SMA observations of the W3(OH) complex: Dynamical differentiation between W3(H₂O) and W3(OH)

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We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of the HCN(3--2) and HCO+(3--2) molecular lines toward the W3(H₂O) and W3(OH) star-forming complexes. Infall and outflow motions in the W3(H₂O) have been characterized by observing HCN and HCO+ transitions. High-velocity blue/red-shifted emission, tracing the outflow, show multiple knots, which might originate in episodic and precessing outflows. `Blue-peaked' line profiles indicate that gas is infalling onto the W3(H₂O) dust core. The measured large mass accretion rate, 2.3×10⁻³ M yr⁻¹, together with the small free-fall time scale, 5×10³ yr, suggest W3(H₂O) is in an early evolutionary stage of the process of formation of high-mass stars. For the W3(OH), a two-layer model fit to the HCN and HCO+ spectral lines and Spizter/IRAC images support that the W3(OH) H ii region is expanding and interacting with the ambient gas, with the shocked neutral gas being expanding with an expansion timescale of 6.4×10³ yr. The observations suggest different kinematical timescales and dynamical states for the W3(H₂O) and W3(OH).