre sizes and larger. The masses of the disks range from < 0.01 to 0.08 MSun, which is comparable to the minimum mass solar nebula. A tentative correlation is found between the millimetre slope and the strength and shape of the 10-micron silicate feature, indicating that grain growth occurs on similar (short) timescales in both the inner and outer disk., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

We present a census of the population of deeply embedded young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Perseus molecular cloud complex based on a combination of Spitzer Space Telescope mid-IR data from the c2d legacy team and JCMT/SCUBA submillimeter maps from the COMPLETE team. The mid-IR sources detected at 24 micron and having [3.6]-[4.5] > 1 are located close to the center of the SCUBA cores, typically within 15" of their peaks. The narrowness of the spatial distribution of mid-IR sources around the peaks of the SCUBA cores suggests that no significant dispersal of the newly formed YSOs has occurred. This argues against the suggestion that motions of protostars regulate the time scales over which significant (Bondi-Hoyle) accretion can occur. The most deeply embedded YSOs are found in regions with high extinction, AV > 5, similar to the extinction threshold observed for the SCUBA cores. All the SCUBA cores with high concentrations have embedded YSOs, but not all cores with low concentrations are starless. An unbiased sample of 49 deeply embedded YSOs is constructed. Embedded YSOs are found in 40 of the 72 SCUBA cores with only three cores harboring multiple embedded YSOs within 15". The equal number of SCUBA cores with and without embedded YSOs suggests that the time scale for the evolution through the dense prestellar stages, where the cores are recognized in the submillimeter maps and have central densities of 5e4-1e5 cm^{-3}, is similar to the time scale for the embedded protostellar stages. The current star formation efficiency of cores is estimated to be approximately 10-15%. In contrast, the star formation efficiency averaged over the cloud life time and compared to the total cloud mass is only a few percent, reflecting also the efficiency in assembling cloud material into the dense cores forming stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (36 pages, 13 figures)

We present observations of 3.86 sq. deg. of the Perseus molecular cloud complex with the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). The maps show strong extended emission arising from shocked H2 in outflows in the region and from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon features. More than 120,000 sources are extracted toward the cloud. Based on their IRAC colors and comparison to off-cloud and extragalactic fields, we identify 400 candidate young stellar objects. About two thirds of these are associated with the young clusters IC348 and NGC1333, while the last third is distributed over the remaining cloud. We classify the young stellar objects according to the traditional scheme based on the slope of their spectral energy distributions. Significant differences are found for the numbers of embedded Class I objects relative to more evolved Class II objects in IC348, NGC1333 and the remaining cloud with the embedded Class I and "flat spectrum" YSOs constituting 14%, 36% and 47% of the total number of YSOs identified in each of these regions. The high number of Class I objects in the extended cloud (61% of the Class I objects in the entire cloud) suggests that a significant fraction of the current star formation is occuring outside the two main clusters. Finally we discuss a number of outflows and identify their driving sources, including the known deeply embedded Class 0 sources outside the two major clusters. The Class 0 objects are found to be detected by Spitzer and have very red [3.6]-[4.5] colors but do not show similarly red [5.8]-[8.0] colors. The Class 0 objects are easily identifiable in color-color diagrams plotting these two colors but are problematic to extract automatically due to the extended emission from shocked gas or scattered light in cavities related to the associated outflows., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (49 pages, 18 figures). Abstract abridged. Version with full resolution figures available at http://peggysue.as.utexas.edu/SIRTF/PAPERS/pap50.pub.pdf

We discuss the effects of an enhanced interstellar radiation field (ISRF) on the observables of protostellar cores in the Orion cloud region. Dust radiative transfer is used to constrain the envelope physical structure by reproducing SCUBA 850 micron emission. Previously reported 13CO, C17O and H2CO line observations are reproduced through detailed Monte Carlo line radiative transfer models. It is found that the 13CO line emission is marginally optically thick and sensitive to the physical conditions in the outer envelope. An increased temperature in this region is needed in order to reproduce the 13CO line strengths and it is suggested to be caused by a strong heating from the exterior, corresponding to an ISRF in Orion 10^3 times stronger than the "standard" ISRF. The typical temperatures in the outer envelope are higher than the desorption temperature for CO. The C17O emission is less sensitive to this increased temperature but rather traces the bulk envelope material. The data are only fit by a model where CO is depleted, except in the inner and outermost regions where the temperature increases above 30-40 K. The fact that the temperatures do not drop below approximately 25 K in any of the envelopes whereas a significant fraction of CO is frozen-out suggest that the interstellar radiation field has changed through the evolution of the cores. The H2CO lines are successfully reproduced in the model of an increased ISRF with constant abundances of 3-5x10^{-10}., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

