No Arabic abstract
We present the $360^circ$ catalogue of physical properties of Hi-GAL compact sources, detected between 70 and 500 $mu$m. This release not only completes the analogous catalogue previously produced by the Hi-GAL collaboration for $-71^circ lesssim ell lesssim 67^circ$, but also meaningfully improves it thanks to a new set of heliocentric distances, 120808 in total. About a third of the 150223 entries are located in the newly added portion of the Galactic plane. A first classification based on detection at 70 $mu$m as a signature of ongoing star-forming activity distinguishes between protostellar sources (23~per cent of the total) and starless sources, with the latter further classified as gravitationally bound (pre-stellar) or unbound. The integral of the spectral energy distribution, including ancillary photometry from $lambda=21$ to 1100 $mu$m, gives the source luminosity and other bolometric quantities, while a modified black body fitted to data for $lambda geq 160, mu$m yields mass and temperature. All tabulated clump properties are then derived using photometry and heliocentric distance, where possible. Statistics of these quantities are discussed with respect to both source Galactic location and evolutionary stage. No strong differences in the distributions of evolutionary indicators are found between the inner and outer Galaxy. However, masses and densities in the inner Galaxy are on average significantly larger, resulting in a higher number of clumps that are candidates to host massive star formation. Median behaviour of distance-independent parameters tracing source evolutionary status is examined as a function of the Galactocentric radius, showing no clear evidence of correlation with spiral arm positions.
Hi-GAL is a large-scale survey of the Galactic plane, performed with Herschel in five infrared continuum bands between 70 and 500 $mu$m. We present a band-merged catalogue of spatially matched sources and their properties derived from fits to the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and heliocentric distances, based on the photometric catalogs presented in Molinari et al. (2016a), covering the portion of Galactic plane $-71.0^{circ}< ell < 67.0^{circ}$. The band-merged catalogue contains 100922 sources with a regular SED, 24584 of which show a 70 $mu$m counterpart and are thus considered proto-stellar, while the remainder are considered starless. Thanks to this huge number of sources, we are able to carry out a preliminary analysis of early stages of star formation, identifying the conditions that characterise different evolutionary phases on a statistically significant basis. We calculate surface densities to investigate the gravitational stability of clumps and their potential to form massive stars. We also explore evolutionary status metrics such as the dust temperature, luminosity and bolometric temperature, finding that these are higher in proto-stellar sources compared to pre-stellar ones. The surface density of sources follows an increasing trend as they evolve from pre-stellar to proto-stellar, but then it is found to decrease again in the majority of the most evolved clumps. Finally, we study the physical parameters of sources with respect to Galactic longitude and the association with spiral arms, finding only minor or no differences between the average evolutionary status of sources in the fourth and first Galactic quadrants, or between on-arm and inter-arm positions.
The recent data collected by {it Herschel} have confirmed that interstellar structures with filamentary shape are ubiquitously present in the Milky Way. Filaments are thought to be formed by several physical mechanisms acting from the large Galactic scales down to the sub-pc fractions of molecular clouds, and they might represent a possible link between star formation and the large-scale structure of the Galaxy. In order to study this potential link, a statistically significant sample of filaments spread throughout the Galaxy is required. In this work we present the first catalogue of $32,059$ candidate filaments automatically identified in the Hi-GAL survey of the entire Galactic Plane. For these objects we determined morphological (length, $l^{a}$, and geometrical shape) and physical (average column density, $N_{rm H_{2}}$, and average temperature, $T$) properties. We identified filaments with a wide range of properties: 2$$,$leq l^{a}leq$, 100$$, $10^{20} leq N_{rm H_{2}} leq 10^{23}$,cm$^{-2}$ and $10 leq Tleq$ 35,K. We discuss their association with the Hi-GAL compact sources, finding that the most tenuous (and stable) structures do not host any major condensation and we also assign a distance to $sim 18,400$ filaments for which we determine mass, physical size, stability conditions and Galactic distribution. When compared to the spiral arms structure, we find no significant difference between the physical properties of on-arm and inter-arm filaments. We compared our sample with previous studies, finding that our Hi-GAL filament catalogue represents a significant extension in terms of Galactic coverage and sensitivity. This catalogue represents an unique and important tool for future studies devoted to understanding the filament life-cycle.
