| 1. |
- Barnes, A. T., et al.
(författare)
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ALMA-IRDC: dense gas mass distribution from cloud to core scales
- 2021
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 503:3, s. 4601-4626
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are potential hosts of the elusive early phases of high mass star formation (HMSF). Here, we conduct an in-depth analysis of the fragmentation properties of a sample of 10 IRDCs, which have been highlighted as some of the best candidates to study HMSF within the Milky Way. To do so, we have obtained a set of large mosaics covering these IRDCs with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at Band 3 (or 3 mm). These observations have a high angular resolution (similar to 3 arcsec; similar to 0.05 pc), and high continuum and spectral line sensitivity (similar to 0.15 mJy beam(-1) and similar to 0.2 K per 0.1 km s(-1) channel at the N2H+ (1 - 0) transition). From the dust continuum emission, we identify 96 cores ranging from low to high mass (M = 3.4-50.9M(circle dot)) that are gravitationally bound (alpha(vir) = 0.3-1.3) and which would require magnetic field strengths of B = 0.3-1.0 mG to be in virial equilibrium. We combine these results with a homogenized catalogue of literature cores to recover the hierarchical structure within these clouds over four orders of magnitude in spatial scale (0.01-10 pc). Using supplementary observations at an even higher angular resolution, we find that the smallest fragments (<0.02 pc) within this hierarchy do not currently have the mass and/or the density required to form high-mass stars. None the less, the new ALMA observations presented in this paper have facilitated the identification of 19 (6 quiescent and 13 star-forming) cores that retain >16M(circle dot) without further fragmentation. These high-mass cores contain trans-sonic non-thermal motions, are kinematically sub-virial, and require moderate magnetic field strengths for support against collapse. The identification of these potential sites of HMSF represents a key step in allowing us to test the predictions from high-mass star and cluster formation theories.
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| 2. |
- Barnes, Ashley T., et al.
(författare)
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Mother of dragons: A massive, quiescent core in the dragon cloud (IRDC G028.37+00.07)
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 675
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Core accretion models of massive star formation require the existence of massive, starless cores within molecular clouds. Yet, only a small number of candidates for such truly massive, monolithic cores are currently known. Aims. Here we analyse a massive core in the well-studied infrared-dark cloud (IRDC) called the dragon clouda'(also known as G028.37+00.07 or Cloud Ca). This core (C2c1) sits at the end of a chain of a roughly equally spaced actively star-forming cores near the center of the IRDC. Methods. We present new high-angular-resolution 1 mm ALMA dust continuum and molecular line observations of the massive core. Results. The high-angular-resolution observations show that this region fragments into two cores, C2c1a and C2c1b, which retain significant background-subtracted masses of 23 M· and 2 M· (31 M· and 6 M· without background subtraction), respectively. The cores do not appear to fragment further on the scales of our highest-angular-resolution images (0.2 , 0.005 pc ∼ 1000 AU). We find that these cores are very dense (nH2 > 106 cm-3) and have only trans-sonic non-thermal motions ( 3s ∼ 1). Together the mass, density, and internal motions imply a virial parameter of
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| 3. |
- Cosentino, Giuliana, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Deuterium fractionation across the infrared-dark cloud G034.77-00.55 interacting with the supernova remnant W44
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 675
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Supernova remnants (SNRs) may regulate star formation in galaxies. For example, SNR-driven shocks may form new molecular gas or compress pre-existing clouds and trigger the formation of new stars. Aims. To test this scenario, we measured the deuteration of N2H+, DNfrac 2H+- a well-studied tracer of pre-stellar cores - across the infrared-dark cloud (IRDC) G034.77-00.55, which is known to be experiencing a shock interaction with the SNR W44. Methods. We use N2H+ and N2D+ J = 1-0 single pointing observations obtained with the 30m antenna at the Instituto de Radioastronomia Millimetrica to infer DN2H+ frac towards five positions across the cloud, namely a massive core, different regions across the shock front, a dense clump, and ambient gas. Results. We find DN2H+ frac in the range 0.03-0.1, which is several orders of magnitude larger than the cosmic D/H ratio (∼10-5). The DN2H+ frac across the shock front is enhanced by more than a factor of 2 (DNfrac 2H+∼ 0.05-0.07) with respect to the ambient gas (=0.03) and similar to that measured generally in pre-stellar cores. Indeed, in the massive core and dense clump regions of this IRDC we measure DN2H+ frac ∼ 0.1.
