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Register a new userSynthetic observations of H$_2$D$^+$ towards high-mass starless cores
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Young massive stars are usually found embedded in dense and massive molecular clumps and are known for being highly obscured and distant. During their formation process, deuteration is regarded as a potentially good indicator of the formation stage. Therefore, proper observations of such deuterated molecules are crucial, but still, hard to perform. In this work, we test the observability of the transition o-H$_2$D$^+(1_{10}$-$1_{11})$, using a synthetic source, to understand how the physical characteristics are reflected in observations through interferometers and single-dish telescopes. In order to perform such tests, we post-processed a magneto-hydrodynamic simulation of a collapsing magnetized core using the radiative transfer code POLARIS. Using the resulting intensity distributions as input, we performed single-dish (APEX) and interferometric (ALMA) synthetic observations at different evolutionary times, always mimicking realistic configurations. Finally, column densities were derived to compare our simulations with real observations previously performed. Our derivations for o-H$_2$D$^+$ are in agreement with values reported in the literature, in the range of 10$^{!10-11}$cm$^{!-2}$ and 10$^{!12-13}$cm$^{!-2}$ for single-dish and interferometric measurements, respectively.
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(Abridged) We present a large sample of o-H$_2$D$^+$ observations in high-mass star-forming regions and discuss possible empirical correlations with relevant physical quantities to assess its role as a chronometer of star-forming regions through different evolutionary stages. APEX observations of the ground-state transition of o-H$_2$D$^+$ were analysed in a sample of massive clumps selected from ATLASGAL at different evolutionary stages. Column densities and beam-averaged abundances of o-H$_2$D$^+$ with respect to H$_2$, $X$(o-H$_2$D$^+$), were obtained by modelling the spectra under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium. We detect 16 sources in o-H$_2$D$^+$ and find clear correlations between $X$(o-H$_2$D$^+$) and the clump bolometric luminosity and the dust temperature, while only a mild correlation is found with the CO-depletion factor. In addition, we see a clear correlation with the luminosity-to-mass ratio, which is known to trace the evolution of the star formation process. This would indicate that the deuterated forms of H$_3^+$ are more abundant in the early stages of the star formation process and that deuteration is influenced by the time evolution of the clumps. In this respect, our findings would suggest that the $X$(o-H$_2$D$^+$) abundance is mainly affected by the thermal changes rather than density changes in the gas. We have employed these findings together with observations of H$^{13}$CO$^+$, DCO$^+$, and C$^{17}$O to provide an estimate of the cosmic-ray ionisation rate in a sub-sample of eight clumps based on recent analytical work. Our study presents the largest sample of o-H$_2$D$^+$ in star-forming regions to date. The results confirm that the deuteration process is strongly affected by temperature and suggests that o-H$_2$D$^+$ can be considered a reliable chemical clock during the star formation processes, as proved by its strong temporal dependence.
We have carried out survey observations of molecular emission lines from HC$_{3}$N, N$_{2}$H$^{+}$, CCS, and cyclic-C$_{3}$H$_{2}$ in the 81$-$94 GHz band toward 17 high-mass starless cores (HMSCs) and 28 high-mass protostellar objects (HMPOs) with the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope. We have detected N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ in all of the target sources except one and HC$_{3}$N in 14 HMSCs and in 26 HMPOs. We investigate the $N$(N$_{2}$H$^{+}$)/$N$(HC$_{3}$N) column density ratio as a chemical evolutionary indicator of massive cores. Using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test and Welchs t test, we confirm that the $N$(N$_{2}$H$^{+}$)/$N$(HC$_{3}$N) ratio decreases from HMSCs to HMPOs. This tendency in high-mass star-forming regions is opposite to that in low-mass star-forming regions. Furthermore, we found that the detection rates of carbon-chain species (HC$_{3}$N, HC$_{5}$N, and CCS) in HMPOs are different from those in low-mass protostars. The detection rates of cyanopolyynes (HC$_{3}$N and HC$_{5}$N) are higher and that of CCS is lower in high-mass protostars, compared to low-mass protostars. We discuss a possible interpretation for these differences.
We present Spitzer observations of a sample of 12 starless cores selected to have prominent 24 micron shadows. The Spitzer images show 8 and 24 micron shadows and in some cases 70 micron shadows; these spatially resolved absorption features trace the densest regions of the cores. We have carried out a 12CO (2-1) and 13CO (2-1) mapping survey of these cores with the Heinrich Hertz Telescope (HHT). We use the shadow features to derive optical depth maps. We derive molecular masses for the cores and the surrounding environment; we find that the 24 micron shadow masses are always greater than or equal to the molecular masses derived in the same region, a discrepancy likely caused by CO freeze--out onto dust grains. We combine this sample with two additional cores that we studied previously to bring the total sample to 14 cores. Using a simple Jeans mass criterion we find that ~ 2/3 of the cores selected to have prominent 24 micron shadows are collapsing or near collapse, a result that is supported by millimeter line observations. Of this subset at least half have indications of 70 micron shadows. All cores observed to produce absorption features at 70 micron are close to collapse. We conclude that 24 micron shadows, and even more so the 70 micron ones, are useful markers of cloud cores that are approaching collapse.
We report the identification of a sample of potential High-Mass Starless Cores (HMSCs). The cores were discovered by comparing images of the fields containing candidate High-Mass Protostellar Objects (HMPOs) at 1.2mm and mid-infrared (8.3um; MIR) wavelengths. While the HMPOs are detected at both wavelengths, several cores emitting at 1.2mm in the same fields show absorption or no emission at the MIR wavelength. We argue that the absorption is caused by cold dust. The estimated masses of a few 10^2Msun - 10^3 Msun and the lack of IR emission suggests that they may be massive cold cores in a pre-stellar phase, which could presumably form massive stars eventually. Ammonia (1,1) and (2,2) observations of the cores indicate smaller velocity dispersions and lower rotation temperatures compared to HMPOs and UCHII regions suggesting a quiescent pre-stellar stage. We propose that these newly discovered cores are good candidates for the HMSC stage in high-mass star-formation. This sample of cores will allow us to study the high-mass star and cluster formation processes at the earliest evolutionary stages.
Young massive stars are usually found embedded in dense massive molecular clumps and are known for being highly obscured and distant. During their formation process, deuteration is regarded as a potentially good indicator of the very early formation stages. In this work, we test the observability of the ground-state transition of ortho-H$_2$D$^+$ $J_{rm {K_a, K_c}} = 1_{10}$-$1_{11} $ by performing interferometric and single-dish synthetic observations using magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of high-mass collapsing molecular cores, including deuteration chemistry. We studied different evolutionary times and source distances (from 1 to 7 kpc) to estimate the information loss when comparing the column densities inferred from the synthetic observations to the column densities in the model. We mimicked single-dish observations considering an APEX-like beam and interferometric observations using CASA and assuming the most compact configuration for the ALMA antennas. We found that, for centrally concentrated density distributions, the column densities are underestimated by about 51% in the case of high-resolution ALMA observations ($leqslant$1) and up to 90% for APEX observations (17). Interferometers retrieve values closer to the real ones, however, their finite spatial sampling results in the loss of contribution from large-scale structures due to the lack of short baselines. We conclude that, the emission of o-H$_2$D$^+$ in distant massive dense cores is faint and would require from $sim$1 to $sim$7 hours of observation at distances of 1 and 7 kpc, respectively, to achieve a 14$sigma$ detection in the best case scenario. Additionally, the column densities derived from such observations will certainly be affected by beam dilution in the case of single-dishes and spatial filtering in the case of interferometers.
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