scholarly journals ATOMS: ALMA Three-millimeter Observations of Massive Star-forming regions – I. Survey description and a first look at G9.62+0.19

2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (3) ◽  
pp. 2790-2820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tie Liu ◽  
Neal J Evans ◽  
Kee-Tae Kim ◽  
Paul F Goldsmith ◽  
Sheng-Yuan Liu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The ATOMS, standing for ALMA Three-millimeter Observations of Massive Star-forming regions, survey has observed 146 active star-forming regions with ALMA band 3, aiming to systematically investigate the spatial distribution of various dense gas tracers in a large sample of Galactic massive clumps, to study the roles of stellar feedback in star formation, and to characterize filamentary structures inside massive clumps. In this work, the observations, data analysis, and example science of the ATOMS survey are presented, using a case study for the G9.62+0.19 complex. Toward this source, some transitions, commonly assumed to trace dense gas, including CS J = 2−1, HCO+J = 1−0, and HCN J = 1−0, are found to show extended gas emission in low-density regions within the clump; less than 25 per cent of their emission is from dense cores. SO, CH3OH, H13CN, and HC3N show similar morphologies in their spatial distributions and reveal well the dense cores. Widespread narrow SiO emission is present (over ∼1 pc), which may be caused by slow shocks from large–scale colliding flows or H ii regions. Stellar feedback from an expanding H ii region has greatly reshaped the natal clump, significantly changed the spatial distribution of gas, and may also account for the sequential high-mass star formation in the G9.62+0.19 complex. The ATOMS survey data can be jointly analysed with other survey data, e.g. MALT90, Orion B, EMPIRE, ALMA_IMF, and ALMAGAL, to deepen our understandings of ‘dense gas’ star formation scaling relations and massive protocluster formation.

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S287) ◽  
pp. 184-185
Author(s):  
Florian Niederhofer ◽  
Elizabeth Humphreys ◽  
Ciriaco Goddi ◽  
Lincoln J. Greenhill

AbstractRadio Source I in the Orion BN/KL region provides the closest example of high mass star formation. It powers a rich ensemble of SiO and H2O masers, and is one of only three star-forming regions known to display SiO maser emission. Previous monitoring of different SiO masers with the VLBA and VLA has enabled the resolution of a compact disk and a protostellar wind at radii <100 AU from Source I, which collimates into a bipolar outflow at radii of 100-1000 AU (see contribution by Greenhill et al., this volume). Source I may provide the best case of disk-mediated accretion and outflow recollimation in massive star formation. Here, we report preliminary results of sub-arcsecond resolution 325 GHz H2O maser observations made with the SMA. We find that 325 GHz H2O masers trace a more collimated portion of the Source I outflow than masers at 22 GHz, but occur at similar radii suggesting similar excitation conditions. A velocity gradient perpendicular to the outflow axis, indicating rotation, supports magneto-centrifugal driving of the flow.


2019 ◽  
Vol 629 ◽  
pp. A135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Dib ◽  
Thomas Henning

We examine the spatial distribution and mass segregation of dense molecular cloud cores in a number of nearby star forming regions (the region L1495 in Taurus, Aquila, Corona Australis, and W43) that span about four orders of magnitude in star formation activity. We used an approach based on the calculation of the minimum spanning tree, and for each region, we calculated the structure parameter 𝒬 and the mass segregation ratio ΛMSR measured for various numbers of the most massive cores. Our results indicate that the distribution of dense cores in young star forming regions is very substructured and that it is very likely that this substructure will be imprinted onto the nascent clusters that will emerge out of these clouds. With the exception of Taurus in which there is nearly no mass segregation, we observe mild-to-significant levels of mass segregation for the ensemble of the 6, 10, and 14 most massive cores in Aquila, Corona Australis, and W43, respectively. Our results suggest that the clouds’ star formation activity are linked to their structure, as traced by their population of dense cores. We also find that the fraction of massive cores that are the most mass segregated in each region correlates with the surface density of star formation in the clouds. The Taurus region with low star forming activity is associated with a highly hierarchical spatial distribution of the cores (low 𝒬 value) and the cores show no sign of being mass segregated. On the other extreme, the mini-starburst region W43-MM1 has a higher 𝒬 that is suggestive of a more centrally condensed structure. Additionally, it possesses a higher fraction of massive cores that are segregated by mass. While some limited evolutionary effects might be present, we largely attribute the correlation between the star formation activity of the clouds and their structure to a dependence on the physical conditions that have been imprinted on them by the large scale environment at the time they started to assemble.


1997 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 537-549
Author(s):  
T. W. Hartquist ◽  
J. E. Dyson

Structures like the clumps identified in the CO maps of the Rosette Molecular Cloud and the dense cores such as those in B5, a cluster of cores and young low-mass stars, are key to considerations of star formation. Whether star formation is a self-inducing process or one that causes itself to turn off depends greatly on whether the responses of the interclump and intercore media to young stars cause the collapse of clumps or cores to be faster than their ablation. We present a naive introduction to the lengthscales over which such responses are significant, mention ways in which the responses might induce collapse, review some of the little that is known of how flows of media around clumps and cores ablate them, and then return to the issue of the lengthscales over which such responses are significant by considering the global properties of mass-loaded flows in clumpy star forming regions.