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| 4. |
- Cosentino, Giuliana, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Negative and positive feedback from a supernova remnant with SHREC. a detailed study of the shocked gas in IC443
- 2022
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 511:1, s. 953-963
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Supernova remnants (SNRs) contribute to regulate the star formation efficiency and evolution of galaxies. As they expand into the interstellar medium (ISM), they transfer vast amounts of energy and momentum that displace, compress, and heat the surrounding material. Despite the extensive work in galaxy evolution models, it remains to be observationally validated to what extent the molecular ISM is affected by the interaction with SNRs. We use the first results of the ESO-ARO Public Spectroscopic Survey SHREC to investigate the shock interaction between the SNR IC443 and the nearby molecular clump G. We use high-sensitivity SiO(2-1) and (HCO+)-C-13 (1-0) maps obtained by SHREC together with SiO(1-0) observations obtained with the 40-m telescope at the Yebes Observatory. We find that the bulk of the SiO emission is arising from the ongoing shock interaction between IC443 and clump G. The shocked gas shows a well-ordered kinematic structure, with velocities blue-shifted with respect to the central velocity of the SNR, similar to what observed towards other SNR-cloud interaction sites. The shock compression enhances the molecular gas density, n(H-2), up to >10(5) cm(-3), a factor of >10 higher than the ambient gas density and similar to values required to ignite star formation. Finally, we estimate that up to 50 per cent of the momentum injected by IC443 is transferred to the interacting molecular material. Therefore, the molecular ISM may represent an important momentum carrier in sites of SNR-cloud interactions.
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| 5. |
- Fedriani, Rubén, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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The SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. IV. Isolated Protostars
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 942:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present similar to 10-40 mu m SOFIA-FORCAST images of 11 isolated protostars as part of the SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey, with this morphological classification based on 37 mu m imaging. We develop an automated method to define source aperture size using the gradient of its background-subtracted enclosed flux and apply this to build spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We fit the SEDs with radiative transfer models, developed within the framework of turbulent core accretion (TCA) theory, to estimate key protostellar properties. Here, we release the sedcreator python package that carries out these methods. The SEDs are generally well fitted by the TCA models, from which we infer initial core masses M ( c ) ranging from 20-430 M (circle dot), clump mass surface densities sigma(cl) similar to 0.3-1.7 g cm(-2), and current protostellar masses m (*) similar to 3-50 M (circle dot). From a uniform analysis of the 40 sources in the full SOMA survey to date, we find that massive protostars form across a wide range of clump mass surface density environments, placing constraints on theories that predict a minimum threshold sigma(cl) for massive star formation. However, the upper end of the m (*)-sigma(cl) distribution follows trends predicted by models of internal protostellar feedback that find greater star formation efficiency in higher sigma(cl) conditions. We also investigate protostellar far-IR variability by comparison with IRAS data, finding no significant variation over an similar to 40 yr baseline.
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| 6. |
- Fontani, F., et al.
