Infrared dark cloud

About: Infrared dark cloud is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 232 publications have been published within this topic receiving 13800 citations.

The 'Nessie' Nebula: Cluster Formation in a Filamentary Infrared Dark Cloud

Abstract: The "Nessie" Nebula is a filamentary infrared dark cloud (IRDC) with a large aspect ratio of over 150:1 (15 × 001 or 80 pc × 0.5 pc at a kinematic distance of 3.1 kpc). Maps of HNC (1-0) emission, a tracer of dense molecular gas, made with the Australia Telescope National Facility Mopra telescope, show an excellent morphological match to the mid-IR extinction. Moreover, because the molecular line emission from the entire nebula has the same radial velocity to within ±3.4 km s–1, the nebula is a single, coherent cloud and not the chance alignment of multiple unrelated clouds along the line of sight. The Nessie Nebula contains a number of compact, dense molecular cores which have a characteristic projected spacing of ~4.5 pc along the filament. The theory of gravitationally bound gaseous cylinders predicts the existence of such cores, which, due to the "sausage" or "varicose" fluid instability, fragment from the cylinder at a characteristic length scale. If turbulent pressure dominates over thermal pressure in Nessie, then the observed core spacing matches theoretical predictions. We speculate that the formation of high-mass stars and massive star clusters arises from the fragmentation of filamentary IRDCs caused by the "sausage" fluid instability that leads to the formation of massive, dense molecular cores. The filamentary molecular gas clouds often found near high-mass star-forming regions (e.g., Orion, NGC 6334, etc.) may represent a later stage of IRDC evolution.

Mid-infrared extinction mapping of infrared dark clouds. ii. the structure of massive starless cores and clumps

Abstract: We develop the mid-infrared extinction (MIREX) mapping technique of Butler & Tan (Paper I), presenting a new method to correct for the Galactic foreground emission based on observed saturation in independent cores. Using Spitzer GLIMPSE 8 μm images, this allows us to accurately probe mass surface densities, Σ, up to 0.5 g cm–2 with 2'' resolution and mitigate one of the main sources of uncertainty associated with Galactic MIREX mapping. We then characterize the structure of 42 massive starless and early-stage cores and their surrounding clumps, selected from 10 infrared dark clouds, measuring Σcl(r) from the core/clump centers. We first assess the properties of the core/clump at a scale where the total enclosed mass as projected on the sky is M cl = 60 M ☉. We find that these objects have a mean radius of R cl 0.1 pc, mean and, if fitted by a power-law (PL) density profile , a mean value of k ρ, cl = 1.1. If we assume a core is embedded in each clump and subtract the surrounding clump envelope to derive the core properties, then we find a mean core density PL index of k ρ, c = 1.6. We repeat this analysis as a function of radius and derive the best-fitting PL plus uniform clump envelope model for each of the 42 core/clumps. The cores have typical masses of Mc ~ 100 M ☉ and , and are embedded in clumps with comparable mass surface densities. We also consider Bonnor-Ebert density models, but these do not fit the observed Σ profiles as well as PLs. We conclude that massive starless cores exist and are well described by singular polytropic spheres. Their relatively low values of Σ and the fact that they are IR dark may imply that their fragmentation is inhibited by magnetic fields rather than radiative heating. Comparing to massive star-forming cores and clumps, there is tentative evidence for an evolution toward higher densities and steeper density profiles as star formation proceeds.

Submillimeter Observations of Midcourse Space Experiment Galactic Infrared-Dark Clouds

Abstract: We present 850 and 450 μm continuum images of infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs) taken with the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) submillimeter camera at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The IRDCs are large (1-10 pc diameter) molecular cores with gas densities ~106 cm-3 and temperatures ≈15 K. We detected strong submillimeter sources with peak flux densities of ≈1 Jy beam-1 at 850 μm in all eight clouds that were observed. The submillimeter emission generally lies within the envelope of the mid-infrared extinction where dense gas has been detected using H2CO as a tracer. The dust temperatures in the bright, compact sources are calculated to lie in the range 10-25 K. The masses of these sources are estimated to be in the range of several tens up to about a thousand solar masses. The corresponding gas column densities range over an order of magnitude, up to about 1023 cm-2. Several of the sources are detected in emission at both 850 and 8 μm. Two of the sources have HCO+ line profiles characteristic of molecular infall. It is likely that the bright, compact sources seen in the SCUBA images are in various early stages of star formation, from preprotostellar cores to class I objects.

Fragmentation of Molecular Clumps and Formation of Protocluster

Abstract: Sufficiently massive clumps of molecular gas collapse under self-gravity and fragment to spawn a cluster of stars that have a range of masses. We investigate observationally the early stages of formation of a stellar cluster in a massive filamentary infrared dark cloud, G28.34+0.06 P1, in the 1.3mm continuum and spectral line emission using the ALMA. Sensitive continuum data reveal further fragmentation in five dusty cores at a resolution of several 10^3 AU. Spectral line emission from C18O, CH3OH, 13CS, H2CO and N2D+ are detected for the first time toward these dense cores. We found that three cores are chemically more evolved as compared with the other two; interestingly though, all of them are associated with collimated outflows as suggested by evidence from the CO, SiO, CH3OH, H2CO and SO emissions. The parsec-scale kinematics in NH3 exhibit velocity gradients along the filament, consistent with accretion flows toward the clumps and cores. The moderate luminosity and the chemical signatures indicate that the five cores harbor low- to intermediate-mass protostars that likely become massive ones at the end of the accretion. Despite the fact that the mass limit reached by the 1\sigma dust continuum sensitivity is 30 times lower than the thermal Jeans mass, there is a lack of a distributed low-mass protostellar population in the clump. Our observations indicate that in a protocluster, low-mass stars form at a later stage after the birth of more massive protostars.

The spitzer gould belt survey of large nearby interstellar clouds : discovery of a dense embedded cluster in the serpens-aquila rift

Abstract: We report the discovery of a nearby, embedded cluster of young stellar objects, associated filamentary infrared dark cloud, and 4.5 μm shock emission knots from outflows detected in Spitzer IRAC mid-infrared imaging of the Serpens-Aquila Rift obtained as part of the Spitzer Gould Belt Legacy Survey. We also present radial velocity measurements of the region from molecular line observations obtained with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) that suggest the cluster is comoving with the Serpens Main embedded cluster 3° to the north. We therefore assign it the same distance, 260 pc. The core of the new cluster, which we call Serpens South, is composed of an unusually large fraction of protostars (77%) at high mean surface density (>430 pc−2) and short median nearest neighbor spacing (3700 AU). We perform basic cluster structure characterization using nearest neighbor surface density mapping of the YSOs and compare our findings to other known clusters with equivalent analyses available in the literature.