Properties and Formation of the Multiple Protostellar System L1551 IRS 5

We present an observation of L1551 IRS 5 at 7 mm with an angular resolution as high as ~0 04 (5 AU). Apart from the two main components oriented north-south with a projected separation of 47 AU, we discover a third component lying 13 AU to the southeast of the northern component, thereby making L1551 IRS 5 a triple protostellar system. The two main components comprise circumstellar dust disks with dimensions of ~17 AU, together with bipolar ionized jets collimated within a radial distance of ≲3 AU from their central protostars. The third component likely has an even smaller circumstellar dust disk with a dimension of ~9 AU. The relative proper motion of the two main components is consistent with a circular coplanar orbit with an orbital separation of ~50 AU, orbital period of ~380 yr, and total mass of ~0.9 M ☉ . Their measured disk sizes are smaller than the predicted gravitationally truncated sizes of ~26 AU. Together with the predicted minimum size for a circumbinary gap, noncircular coplanar orbits are constrained to an eccentricity ≲0.3. The disks of the two main components are accurately aligned with each other, as well as with a surrounding molecular pseudodisk. Furthermore, the clockwise orbital motion of these components coincides with the clockwise rotational motion of the pseudodisk. These attributes constitute a smoking gun for the formation of the two main components as a result of fragmentation within the inner regions of their parent pseudodisk. By contrast, the disk of the third component is significantly misaligned; measurements of its relative proper motion are required in order to help deduce its origin.