Barnes, A. T., Henshaw, J. D., Fontani, F., Pineda, J. E., Cosentino, G., Tan, J. C., Caselli, P., Jimenez-Serra, I, Law, C. Y., Avison, A., Bigiel, F., Feng, S., Kong, S., Longmore, S. N., Moser, L., Parker, R. J., Sanchez-Monge, A. and Wang, K. (2021). ALMA-IRDC: dense gas mass distribution from cloud to core scales. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 503 (3). S. 4601 - 4627. OXFORD: OXFORD UNIV PRESS. ISSN 1365-2966

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Abstract

Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are potential hosts of the elusive early phases of high mass star formation (HMSF). Here, we conduct an in-depth analysis of the fragmentation properties of a sample of 10 IRDCs, which have been highlighted as some of the best candidates to study HMSF within the Milky Way. To do so, we have obtained a set of large mosaics covering these IRDCs with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at Band 3 (or 3 mm). These observations have a high angular resolution (similar to 3 arcsec; similar to 0.05 pc), and high continuum and spectral line sensitivity (similar to 0.15 mJy beam(-1) and similar to 0.2 K per 0.1 km s(-1) channel at the N2H+ (1 - 0) transition). From the dust continuum emission, we identify 96 cores ranging from low to high mass (M = 3.4-50.9 M-circle dot) that are gravitationally bound (alpha(vir) = 0.3-1.3) and which would require magnetic field strengths of B = 0.3-1.0 mG to be in virial equilibrium. We combine these results with a homogenized catalogue of literature cores to recover the hierarchical structure within these clouds over four orders of magnitude in spatial scale (0.01-10 pc). Using supplementary observations at an even higher angular resolution, we find that the smallest fragments (<0.02 pc) within this hierarchy do not currently have the mass and/or the density required to form high-mass stars. None the less, the new ALMA observations presented in this paper have facilitated the identification of 19 (6 quiescent and 13 star-forming) cores that retain >16 M-circle dot without further fragmentation. These high-mass cores contain trans-sonic non-thermal motions, are kinematically sub-virial, and require moderate magnetic field strengths for support against collapse. The identification of these potential sites of HMSF represents a key step in allowing us to test the predictions from high-mass star and cluster formation theories.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
Barnes, A. T.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Henshaw, J. D.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Fontani, F.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Pineda, J. E.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Cosentino, G.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Tan, J. C.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Caselli, P.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Jimenez-Serra, IUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Law, C. Y.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Avison, A.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Bigiel, F.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Feng, S.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Kong, S.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Longmore, S. N.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Moser, L.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Parker, R. J.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Sanchez-Monge, A.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Wang, K.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-604576
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab803
Journal or Publication Title: Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc.
Volume: 503
Number: 3
Page Range: S. 4601 - 4627
Date: 2021
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS
Place of Publication: OXFORD
ISSN: 1365-2966
Language: English
Faculty: Unspecified
Divisions: Unspecified
Subjects: no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
INFRARED DARK CLOUDS; STAR-FORMATION; PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES; MOLECULAR CLOUDS; GALACTIC PLANE; SIZE RELATION; HI-GAL; MAGNETIC-FIELDS; FRAGMENTATION; KINEMATICSMultiple languages
Astronomy & AstrophysicsMultiple languages
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/60457

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