Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userThe JCMT dense gas survey of the Perseus Molecular Cloud
157
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
Samantha Walker-Smith
Publication date
2014
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present the results of a large-scale survey of the very dense gas in the Perseus molecular cloud using HCO+ and HCN (J = 4 - 3) transitions. We have used this emission to trace the structure and kinematics of gas found in pre- and protostellar cores, as well as in outflows. We compare the HCO+/HCN data, highlighting regions where there is a marked discrepancy in the spectra of the two emission lines. We use the HCO+ to identify positively protostellar outflows and their driving sources, and present a statistical analysis of the outflow properties that we derive from this tracer. We find that the relations we calculate between the HCO+ outflow driving force and the Menv and Lbol of the driving source are comparable to those obtained from similar outflow analyses using 12CO, indicating that the two molecules give reliable estimates of outflow properties. We also compare the HCO+ and the HCN in the outflows, and find that the HCN traces only the most energetic outflows, the majority of which are driven by young Class 0 sources. We analyse the abundances of HCN and HCO+ in the particular case of the IRAS 2A outflows, and find that the HCN is much more enhanced than the HCO+ in the outflow lobes. We suggest that this is indicative of shock-enhancement of HCN along the length of the outflow; this process is not so evident for HCO+, which is largely confined to the outflow base.
rate research
Read More
CO, $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O ${it J}$ = 3--2 observations are presented of the Ophiuchus molecular cloud. The $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O emission is dominated by the Oph A clump, and the Oph B1, B2, C, E, F and J regions. The optically thin(ner) C$^{18}$O line is used as a column density tracer, from which the gravitational binding energy is estimated to be $4.5 times 10^{39}$ J (2282 $M_odot$ km$^2$ s$^{-2}$). The turbulent kinetic energy is $6.3 times 10^{38}$ J (320 $M_odot$ km$^2$ s$^{-2}$), or 7 times less than this, and therefore the Oph cloud as a whole is gravitationally bound. Thirty protostars were searched for high velocity gas, with eight showing outflows, and twenty more having evidence of high velocity gas along their lines-of-sight. The total outflow kinetic energy is $1.3 times 10^{38}$ J (67 $M_odot$ km$^2$ s$^{-2}$), corresponding to 21$%$ of the clouds turbulent kinetic energy. Although turbulent injection by outflows is significant, but does ${it not}$ appear to be the dominant source of turbulence in the cloud. 105 dense molecular clumplets were identified, which had radii $sim$ 0.01--0.05 pc, virial masses $sim$ 0.1--12 $M_odot$, luminosities $sim$ 0.001--0.1 K~km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{-2}$, and excitation temperatures $sim$ 10--50K. These are consistent with the standard GMC based size-line width relationships, showing that the scaling laws extend down to size scales of hundredths of a parsec, and to sub solar-mass condensations. There is however no compelling evidence that the majority of clumplets are undergoing free-fall collapse, nor that they are pressure confined.
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 present the first 850 $mu$m polarization observations in the most active star-forming site of the Rosette Molecular Cloud (RMC, $dsim$1.6 kpc) in the wall of the Rosette Nebula, imaged with the SCUBA-2/POL-2 instruments of the JCMT, as part of the B-Fields In Star-Forming Region Observations 2 (BISTRO-2) survey. From the POL-2 data we find that the polarization fraction decreases with the 850 $mu$m continuum intensity with $alpha$ = 0.49 $pm$ 0.08 in the $p propto I^{rm -alpha}$ relation, which suggests that some fraction of the dust grains remain aligned at high densities. The north of our 850 $mu$m image reveals a gemstone ring morphology, which is a $sim$1 pc-diameter ring-like structure with extended emission in the head to the south-west. We hypothesize that it might have been blown by feedback in its interior, while the B-field is parallel to its circumference in most places. In the south of our SCUBA-2 field the clumps are apparently connected with filaments which follow Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs). Here, the POL-2 magnetic field orientations appear bimodal with respect to the large-scale Planck field. The mass of our effective mapped area is $sim$ 174 $M_odot$ that we calculate from 850 $mu$m flux densities. We compare our results with masses from large-scale emission-subtracted Herschel 250 $mu$m data, and find agreement within 30%. We estimate the POS B-field strength in one typical subregion using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi (DCF) technique and find 80 $pm$ 30 $mu$G toward a clump and its outskirts. The estimated mass-to-flux ratio of $lambda$ = 2.3 $pm$ 1.0 suggests that the B-field is not sufficiently strong to prevent gravitational collapse in this subregion.
(Abridged) Using the Arecibo Observatory we have obtained neutral hydrogen (HI) absorption and emission spectral pairs in the direction of 26 background radio continuum sources in the vicinity of the Perseus molecular cloud. Strong absorption lines were detected in all cases allowing us to estimate spin temperature (T_s) and optical depth for 107 individual Gaussian components along these lines of sight. Basic properties of individual HI clouds (spin temperature, optical depth, and the column density of the cold and warm neutral medium, CNM and WNM) in and around Perseus are very similar to those found for random interstellar lines of sight sampled by the Millennium HI survey. This suggests that the neutral gas found in and around molecular clouds is not atypical. However, lines of sight in the vicinity of Perseus have on average a higher total HI column density and the CNM fraction, suggesting an enhanced amount of cold HI relative to an average interstellar field. Our estimated optical depth and spin temperature are in stark contrast with the recent attempt at using Planck data to estimate properties of the optically thick HI. Only ~15% of lines of sight in our study have a column density weighted average spin temperature lower than 50 K, in comparison with >85% of Plancks sky coverage. The observed CNM fraction is inversely proportional to the optical-depth weighted average spin temperature, in excellent agreement with the recent numerical simulations by Kim et al. While the CNM fraction is on average higher around Perseus relative to a random interstellar field, it is generally low, 10-50%. This suggests that extended WNM envelopes around molecular clouds, and/or significant mixing of CNM and WNM throughout molecular clouds, are present and should be considered in the models of molecule and star formation.
Molecular clouds are a fundamental ingredient of galaxies: they are the channels that transform the diffuse gas into stars. The detailed process of how they do it is not completely understood. We review the current knowledge of molecular clouds and their substructure from scales $sim~$1~kpc down to the filament and core scale. We first review the mechanisms of cloud formation from the warm diffuse interstellar medium down to the cold and dense molecular clouds, the process of molecule formation and the role of the thermal and gravitational instabilities. We also discuss the main physical mechanisms through which clouds gather their mass, and note that all of them may have a role at various stages of the process. In order to understand the dynamics of clouds we then give a critical review of the widely used virial theorem, and its relation to the measurable properties of molecular clouds. Since these properties are the tools we have for understanding the dynamical state of clouds, we critically analyse them. We finally discuss the ubiquitous filamentary structure of molecular clouds and its connection to prestellar cores and star formation.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