Using the Submillimeter Array we report the discovery of a compact low mass bipolar molecular outflow from L1014-IRS and confirm its association with the L1014 dense core at 200 pc. Consequently, L1014-IRS is the lowest luminosity (L \~0.09 Lsun) and perhaps the lowest mass source known to be driving a bipolar molecular outflow, which is one of the smallest known in size (~500 AU), mass (< 10^{-4} Msun), and energetics (e.g., force < 10^{-7} Msun km/s/yr)., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letters

This paper presents a millimeter wavelength aperture-synthesis study of the spatial variations of the chemistry in the envelope around the deeply embedded low-mass protostar L483-mm on 1000 AU (5") scales. Lines of 8 molecular species including CN, C18O, CS, C34S, HCN, H13CN, HCO+ and N2H+ have been observed using the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Millimeter Array. Continuum emission at 2.7-3.4 millimeter is well-fit by a pure envelope model down to the sensitivity of the interferometer without introducing a disk/compact source, in contrast to what is seen for other protostars. A velocity gradient in the densest material is traced by HCN, CS and N2H+, and is perpendicular to the large-scale CO outflow, with a pattern consistent with rotation around a 1 solar mass central object. Velocity gradients in the propagation direction of the outflow suggest a clear interaction between the outflowing material and "quiescent" core. The C18O observations are fit with a "drop" abundance profile where CO is frozen-out in a region of the envelope with temperatures lower than 40 K and densities higher than 1.5e5 cm^{-3}, which is also required to reproduce single-dish observations. The N2H+ emission strongly resembles that of NH3 and is found to be absent toward the central continuum source. This is a direct consequence of the high CO abundances in the inner region as illustrated by a chemical model for the L483 envelope. The observed CN emission forms a spatial borderline between the outflowing and quiescent material probed by, respectively, HCO+ and N2H+, and also shows intermediate velocities compared to these two species. A scenario is suggested in which CN is enhanced in the walls of an outflow cavity due to the impact of UV irradiation either from the central protostellar system or related to shocks caused by the outflow., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 14 pages, 14 figures

We present a survey of the formaldehyde emission in a sample of eight Class 0 protostars obtained with the IRAM and JCMT telescopes. The data have been analyzed with three different methods with increasing level of sophistication. We first analyze the observed emission in the LTE approximation, and derive rotational temperatures between 11 and 40 K, and column densities between 1 and 20 x 10^13 cm^-2. Second, we use a LVG code and derive larger kinetic temperatures, between 30 and 90 K, consistent with subthermally populated levels and densities from 1 to 6 x 10^5 cm^-3. The column densities from the LVG modeling are within a factor of 10 with respect to those derived in the LTE approximation. Finally, we analyze the observations based upon detailed models for the envelopes surrounding the protostars, using temperature and density profiles previously derived from continuum observations. We approximate the formaldehyde abundance across the envelope with a jump function, the jump occurring when the dust temperature reaches 100 K, the evaporation temperature of the grain mantles. The observed formaldehyde emission is well reproduced only if there is a jump, more than two orders of magnitude, in four sources. In the remaining four sources the data are consistent with a formaldehyde abundance jump, but the evidence is more marginal (~2 sigma). The inferred inner H2CO abundance varies between 1 x 10^-8 and 6 x 10^-6. We discuss the implications of these jumps for our understanding of the origin and evolution of ices in low mass star forming regions. Finally, we give predictions for the submillimeter H2CO lines, which are particularly sensitive to the abundance jumps., Comment: Accepted at A&A

