No Arabic abstract
The Galactic Center 50 km s$^{-1}$ Molecular Cloud (50MC) is the most remarkable molecular cloud in the Sagittarius A region. This cloud is a candidate for the massive star formation induced by cloud-cloud collision (CCC) with a collision velocity of $sim30rm~km~s^{-1}$ that is estimated from the velocity dispersion. We observed the whole of the 50MC with a high angular resolution ($sim2.0times1.4$) in ALMA cycle 1 in the H$^{13}$CO$^+~J=1-0$ and ${rm C^{34}S}~J=2-1$ emission lines. We identified 241 and 129 bound cores with a virial parameter of less than 2, which are thought to be gravitationally bound, in the H$^{13}$CO$^+$ and ${rm C^{34}S}$ maps using the clumpfind algorithm, respectively. In the CCC region, the bound ${rm H^{13}CO^+}$ and ${rm C^{34}S}$ cores are 119 and 82, whose masses are $68~%$ and $76~%$ of those in the whole 50MC, respectively. The distribution of the core number and column densities in the CCC are biased to larger densities than those in the non-CCC region. The distributions indicate that the CCC compresses the molecular gas and increases the number of the dense bound cores. Additionally, the massive bound cores with masses of $>3000~M_{odot}$ exist only in the CCC region, although the slope of the core mass function (CMF) in the CCC region is not different from that in the non-CCC region. We conclude that the compression by the CCC efficiently formed massive bound cores even if the slope of the CMF is not changed so much by the CCC.
We performed a search of star-forming sites influenced by external factors, such as SNRs, HII regions, and cloud-cloud collisions, to understand the star-forming activity in the Galactic center region using the NRO Galactic Center Survey in SiO $v=0, J=2-1$, H$^{13}$CO$^+ J=1-0$, and CS $J=1-0$ emission lines obtained by the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. We found a half-shell like feature (HSF) with a high integrated line intensity ratio of $ int T_{ mathrm B}$(SiO $v=0, J=2-1$)$dv$/$ int T_{ mathrm B}$(H$^{13}$CO$^+ J=1-0$)$dv sim6-8$ in the 50 km s$^{-1}$ molecular cloud, which is a most conspicuous molecular cloud in the region and harbors an active star-forming site seen as several compact HII regions. The high ratio in the HSF indicates that the cloud contains huge shocked molecular gas. The HSF is also seen as a half-shell feature in the position-velocity diagram. A hypothesis explaining the chemical and kinetic properties of the HSF is that the feature is originated by a cloud-cloud collision (CCC). We analyzed the CS $J=1-0$ emission line data obtained by Nobeyama Millimeter Array to reveal the relation between the HSF and the molecular cloud cores in the cloud. We made a cumulative core mass function (CMF) of the molecular cloud cores within the HSF. The CMF in the CCC region is not truncated at least up to $ sim2500M_ odot$ although the CMF of the non-CCC region reaches the upper limit of $ sim1500M_ odot$. Most massive molecular cores with $M_{ mathrm{gas}}>750 M_{ odot}$ are located only around the ridge of the HSF and adjoin the compact HII region. These may be a sign of massive star formation induced by CCC in the Galactic center region.
We present the statistical properties of molecular clumps in the Galactic center 50 km s$^{-1}$ molecular cloud (GCM-0.02-0.07) based on observations of the CS $J=1-0$ emission line with the Nobeyama Millimeter Array. In the cloud, 37 molecular clumps with local thermal equilibrium (LTE) masses of $2times10^2-6times10^3 M_odot$ were identified by using the {it clumpfind} algorithm. The velocity widths of the molecular clumps are about five-fold those of Galactic disk molecular clouds with the same radius. The virial-theorem masses are three-fold the LTE masses. The mass and size spectra can be described by power laws of $dN/dMpropto M^{-2.6pm0.1}$ ($Mgtrsim 900M_odot$) and $dN/dRpropto R^{-5.9pm0.3}$ ($Rgtrsim 0.35$ pc), respectively. The statistical properties of the region interacting with the Sgr A East shell and those of the non-interacting part of the cloud are significantly different. The interaction probably makes the mass function steeper, from $dN/dMpropto M^{-2.0pm0.1}$ in the non-interacting part to $dN/dMpropto M^{-4.0pm0.2}$ in the interacting region. On the other hand, the interaction presumably truncates the size spectrum on the larger side of $Rsim 0.4$ pc.
Recent large-area, deep CO surveys in the Galactic disk have revealed the formation of ~50 high-mass stars or clusters triggered by cloud-cloud collisions (CCCs). Although the Galactic Center (GC) -- which contains the highest volume density of molecular gas -- is the most favorable place for cloud collisions, systematic studies of CCCs in that region are still untouched. Here we report for the first time evidence of CCCs in the common foot point of molecular loops 1 and 2 in the GC. We have investigated the distribution of molecular gas toward the foot point by using a methodology for identifying CCCs, and we have discovered clear signatures of CCCs. Using the estimated displacements and relative velocities of the clouds, we find the elapsed time since the beginnings of the collisions to be 105-6 yr. We consider possible origins for previously reported peculiar velocity features in the foot point and discuss star formation triggered by CCCs in the GC.
We present the first systematic study of the density structure of clouds found in a complete sample covering all major molecular clouds in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ; inner $sim{}200~rm{}pc$) of the Milky Way. This is made possible by using data from the Galactic Center Molecular Cloud Survey (GCMS), the first study resolving all major molecular clouds in the CMZ at interferometer angular resolution. We find that many CMZ molecular clouds have unusually shallow density gradients compared to regions elsewhere in the Milky Way. This is possibly a consequence of weak gravitational binding of the clouds. The resulting relative absence of dense gas on spatial scales $sim{}0.1~rm{}pc$ is probably one of the reasons why star formation (SF) in dense gas of the CMZ is suppressed by a factor $sim{}10$, compared to solar neighborhood clouds. Another factor suppressing star formation are the high SF density thresholds that likely result from the observed gas kinematics. Further, it is possible but not certain that the star formation activity and the cloud density structure evolve systematically as clouds orbit the CMZ.
We have mapped six molecular cloud cores in the Orion A giant molecular cloud (GMC), whose kinetic temperatures range from 10 to 30 K, in CCS and N2H+ with Nobeyama 45 m radio telescope to study their chemical characteristics. We identified 31 intensity peaks in the CCS and N2H+ emission in these molecular cloud cores. It is found for cores with temperatures lower than ~ 25 K that the column density ratio of N(N2H+)/N(CCS) is low toward starless core regions while it is high toward star-forming core regions, in case that we detected both of the CCS and N2H+ emission. This is very similar to the tendency found in dark clouds (kinetic temperature ~ 10 K). The criterion found in the Orion A GMC is N(N2H+)/N(CCS) ~ 2-3. In some cases, the CCS emission is detected toward protostars as well as the N2H+ emission. Secondary late-stage CCS peak in the chemical evolution caused by CO depletion may be a possible explanation for this. We found that the chemical variation of CCS and N2H+ can also be used as a tracer of evolution in warm (10-25 K) GMC cores. On the other hand, some protostars do not accompany N2H+ intensity peaks but are associated with dust continuum emitting regions, suggesting that the N2H+ abundance might be decreased due to CO evaporation in warmer star-forming sites.