(författare)
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ALMA-IRDC - II. First high-angular resolution measurements of the N-14/N-15 ratio in a large sample of infrared-dark cloud cores
- 2021
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 503:3, s. 4320-4335
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The N-14/N-15 ratio in molecules exhibits a large variation in star-forming regions, especially when measured from N2H+ isotopologues. However, there are only a few studies performed at high-angular resolution. We present the first interferometric survey of the N-14/N-15 ratio in N2H+ obtained with Atacama Large Millimeter Array observations towards four infrared-dark clouds harbouring 3 mm continuum cores associated with different physical properties. We detect (NNH+)-N-15 (1-0) in of the cores, depending on the host cloud. The N-14/N-15 values measured towards the millimetre continuum cores range from a minimum of similar to 80 up to a maximum of similar to 400. The spread of values is narrower than that found in any previous single-dish survey of high-mass star-forming regions and than that obtained using the total power data only. This suggests that the N-14/N-15 ratio is on average higher in the diffuse gaseous envelope of the cores and stresses the need for high-angular resolution maps to measure correctly the N-14/N-15 ratio in dense cores embedded in IRDCs. The average N-14/N-15 ratio of similar to 210 is also lower than the interstellar value at the Galactocentric distance of the clouds (similar to 300-330), although the sensitivity of our observations does not allow us to unveil N-14/N-15 ratios higher than similar to 400. No clear trend is found between the N-14/N-15 ratio and the core physical properties. We find only a tentative positive trend between N-14/N-15 and H-2 column density. However, firmer conclusions can be drawn only with higher sensitivity measurements.
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| 7. |
- Gorai, Prasanta, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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Astrochemical Diagnostics of the Isolated Massive Protostar G28.20-0.05
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 960:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study the astrochemical diagnostics of the isolated massive protostar G28.20-0.05. We analyze data from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 1.3 mm observations with a resolution of 0.″2 (∼1000 au). We detect emission from a wealth of species, including oxygen-bearing (e.g., H2CO, CH3OH, CH3OCH3), sulfur-bearing (SO2, H2S), and nitrogen-bearing (e.g., HNCO, NH2CHO, C2H3CN, C2H5CN) molecules. We discuss their spatial distributions, physical conditions, correlation between different species, and possible chemical origins. In the central region near the protostar, we identify three hot molecular cores (HMCs). HMC1 is part of a millimeter continuum ring-like structure, is closest in projection to the protostar, has the highest temperature of ∼300 K, and shows the most line-rich spectra. HMC2 is on the other side of the ring, has a temperature of ∼250 K, and is of intermediate chemical complexity. HMC3 is further away, ∼3000 au in projection, cooler (∼70 K), and is the least line-rich. The three HMCs have similar mass surface densities (∼10 g cm−2), number densities (n H ∼ 109 cm−3), and masses of a few solar masses. The total gas mass in the cores and in the region out to 3000 au is ∼25 M ⊙, which is comparable to that of the central protostar. Based on spatial distributions of peak line intensities as a function of excitation energy, we infer that the HMCs are externally heated by the protostar. We estimate column densities and abundances of the detected species and discuss the implications for hot core astrochemistry.
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| 8. |
- Law, Chi Yan, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Isolated Massive Star Formation in G28.20-0.05
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 939:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report high-resolution 1.3 mm continuum and molecular line observations of the massive protostar G28.20-0.05 with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The continuum image reveals a ring-like structure with 2000 au radius, similar to morphology seen in archival 1.3 cm Very Large Array observations. Based on its spectral index and associated H30α emission, this structure mainly traces ionized gas. However, there is evidence for ∼30 M ⊙ of dusty gas near the main millimeter continuum peak on one side of the ring, as well as in adjacent regions within 3000 au. A virial analysis on scales of ∼2000 au from hot core line emission yields a dynamical mass of ∼80 M ⊙. A strong velocity gradient in the H30α emission is evidence for a rotating, ionized disk wind, which drives a larger-scale molecular outflow. An infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis indicates a current protostellar mass of m * ∼ 40 M ⊙ forming from a core with initial mass M c ∼ 300 M ⊙ in a clump with mass surface density of Σcl ∼ 0.8 g cm−2. Thus the SED and other properties of the system can be understood in the context of core accretion models. A structure-finding analysis on the larger-scale continuum image indicates G28.20-0.05 is forming in a relatively isolated environment, with no other concentrated sources, i.e., protostellar cores, above ∼1 M ⊙ found from ∼0.1 to 0.4 pc around the source. This implies that a massive star can form in relative isolation, and the dearth of other protostellar companions within the ∼1 pc environs is a strong constraint on massive star formation theories that predict the presence of a surrounding protocluster.
