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Register a new userThe SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. II. High Luminosity Protostars
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We present multi-wavelength images observed with SOFIA-FORCAST from $sim$10 to 40 $mu$m of seven high luminosity massive protostars, as part of the SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. Source morphologies at these wavelengths appear to be influenced by outflow cavities and extinction from dense gas surrounding the protostars. Using these images, we build spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the protostars, also including archival data from Spitzer, Herschel and other facilities. Radiative transfer (RT) models of Zhang & Tan (2018), based on Turbulent Core Accretion theory, are then fit to the SEDs to estimate key properties of the protostars. Considering the best five models fit to each source, the protostars have masses $m_{*} sim 12-64 : M_{odot}$ accreting at rates of $dot{m}_{*} sim 10^{-4}-10^{-3} : M_{odot} : rm yr^{-1}$ inside cores of initial masses $M_{c} sim 100-500 : M_{odot}$ embedded in clumps with mass surface densities $Sigma_{rm cl} sim 0.1-3 : rm g : cm^{-2}$ and span a luminosity range of $10^{4} -10^{6} : L_{odot}$. Compared with the first eight protostars in Paper I, the sources analyzed here are more luminous, and thus likely to be more massive protostars. They are often in a clustered environment or have a companion protostar relatively nearby. From the range of parameter space of the models, we do not see any evidence that $Sigma_{rm cl}$ needs to be high to form these massive stars. For most sources the RT models provide reasonable fits to the SEDs, though the cold clump material often influences the long wavelength fitting. However, for sources in very clustered environments, the model SEDs may not be such a good description of the data, indicating potential limitations of the models for these regions.
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We present $sim10-40,mu$m SOFIA-FORCAST images of 14 intermediate-mass protostar candidates as part of the SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. We build spectral energy distributions (SEDs), also utilizing archival Spitzer, Herschel and IRAS data. We then fit the SEDs with radiative transfer (RT) models of Zhang & Tan (2018), based on Turbulent Core Accretion theory, to estimate key protostellar properties. With the addition of these intermediate-mass sources, SOMA protostars span luminosities from $sim10^{2}-10^{6}:L_{odot}$, current protostellar masses from $sim0.5-30:M_{odot}$ and ambient clump mass surface densities, $Sigma_{rm cl}$ from $0.1-3:{rm{g:cm}^{-2}}$. A wide range of evolutionary states of the individual protostars and of the protocluster environments are also probed. We have also considered about 50 protostars identified in Infrared Dark Clouds and expected to be at the earliest stages of their evolution. With this global sample, most of the evolutionary stages of high- and intermediate-mass protostars are probed. From the best fitting models, there is no evidence of a threshold value of protocluster clump mass surface density being needed to form protostars up to $sim25:M_odot$. However, to form more massive protostars, there is tentative evidence that $Sigma_{rm{cl}}$ needs to be $gtrsim1:{rm{g,cm}}^{-2}$. We discuss how this is consistent with expectations from core accretion models that include internal feedback from the forming massive star.
We present an overview and first results of the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey, which is using the FORCAST instrument to image massive protostars from $sim10$--$40:rm{mu}rm{m}$. These wavelengths trace thermal emission from warm dust, which in Core Accretion models mainly emerges from the inner regions of protostellar outflow cavities. Dust in dense core envelopes also imprints characteristic extinction patterns at these wavelengths, causing intensity peaks to shift along the outflow axis and profiles to become more symmetric at longer wavelengths. We present observational results for the first eight protostars in the survey, i.e., multiwavelength images, including some ancillary ground-based MIR observations and archival {it{Spitzer}} and {it{Herschel}} data. These images generally show extended MIR/FIR emission along directions consistent with those of known outflows and with shorter wavelength peak flux positions displaced from the protostar along the blueshifted, near-facing sides, thus confirming qualitative predictions of Core Accretion models. We then compile spectral energy distributions and use these to derive protostellar properties by fitting theoretical radiative transfer models. Zhang and Tan models, based on the Turbulent Core Model of McKee and Tan, imply the sources have protostellar masses $m_*sim10$--50$:M_odot$ accreting at $sim10^{-4}$--$10^{-3}:M_odot:{rm{yr}}^{-1}$ inside cores of initial masses $M_csim30$--500$:M_odot$ embedded in clumps with mass surface densities $Sigma_{rm{cl}}sim0.1$--3$:{rm{g:cm}^{-2}}$. Fitting Robitaille et al. models typically leads to slightly higher protostellar masses, but with disk accretion rates $sim100times$ smaller. We discuss reasons for these differences and overall implications of these first survey results for massive star formation theories.
We performed a survey in the SiO $J=5rightarrow4$ line toward a sample of 199 Galactic massive star-forming regions at different evolutionary stages with the SMT 10 m and CSO 10.4 m telescopes. The sample consists of 44 infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), 86 protostellar candidates, and 69 young HII regions. We detected SiO $J=5rightarrow4$ line emission in 102 sources, with a detection rate of 57%, 37%, and 65% for IRDCs, protostellar candidates, and young HII regions, respectively. We find both broad line with Full Widths at Zero Power (FWZP) $>$ 20 kms and narrow line emissons of SiO in objects at various evolutionary stages, likely associated with high-velocity shocks and low-velocity shocks, respectively. The SiO luminosities do not show apparent differences among various evolutionary stages in our sample. We find no correlation between the SiO abundance and the luminosity-to-mass ratio, indicating that the SiO abundance does not vary significantly in regions at different evolutionary stages of star formation.
Massive stars can be found in wide (hundreds to thousands AU) binaries with other massive stars. We use $N$-body simulations to show that any bound cluster should always have approximately one massive wide binary: one will probably form if none are present initially; and probably only one will survive if more than one are present initially. Therefore any region that contains many massive wide binaries must have been composed of many individual subregions. Observations of Cyg OB2 show that the massive wide binary fraction is at least a half (38/74) which suggests that Cyg OB2 had at least 30 distinct massive star formation sites. This is further evidence that Cyg OB2 has always been a large, low-density association. That Cyg OB2 has a normal high-mass IMF for its total mass suggests that however massive stars form they randomly sample the IMF (as the massive stars did not know about each other).
The Cygnus region, which dominates the local spiral arm of the Galaxy, is one of the nearest complexes of massive star formation. Its massive stellar content, regions of ongoing star formation, and molecular gas have been studied in detail. However, little is known of the history of the region beyond the past 10 Myr. The brightness and spectroscopic characteristics of red supergiants make it easy to identify them and build up a virtually complete sample of such stars at the distance of the Cygnus region, thus providing a record of massive star formation extending several tens of Myr into the past, a period inaccessible through the O and early B stars observable at present. We have made a selection of a sample of bright, red stars in an area of 84 square degrees covering the whole present extension of the Cygnus region. We have obtained spectroscopy in the red visible range allowing an accurate, homogeneous spectral classification as well as a reliable separation between supergiants and other cool stars. Our data are complemented with Gaia Data Release 2 astrometric data. We have identified 29 red supergiants in the area, 17 of which had not been previously classified as supergiants. Twenty-four of the 29 most likely belong to the Cygnus region and four of the remaining to the Perseus arm. We have used their derived luminosities and masses to infer the star formation history of the region. Intense massive star formation activity is found to have started approximately 15 Myr ago, and we find evidence for two other episodes, one taking place between 20 and 30 Myr ago and another one having ended approximately 40 Myr ago. There are small but significant differences between the kinematic properties of red supergiants younger or older then 20 Myr, hinting that stars of the older group were formed outside the precursor of the present Cygnus complex, possibly in the Sagittarius-Carina arm.
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