The Earliest Phases of Star formation (EPoS): Temperature, density, and
  kinematic structure of the star-forming core CB 17
  Context: The initial conditions for the gravitational collapse of molecular
cloud cores and the subsequent birth of stars are still not well constrained.
The characteristic cold temperatures (about 10 K) in such regions require
observations at sub-millimetre and longer wavelengths. The Herschel Space
Observatory and complementary ground-based observations presented in this paper
have the unprecedented potential to reveal the structure and kinematics of a
prototypical core region at the onset of stellar birth.
  Aims: This paper aims to determine the density, temperature, and velocity
structure of the star-forming Bok globule CB 17. This isolated region is known
to host (at least) two sources at different evolutionary stages: a dense core,
SMM1, and a Class I protostar, IRS.
  Methods: We modeled the cold dust emission maps from 100 micron to 1.2 mm
with both a modified blackbody technique to determine the optical
depth-weighted line-of-sight temperature and column density and a ray-tracing
technique to determine the core temperature and volume density structure.
Furthermore, we analysed the kinematics of CB17 using the high-density gas
tracer N2H+.
  Results: From the ray-tracing analysis, we find a temperature in the centre
of SMM1 of 10.6 K, a flat density profile with radius 9500 au, and a central
volume density of n(H) = 2.3x10^5 cm-3. The velocity structure of the N2H+
observations reveal global rotation with a velocity gradient of 4.3 km/s/pc.
Superposed on this rotation signature we find a more complex velocity field,
which may be indicative of differential motions within the dense core.
  Conclusions: SMM is a core in an early evolutionary stage at the verge of
being bound, but the question of whether it is a starless or a protostellar
core remains unanswered.
