The nature of the cluster of radio sources in GGD 14

Abstract

We present sensitive radio continuum observations at 3.6 and 6 cm made quasi-simultaneously toward the star-forming region GGD 14. The observations reveal the presence of nine extremely compact ( 0>3) and faint radio sources in a region of 3000 around the bright cometary H ii region, VLA 1.Most of these sources show variability at radio wavelengths, and their spectral indices are characteristically negative. Four of the faint sources have an infrared counterpart. We propose that gyrosynchrotron radiation from an active magnetosphere explains the emission from almost all the faint compact sources, suggesting that the GGD 14 region harbors a cluster of low-mass, pre–main-sequence stars. Two sources that do not show time variability are VLA 1, the cometary H ii region, and VLA 7. The derived spectral index for VLA 7 (þ0:6 0:3) fits the stellar wind model better than other possibilities, supporting the idea that VLA 7 is the powering source of the molecular outflow observed toward theGGD 14 region.