No Arabic abstract
As Pr. Th. Henning said at the conference, cold precursors of high-mass stars are now hot topics. We here propose some observational criteria to identify massive infrared-quiet dense cores which can host the high-mass analogs of Class 0 protostars and pre-stellar condensations. We also show how far-infrared to millimeter imaging surveys of entire complexes forming OB stars are starting to unveil the initial conditions of high-mass star formation.
We present combined interferometer and single dish telescope data of NH3 (J,K) = (1,1) and (2,2) emission towards the clustered star forming Ophiuchus B, C and F Cores at high spatial resolution (~1200 AU) using the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Very Large Array, and the Green Bank Telescope. While the large scale features of the NH3 (1,1) integrated intensity appear similar to 850 micron continuum emission maps of the Cores, on 15 (1800 AU) scales we find significant discrepancies between the dense gas tracers in Oph B, but good correspondence in Oph C and F. Using the Clumpfind structure identifying algorithm, we identify 15 NH3 clumps in Oph B, and 3 each in Oph C and F. Only five of the Oph B NH3 clumps are coincident within 30 (3600 AU) of a submillimeter clump. We find v_LSR varies little across any of the Cores, and additionally varies by only ~1.5 km/s between them. The observed NH3 line widths within the Oph B and F Cores are generally large and often mildly supersonic, while Oph C is characterized by narrow line widths which decrease to nearly thermal values. We find several regions of localized narrow line emission (Delta v < 0.4 km/s), some of which are associated with NH3 clumps. We derive the kinetic temperatures of the gas, and find they are remarkably constant across Oph B and F, with a warmer mean value (T_K = 15 K) than typically found in isolated regions and consistent with previous results in clustered regions. Oph C, however, has a mean T_K = 12 K, decreasing to a minimum T_K = 9.4 K towards the submillimeter continuum peak, similar to previous studies of isolated starless cores. There is no significant difference in temperature towards protostars embedded in the Cores. [Abridged]
Massive clumps tend to fragment into clusters of cores and condensations, some of which form high-mass stars. In this work, we study the structure of massive clumps at different scales, analyze the fragmentation process, and investigate the possibility that star formation is triggered by nearby HII regions. We present a high angular resolution study of a sample of 8 massive proto-cluster clumps. Combining infrared data, we use few-arcsecond resolution radio- and millimeter interferometric data to study their fragmentation and evolution. Our sample is unique in the sense that all the clumps have neighboring HII regions. Taking advantage of that, we test triggered star formation using a novel method where we study the alignment of the centres of mass traced by dust emission at multiple scales. The eight massive clumps have masses ranging from 228 to 2279 $M_odot$. The brightest compact structures within infrared bright clumps are typically associated with embedded compact radio continuum sources. The smaller scale structures of $R_{rm eff}$ $sim$ 0.02 pc observed within each clump are mostly gravitationally bound and massive enough to form at least a B3-B0 type star. Many condensations have masses larger than 8 $M_odot$ at small scale of $R_{rm eff}$ $sim$ 0.02 pc. Although the clumps are mostly infrared quiet, the dynamical movements are active at clump scale ($sim$ 1 pc). We studied the spatial distribution of the gas conditions detected at different scales. For some sources we find hints of external triggering, whereas for others we find no significant pattern that indicates triggering is dynamically unimportant. This probably indicates that the different clumps go through different evolutionary paths. In this respect, studies with larger samples are highly desired.
We investigate at a high angular resolution the spatial and kinematic structure of the S255IR high mass star-forming region, which demonstrated recently the first disk-mediated accretion burst in the massive young stellar object. The observations were performed with ALMA in Band 7 at an angular resolution $ sim 0.1^{primeprime}$, which corresponds to $ sim 180 $ AU. The 0.9 mm continuum, C$^{34}$S(7-6) and CCH $N=4-3$ data show a presence of very narrow ($ sim 1000 $ AU), very dense ($nsim 10^7$ cm$^{-3}$) and warm filamentary structures in this area. At least some of them represent apparently dense walls around the high velocity molecular outflow with a wide opening angle from the S255IR-SMA1 core, which is associated with the NIRS3 YSO. This wide-angle outflow surrounds a narrow jet. At the ends of the molecular outflow there are shocks, traced in the SiO(8-7) emission. The SiO abundance there is enhanced by at least 3 orders of magnitude. The CO(3-2) and SiO(8-7) data show a collimated and extended high velocity outflow from another dense core in this area, SMA2. The outflow is bent and consists of a chain of knots, which may indicate periodic ejections possibly arising from a binary system consisting of low or intermediate mass protostars. The C$^{34}$S emission shows evidence of rotation of the parent core. Finally, we detected two new low mass compact cores in this area (designated as SMM1 and SMM2), which may represent prestellar objects.
We present a new high-resolution study of pre-protocluster regions in tracers exclusively probing the coldest and dense gas (NH_2D). The data are used to constrain the chemical, thermal, kinematic, and physical conditions (i.e., densities) in G29.96e and G35.20w. NH_3, NH_2D, and continuum emission were mapped using the VLA, and PdBI. In particular, NH_2D is a unique tracer of cold, precluster gas at high densities, while NH_3 traces both the cold and warm gas of modest-to-high densities. In G29.96e, Spitzer images reveal two massive filaments, one of them in extinction (infrared dark cloud). We observe very low line widths in NH_3 (FWHM <1km/s). These multi-wavelength, high-resolution observations of high-mass pre-protocluster regions show that the target regions are characterized by (i) turbulent Jeans fragmentation of massive clumps into cores (from a Jeans analysis); (ii) cores and clumps that are over-bound/subvirial, i.e. turbulence is too weak to support them against collapse, meaning that (iii) some models of monolithic cloud collapse are quantitatively inconsistent with data; (iv) accretion from the core onto a massive star, which can (for observed core sizes and velocities) be sustained by accretion of envelope material onto the core, suggesting that (similar to competitive accretion scenarios) the mass reservoir for star formation is not necessarily limited to the natal core; (v) high deuteration ratios ([NH_2D/NH_3]>6%), which make the above discoveries possible; (vi) and the destruction of NH_2D toward embedded stars. [abridged]
We found that in regions of high mass star formation the CS emission correlates well with the dust continuum emission and is therefore a good tracer of the total mass while the N$_2$H$^+$ distribution is frequently very different. This is opposite to their typical behavior in low-mass cores where freeze-out plays a crucial role in the chemistry. The behavior of other high density tracers varies from source to source but most of them are closer to CS. Radial density profiles in massive cores are fitted by power laws with indices about -1.6, as derived from the dust continuum emission. The radial temperature dependence on intermediate scales is close to the theoretically expected one for a centrally heated optically thin cloud. The velocity dispersion either remains constant or decreases from the core center to the edge. Several cores including those without known embedded IR sources show signs of infall motions. They can represent the earliest phases of massive protostars. There are implicit arguments in favor of small-scale clumpiness in the cores.