FAUST I. The hot corino at the heart of the prototypical Class I protostar L1551 IRS5

Abstract

The study of hot corinos in Solar-like protostars has been so far mostly limited to the Class 0 phase, hampering our understanding of their origin and evolution. In addition, recent evidence suggests that planet formation starts already during Class I phase, which, therefore, represents a crucial step in the future planetary system chemical composition. Hence, the study of hot corinos in Class I protostars has become of paramount importance. Here we report the discovery of a hot corino towards the prototypical Class I protostar L1551 IRS5, obtained within the ALMA Large Program FAUST. We detected several lines from methanol and its isopotologues (<SUP>13</SUP>CH<SUB>3</SUB>OH and CH<SUB>2</SUB>DOH), methyl formate and ethanol. Lines are bright toward the north component of the IRS5 binary system, and a possible second hot corino may be associated with the south component. The methanol lines non-LTE analysis constrains the gas temperature (˜100 K), density (≥1.5 × 10<SUP>8</SUP> cm<SUP>-3</SUP>), and emitting size (˜10 au in radius). All CH<SUB>3</SUB>OH and <SUP>13</SUP>CH<SUB>3</SUB>OH lines are optically thick, preventing a reliable measure of the deuteration. The methyl formate and ethanol relative abundances are compatible with those measured in Class 0 hot corinos. Thus, based on the present work, little chemical evolution from Class 0 to I hot corinos occurs.