Description
Water is a key molecule in protostellar environments because its line emission is very sensitive to both the chemistry and the physical conditions of the gas. Observations of H_2_O line emission from low-mass protostars and their associated outflows performed with HIFI onboard the Herschel Space Observatory have highlighted the complexity of H_2_O line profiles, in which different kinematic components can be distinguished. The goal is to study the spatial distribution of H_2_O, in particular of the different kinematic components detected in H_2_O emission, at two bright shocked regions along IRAS4A, one of the strongest H_2_O emitters among the Class 0 outflows. We obtained Herschel-PACS maps of the IRAS4A outflow and HIFI observations of two shocked positions. The largest HIFI beam of 38" at 557GHz was mapped in several key water lines with different upper energy levels, to reveal possible spatial variations of the line profiles. A large velocity gradient (LVG) analysis was performed to determine the excitation conditions of the gas.
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