A burst of outflows from the Serpens cloud core:: wide-field submillimetre continuum, CO J=2-1 and optical observations

Wide-field mapping of Serpens in submillimetre continuum emission and CO J = 2-1 line emission is here complemented by optical imaging in [S II] lambda lambda 6716, 6731 line emission. Analysis of the 450- and 850-mu m continuum data shows at least 10 separate sources, along with fainter diffuse background emission and filaments extending to the south and east of the core. These filaments describe 'cavity-like' structures that may have been shaped by the numerous outflows in the region. The dust opacity index, beta, derived for the identifiable compact sources is of the order of 1.0 +/- 0.2, with dust temperatures in excess of 20 K, This value of beta is somewhat lower than for typical class I YSOs; we suggest that the Serpens sources may be 'warm', late class 0 or early class I objects. With the combined CO and optical data we also examine, on large scales, the outflows driven by the embedded sources in Serpens. In addition to a number of new Herbig-Haro flows (here denoted HH 455-460), a number of high-velocity CO lobes are observed; these extend radially outwards from the cluster of submillimetre sources in the core. A close association between the optical and molecular flows is also identified. The data suggest that many of the submillimetre sources power outflows. Collectively, the outflows traced in CO support the widely recognized correlation between source bolometric luminosity and outflow power, and imply a dynamical age for the whole protostellar cluster of similar to 3 x 10(4) yr. Notably, this is roughly equal to the proposed duration of the 'class 0' stage in protostellar evolution.