Protostellar holes:: Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the protostellar binary IRAS 16293+2422

Mid-infrared (23-35 mu m) emission from the deeply embedded Class 0 protostar IRAS 16293-2422 is detected with the Spitzer Space Telescope infrared spectrograph. A detailed radiative transfer model reproducing the full spectral energy distribution (SED) from 23 mu m to 1.3 mm requires a large inner cavity of radius 600 AU in the envelope to avoid quenching the emission from the central sources. This is consistent with a previous suggestion based on high angular resolution millimeter interferometric data. An alternative interpretation using a two-dimensional model of the envelope with an outflow cavity can reproduce the SED but not the interferometer visibilities. The cavity size is comparable to the centrifugal radius of the envelope and therefore appears to be a natural consequence of the rotation of the protostellar core, which has also caused the fragmentation leading to the central protostellar binary. With a large cavity such as required by the data, the average temperature at a given radius does not increase above 60-80 K, and although hot spots with higher temperatures may be present close to each protostar, these constitute a small fraction of the material in the inner envelope. The proposed cavity will also have consequences for the interpretation of molecular line data, especially of complex species probing high temperatures in the inner regions of the envelope.