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| 9. |
- Cosentino, Giuliana, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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SiO emission as a probe of cloud-cloud collisions in infrared dark clouds
- 2020
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 499:2, s. 1666-1681
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are very dense and highly extincted regions that host the initial conditions of star and stellar cluster formation. It is crucial to study the kinematics and molecular content of IRDCs to test their formation mechanism and ultimately characterize these initial conditions. We have obtained high-sensitivity Silicon Monoxide, SiO(2-1), emission maps towards the six IRDCs, G018.82-00.28, G019.27+00.07, G028.53-00.25, G028.67+00.13, G038.95-00.47, and G053.11+00.05 (cloud A, B, D, E, I, and J, respectively), using the 30-m antenna at the Instituto de Radioastronomia Millimetrica (IRAM30m). We have investigated the SiO spatial distribution and kinematic structure across the six clouds to look for signatures of cloud-cloud collision events that may have formed the IRDCs and triggered star formation within them. Towards clouds A, B, D, I, and J, we detect spatially compact SiO emission with broad-line profiles that are spatially coincident with massive cores. Towards the IRDCs A and I, we report an additional SiO component that shows narrow-line profiles and that is widespread across quiescent regions. Finally, we do not detect any significant SiO emission towards cloud E. We suggest that the broad and compact SiO emission detected towards the clouds is likely associated with ongoing star formation activity within the IRDCs. However, the additional narrow and widespread SiO emission detected towards cloud A and I may have originated from the collision between the IRDCs and flows of molecular gas pushed towards the clouds by nearby H II regions.
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| 10. |
- Costa Silva, A. R., et al.
(författare)
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NIR jets from a clustered region of massive star formation: Morphology and composition in the IRAS 18264-1152 region
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 659
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Massive stars play crucial roles in determining the physical and chemical evolution of galaxies. However, they form deeply embedded in their parental clouds, making it challenging to directly observe these stars and their immediate environments. It is known that accretion and ejection processes are intrinsically related, thus observing the massive protostellar outflows can provide crucial information about the processes governing massive star formation very close to the central engine. Aims. We aim to probe the IRAS 18264-1152 (also known as G19.88-0.53) high-mass star-forming complex in the near infrared (NIR) through its molecular hydrogen (H2) jets to analyse the morphology and composition of the line emitting regions and to compare with other outflow tracers. Methods. We observed the H2 NIR jets via K-band (1.9 2.5 μm) observations obtained with the integral field units VLT/SINFONI and VLT/KMOS. VLT/SINFONI provides the highest NIR angular resolution achieved so far for the central region of IRAS 18264-1152 (∼0.2). We compared the geometry of the NIR outflows with that of the associated molecular outflow, probed by CO (2-1) emission mapped with the Submillimeter Array. Results. We identify nine point sources in the SINFONI and KMOS fields of view. Four of these display a rising continuum in the K-band and are Brγ emitters, revealing that they are young, potentially jet-driving sources. The spectro-imaging analysis focusses on the H2 jets, for which we derived visual extinction, temperature, column density, area, and mass. The intensity, velocity, and excitation maps based on H2 emission strongly support the existence of a protostellar cluster in this region, with at least two (and up to four) different large-scale outflows, found through the NIR and radio observations. We compare our results with those found in the literature and find good agreement in the outflow morphology. This multi-wavelength comparison also allows us to derive a stellar density of ∼4000 stars pc-3. Conclusions. Our study reveals the presence of several outflows driven by young sources from a forming cluster of young, massive stars, demonstrating the utility of such NIR observations for characterising massive star-forming regions. Moreover, the derived stellar number density together with the geometry of the outflows suggest that stars can form in a relatively ordered manner in this cluster.
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