Context. The APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) is the first systematic survey of the inner Galactic plane in the sub-millimetre. The observations were carried out with the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA), an array of 295 bolometers observing at 870 microns (345 GHz). Aims. Here we present a first version of the compact source catalogue extracted from this survey. This catalogue provides an unbiased database of dusty clumps in the inner Galaxy. Methods. The construction of this catalogue was made using the source extraction routine SExtractor. We have cross-associated the obtained sources with the IRAS and MSX catalogues, in order to constrain their nature. Results. We have detected 6639 compact sources in the range from 330 < l < 21 degrees and |b| < 1.5 degrees. The catalogue has a 99% completeness for sources with a peak flux above 6 sigma, which corresponds to a flux density of ~0.4 Jy/beam. The parameters extracted for sources with peak fluxes below the 6 sigma completeness threshold should be used with caution. Tests on simulated data find the uncertainty in the flux measurement to be ~12%, however, in more complex regions the flux values can be overestimated by a factor of 2 due to the additional background emission. Using a search radius of 30 we found that 40% of ATLASGAL compact sources are associated with an IRAS or MSX point source, but, ~50% are found to be associated with MSX 21 microns fluxes above the local background level, which is probably a lower limit to the actual number of sources associated with star formation. Conclusions. Although infrared emission is found towards the majority of the clumps detected, this catalogue is still likely to include a significant number of clumps that are devoid of star formation activity and therefore excellent candidates for objects in the coldest, earliest stages of (high-mass) star formation.
The APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) is the largest and most sensitive systematic survey of the inner Galactic plane in the submillimetre wavelength regime. The observations were carried out with the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA), an array of 295 bolometers observing at 870,$mu$m (345 GHz). Aim: In this research note we present the compact source catalogue for the 280degr $ <ell <$ 330degr and 21degr $ <ell <$ 60degr regions of this survey. Method: The construction of this catalogue was made with the source extraction routine sex using the same input parameters and procedures used to analyse the inner Galaxy region presented in an earlier publication (i.e., 330degr $ <ell <$ 21degr). Results: We have identified 3523 compact sources and present a catalogue of their properties. When combined with the regions already published this provides a comprehensive and unbiased database of ~10163 massive, dense clumps located across the inner Galaxy.
(Abridged) We present the first public release of high-quality data products (DR1) from Hi-GAL, the {em Herschel} infrared Galactic Plane Survey. Hi-GAL is the keystone of a suite of continuum Galactic Plane surveys from the near-IR to the radio, and covers five wavebands at 70, 160, 250, 350 and 500 micron, encompassing the peak of the spectral energy distribution of cold dust for 8 < T < 50K. This first Hi-GAL data release covers the inner Milky Way in the longitude range 68{deg} > l > -70{deg} in a |b|<1{deg} latitude strip. Photometric maps have been produced with the ROMAGAL pipeline, that optimally capitalizes on the excellent sensitivity and stability of the bolometer arrays of the {em Herschel} PACS and SPIRE photometric cameras, to deliver images of exquisite quality and dynamical range, absolutely calibrated with {em Planck} and {em IRAS}, and recovering extended emission at all wavelengths and all spatial scales. The compact source catalogues have been generated with the CuTEx algorithm, specifically developed to optimize source detection and extraction in the extreme conditions of intense and spatially varying background that are found in the Galactic Plane in the thermal infrared. Hi-GAL DR1 images will be accessible via a dedicated web-based image cutout service. The DR1 Compact Source Catalogues are delivered as single-band photometric lists containing, in addition to source position, peak and integrated flux and source sizes, a variety of parameters useful to assess the quality and reliability of the extracted sources, caveats and hints to help this assessment are provided. Flux completeness limits in all bands are determined from extensive synthetic source experiments and depend on the specific line of sight along the Galactic Plane. Hi-GAL DR1 catalogues contain 123210, 308509, 280685, 160972 and 85460 compact sources in the five bands, respectively.