The molecular outflows in NGC 1333

We present the results of CO(J =3→2) mapping using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope of the active star formation region NGC 1333, supplemented by CO(J=1→0) mapping from the Onsala Space Observatory millimetre telescope. These maps provide a detailed overview of the complex cluster of overlapping molecular outflows associated with Herbig-Haro (HH) objects and shocked H2, and the far-infrared and submillimetre sources that drive these outflows. We identify about ten molecular outflows and in most cases their driving source. Many of the outflow-driving stars are confirmed or probable Class 0 protostellar objects which drive highly collimated CO jets. We identify HH 12 as the leading bow shock of a large outflow driven by SSV 13 B with an orientation close to the plane of the sky. The present rate of energy injection into molecular gas by the outflows, if maintained over a time scale ∼ 107 yr, appears sufficient to disperse the entire NGC 1333 cloud. On the shorter time scale of the current generation of star forming activity (∼ 105 yr), it appears that the star forming core has been broken up by the outflows into a number of low-density shells with star formation activity confined to dense ridges on their periphery.