No Arabic abstract
According to a triggered star formation scenario (e.g. Martin-Pintado & Cernicharo 1987) outflows powered by young stellar objects shape the molecular clouds, can dig cavities, and trigger new star formation. NGC 1333 is an active site of low- and intermediate star formation in Perseus and is a suggested site of self-regulated star formation Norman & Silk 1980. Therefore it is a suitable target for a study of triggered star formation (e.g. Sandell & Knee 2001, SK 1). On the other hand, continuum sub-mm observations of star forming regions can detect dust thermal emission of embedded sources (which drive outflows), and further detailed structures. Within the framework of our wide-field mapping of star formation regions in the Perseus and Orion molecular clouds using SCUBA at 850 and 450 micrometers, we map NCG 1333 with an area of around 14 x 21. The maps show more structure than the previous maps of the region observed in sub-mm. We have unveiled the known embedded SK 1 source (in the dust shell of the SSV 13 ridge) and detailed structure of the region, among some other young protostars. In agreement with the SK 1 observations, our map of the region shows lumpy filaments and shells/cavities that seem to be created by outflows. The measured mass of SK 1 (~0.07 Msun) is much less than its virial mass (~0.2-1 Msun). Our observations support the idea of SK 1 as an event triggered by outflow-driven shells in NGC 1333 (induced by an increase in gas pressure and density due to radiation pressure from the stellar winds, that have presumably created the dust shell). This kind of evidences provides a more thorough understanding of the star formation regulation processes.
Evidence for triggered star formation linking three generations of stars is difficult to assemble, as it requires convincingly associating evolved massive stars with Hii regions that, in turn, would need to present signs of active star formation. We present observational evidence for triggered star formation relating three generations of stars in the neighbourhood of the star LS II +26 8. We carried out new spectroscopic observations of LS II +26 8, revealing that it is a B0 III-type star. We note that LS II +26 8 is located exactly at the geometric centre of a semi-shell-like Hii region complex. The most conspicuous component of this complex is the Hii region Sh2-90, which is probably triggering a new generation of stars. The distances to LS II +26 8 and to Sh2-90 are in agreement (between 2.6 and 3 kpc). Analysis of the interstellar medium on a larger spatial scale shows that Hii region complex lies on the northwestern border of an extended H2 shell. The radius of this molecular shell is about 13 pc, which is in agreement with what an O9V star (the probable initial spectral type of LS II +26 8 as inferred from evolutive tracks) can generate through its winds in the molecular environment. In conclusion, the spatial and temporal correspondences derived in our analysis enable us to propose a probable triggered star formation scenario initiated by the evolved massive star LS II +26 8 during its main sequence stage, followed by stars exciting the Hii region complex formed in the molecular shell, and culminating in the birth of YSOs around Sh2-90.
We present a complete survey of current star formation in the Perseus molecular cloud, made at 850 and 450 micron with SCUBA at the JCMT. Covering 3 deg^2, this submillimetre continuum survey for protostellar activity is second in size only to that of rho Ophiuchus (Johnstone et al. 2004). Complete above 0.4 msun (5 sigma detection in a 14 beam), we detect a total of 91 protostars and prestellar cores. Of these, 80% lie in clusters, representative of star formation across the Galaxy. Two of the groups of cores are associated with the young stellar clusters IC348 and NGC1333, and are consistent with a steady or reduced star formation rate in the last 0.5 Myr, but not an increasing one. In Perseus, 40--60% of cores are in small clusters (< 50 msun) and isolated objects, much more than the 10% suggested from infrared studies. Complementing the dust continuum, we present a C^18O map of the whole cloud at 1 resolution. The gas and dust show filamentary structure of the dense gas on large and small scales, with the high column density filaments breaking up into clusters of cores. The filament mass per unit length is 5--11 msun per 0.1 pc. Given these filament masses, there is no requirement for substantial large scale flows along or onto the filaments in order to gather sufficient material for star formation. We find that the probability of finding a submillimetre core is a strongly increasing function of column density, as measured by C^18O integrated intensity, prob(core) proportional to I^3.0. This power law relation holds down to low column density, suggesting that there is no A_v threshold for star formation in Perseus, unless all the low-A_v submm cores can be demonstrated to be older protostars which have begun to lose their natal molecular cloud.
We present a multi-wavelength study of the IR bubble G24.136+00.436. The J=1-0 observations of $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O were carried out with the Purple Mountain Observatory 13.7 m telescope. Molecular gas with a velocity of 94.8 km s$^{-1}$ is found prominently in the southeast of the bubble, shaping as a shell with a total mass of $sim2times10^{4}$ $M_{odot}$. It is likely assembled during the expansion of the bubble. The expanding shell consists of six dense cores. Their dense (a few of $10^{3}$ cm$^{-3}$) and massive (a few of $10^{3}$ $M_{odot}$) characteristics coupled with the broad linewidths ($>$ 2.5 km s$^{-1}$) suggest they are promising sites of forming high-mass stars or clusters. This could be further consolidated by the detection of compact HII regions in Cores A and E. We tentatively identified and classified 63 candidate YSOs based on the emph{Spitzer} and UKIDSS data. They are found to be dominantly distributed in regions with strong emission of molecular gas, indicative of active star formation especially in the shell. The HII region inside the bubble is mainly ionized by a $sim$O8V star(s), of the dynamical age $sim$1.6 Myr. The enhanced number of candidate YSOs and secondary star formation in the shell as well as time scales involved, indicate a possible scenario of triggering star formation, signified by the collect and collapse process.
The star formation triggered in dense walls of expanding shells will be discussed. The fragmentation process is studied using the linear and non-linear perturbation theory. The influence of the energy input, the ISM distribution and the speed of sound is examined analytically and by numerical simulations. We formulate the condition for the gravitational fragmentation of expanding shells: if the total surface density of the disc is higher than a certain critical value, shells are unstable. This value depends on the energy of the shell and the sound speed in the ISM. As an example the formation of OB associations near the Sun will be discussed. We trace their orbits in the Milky Way to see where they have been born: 10 - 12 Myr ago progenitors of Scorpius-Centaurus OB associations and the Orion OB association resided together within a sheet-like region elongated in the $l = 20-200degrees direction, showing that the local OB associations may be formed as fragments of an expanding supershell.
Galaxy pairs provide a potentially powerful means of studying triggered star formation from galaxy interactions. We use a large cosmological N-body simulation coupled with a well-tested semi-analytic substructure model to demonstrate that the majority of galaxies in close pairs reside within cluster or group-size halos and therefore represent a biased population, poorly suited for direct comparison to ``field galaxies. Thus, the frequent observation that some types of galaxies in pairs have redder colors than ``field galaxies is primarily a selection effect. We select galaxy pairs that are isolated in their dark matter halos with respect to other massive subhalos (N=2 halos) and a control sample of isolated galaxies (N=1 halos) for comparison. We then apply these selection criteria to a volume-limited subset of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey with M_Bj <= -19 and obtain the first clean measure of the typical fraction of galaxies affected by triggered star formation and the average elevation in the star formation rate. We find that 24% (30.5%) of these L^star and sub-L^{star} galaxies in isolated 50 (30) kpc/h pairs exhibit star formation that is boosted by a factor of >~ 5 above their average past value, while only 10% of isolated galaxies in the control sample show this level of enhancement. Thus, 14% (20 %) of the galaxies in these close pairs show clear triggered star formation. The isolation criteria we develop provide a means to constrain star formation and feedback prescriptions in hydrodynamic simulations and a very general method of understanding the importance of triggered star formation in a cosmological context. (Abridged.)