2002AJ....123.3325H

We have used the NRAO Very Large Array to search for 3.6 cm continuum emission from embedded protostars in a sample of eight nearby ``starless'' cores that show spectroscopic evidence for infalling motions in molecular emission lines. We detect a total of 13 compact sources in the eight observed fields to 5 σ limiting flux levels of typically 0.09 mJy. None of these sources lie within 1' of the central positions of the cores, and they are all likely background objects. Based on an extrapolation of the empirical correlation between the bolometric luminosity and 3.6 cm luminosity for the youngest protostars, these null detections place upper limits of ∼0.1 L_☉ (d/140 pc)² on the luminosities of protostellar sources embedded within these cores. These limits, together with the extended nature of the inward motions inferred from molecular line mapping, are inconsistent with the inside-out collapse model of singular isothermal spheres and suggest a less centrally condensed phase of core evolution during the earliest stages of star formation.