2019ApJ...880...99R

In this study we analyze 70 radio continuum sources that are associated with dust clumps and which are considered to be candidates for the earliest stages of high-mass star formation. The detection of these sources was reported by Rosero et al., who found most of them to show weak (< 1 mJy) and compact (< 0.''6) radio emission. Herein, we used the observed parameters of these sources to investigate the origin of the radio continuum emission. We found that at least ∼30% of these radio detections are most likely to be ionized jets associated with high-mass protostars. However, for the most compact sources, we cannot discard the scenario that they represent pressure-confined H II regions. This result is highly relevant for recent theoretical models that are based on core accretion, which predict the first stages of ionization from high-mass stars to be in the form of jets. Additionally, we found that properties such as the radio luminosity as a function of the bolometric luminosity of ionized jets from low and high-mass stars are extremely well-correlated. Our data improve upon previous studies by providing further evidence of a common origin for jets independently of luminosity.