A study of the chemical structure of the envelopes around a sample protostars is introduced. Physical models for the envelopes derived using 1D radiative transfer modeling of their dust continuum emission are used as input for Monte Carlo modeling of single-dish line observations in order to establish the chemical inventories for the different sources. CO and HCO+ abundances are found to be correlated with envelope mass: the sources with the most massive envelopes show the lowest abundances, supporting the idea that the depletion of these molecules is most efficient in the colder, denser environments. Other molecules like CS and HCN do not show a similar trend. Deuterated species like DCO+ and DCN also show signs of correlations with envelope mass and temperature: the deuterium fractionation of HCO+ is most prominent for the coldest and most massive envelopes in the sample and at the same time anti-correlated with the fractionation of HCN. This puts constraints on the low temperature gas-phase deuterium chemistry., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures to appear in proceedings of the conference "Chemistry as a Diagnostic of Star Formation" (C.L. Curry and M. Fich eds.)

We present 1D radiative transfer modelling of the envelopes of a sample of 18 low-mass protostars and pre-stellar cores with the aim of setting up realistic physical models, for use in a chemical description of the sources. The density and temperature profiles of the envelopes are constrained from their radial profiles obtained from SCUBA maps at 450 and 850 micron and from measurements of the source fluxes ranging from 60 micron to 1.3 mm. The densities of the envelopes within ~10000 AU can be described by single power-laws r^{-p} for the class 0 and I sources with p ranging from 1.3 to 1.9, with typical uncertainties of +/- 0.2. Four sources have flatter profiles, either due to asymmetries or to the presence of an outer constant density region. No significant difference is found between class 0 and I sources. The power-law fits fail for the pre-stellar cores, supporting recent results that such cores do not have a central source of heating. The derived physical models are used as input for Monte Carlo modelling of submillimeter C18O and C17O emission. It is found that class I objects typically show CO abundances close to those found in local molecular clouds, but that class 0 sources and pre-stellar cores show lower abundances by almost an order of magnitude implying that significant depletion occurs for the early phases of star formation. While the 2-1 and 3-2 isotopic lines can be fitted using a constant fractional CO abundance throughout the envelope, the 1-0 lines are significantly underestimated, possibly due to contribution of ambient molecular cloud material to the observed emission. The difference between the class 0 and I objects may be related to the properties of the CO ices., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, accepted by A&A

We present APEX 218 GHz observations of molecular emission in a complete sample of embedded protostars in the Ophiuchus star-forming region. To study the physical properties of the cores, we calculate H2CO and c-C3H2 rotational temperatures, both of which are good tracers of the kinetic temperature of the molecular gas. We find that the H2CO temperatures range between 16K and 124K, with the highest H2CO temperatures toward the hot corino source IRAS 16293-2422 (69-124 K) and the sources in the rho Oph A cloud (23-49 K) located close to the luminous Herbig Be star S1, which externally irradiates the rho Oph A cores. On the other hand, the c-C3H2 rotational temperature is consistently low (7-17 K) in all sources. Our results indicate that the c-C3H2 emission is primarily tracing more shielded parts of the envelope whereas the H2CO emission (at the angular scale of the APEX beam; 3600 au in Ophiuchus) mainly traces the outer irradiated envelopes, apart from in IRAS16293-2422, where the hot corino emission dominates. In some sources, a secondary velocity component is also seen, possibly tracing the molecular outflow.

We present observations of the Auriga-California Molecular Cloud (AMC) at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0, 24, 70 and 160 micrometers observed with the IRAC and MIPS detectors as part of the Spitzer Gould Belt Legacy Survey. The total mapped areas are 2.5 deg(exp 2) with IRAC and 10.47 deg2 with MIPS. This giant molecular cloud is one of two in the nearby Gould Belt of star-forming regions, the other being the Orion A Molecular Cloud (OMC). We compare source counts, colors and magnitudes in our observed region to a subset of the SWIRE data that was processed through our pipeline. Using color-magnitude and color-color diagrams, we find evidence for a substantial population of 166 young stellar objects (YSOs) in the cloud, many of which were previously unknown. Most of this population is concentrated around the LkH(alpha) 101 cluster and the filament extending from it. We present a quantitative description of the degree of clustering and discuss the fraction of YSOs in the region with disks relative to an estimate of the diskless YSO population. Although the AMC is similar in mass, size and distance to the OMC, it is forming about 15 - 20 times fewer stars.