2002 ◽  
Vol 206 ◽  
pp. 147-150
Author(s):  
Vincent Minier ◽  
Roy Booth ◽  
John Conway ◽  
Michele Pestalozzi

We summarise our recent VLBI observations of a large sample of methanol maser sources associated with high-mass star-forming regions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S336) ◽  
pp. 323-324
Author(s):  
Sonu Tabitha Paulson ◽  
Jagadheep D. Pandian

AbstractMethanol masers at 6.7 GHz are the brightest of class II methanol masers and have been found exclusively towards massive star forming regions. These masers can thus be used as a unique tool to probe the early phases of massive star formation. We present here the SED studies of 284 methanol masers chosen from the MMB catalogue, which falls in the Hi-GAL range (|l| ≤ 60°, |b| ≤ 1°). The masers are studied using the ATLASGAL, MIPSGAL and Hi-GAL data at wavelengths ranging from 24−870 micrometers. A single grey body component fit was used to model the cold dust emission whereas the emission from the warm dust is modelled by a black body. The clump properties such as isothermal mass, FIR luminosity and MIR luminosity were obtained using the best fit parameters of the SED fits. We discuss the physical properties of the sources and explore the evolutionary stages of the sources having 6.7 GHz maser emission in the timeline of high mass star formation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 851-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Peck ◽  
A. Tarchi ◽  
C. Henkel ◽  
N. M. Nagar ◽  
J. Braatz ◽  
...  

AbstractWe report new detections of three H2O megamasers and one kilomaser using the Effelsberg 100-m telescope. Isotropic luminosities are ~50, 300, 1, and 230 L⊙ for Mrk 1066, Mrk 34, NGC 3556, and Arp 299, respectively. Mrk 34 contains the most distant H2O megamaser ever detected in a Seyfert. Our targets in this survey were chosen to fit one of the following criteria: 1) to have a high probability of interaction between the radio jet and the ISM within the central few parsecs of the radio galaxy, yielding masers which arise in local molecular clouds; or 2) to have very bright IRAS sources in which massive star forming regions might yield powerful masers. The ‘jet maser’ sources can provide detailed information about the conditions in the ISM in the central 1-10 pc of AGN. The extra-galactic ‘star formation masers’ can be used to pinpoint and characterize locations of high mass star formation in nearby galaxies. In addition, these sources will help to provide a better understanding of the chemical properties of molecular clouds in extra-galactic systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S345) ◽  
pp. 34-38
Author(s):  
Quang Nguyen-Luong ◽  
Neal Evans ◽  
Kee-Tae Kim ◽  
Hyunwoo Kang ◽  

AbstractStar formation takes place in the dense gas phase, and therefore a simple dense gas and star formation rate relation has been proposed. With the advent of multi-beam receivers, new observations show that the deviation from linear relations is possible. In addition, different dense gas tracers might also change significantly the measurement of dense gas mass and subsequently the relation between star formation rate and dense gas mass. We report the preliminary results the DEnse GAs in MAssive star-forming regions in the Milky Way (DEGAMA) survey that observed the dense gas toward a suite of well-characterized massive star-forming regions in the Milky Way. Using the resulting maps of HCO+ 1–0, HCN 1–0, CS 2–1, we discuss the current understanding of the dense gas phase where star formation takes place.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S292) ◽  
pp. 116-116
Author(s):  
Yuan Wang ◽  
Henrik Beuther ◽  
Qizhou Zhang ◽  
Arjan Bik ◽  
Javier A. Rodón ◽  
...  

AbstractWe observed with the Submillimeter Array and IRAM 30 m telescope three high-mass star-forming regions in different evolutionary stages in the W3 high-mass star formation complex. These regions, i.e. W3 SMS1 (W3 IRS5), SMS2 (W3 IRS4) and SMS3, are located within the same large-scale environment, which allows us to study rotation and outflows as well as chemical properties in an evolutionary sense. While we find multiple mm continuum sources toward all regions, these three subregions exhibit different dynamical and chemical properties, which indicates that they are in different evolutionary stages. Even within each sub-region, massive cores of different ages are found, e.g. in SMS2, sub-sources from the most evolved UCHii region to potential starless cores exist within 30 000 AU (left panel, Fig. 1). Outflows and rotational structures are found in SMS1 and SMS2. Evidence for interactions between the molecular cloud and the HII regions is found in the 13CO channel maps (right panel, Fig. 1), which may indicate triggered star formation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 609 ◽  
pp. A129 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Colzi ◽  
F. Fontani ◽  
P. Caselli ◽  
C. Ceccarelli ◽  
P. Hily-Blant ◽  
...  

The ratio between the two stable isotopes of nitrogen, 14N and 15N, is well measured in the terrestrial atmosphere (~272), and for the pre-solar nebula (~441, deduced from the solar wind). Interestingly, some pristine solar system materials show enrichments in 15N with respect to the pre-solar nebula value. However, it is not yet clear if and how these enrichments are linked to the past chemical history because we have only a limited number of measurements in dense star-forming regions. In this respect, dense cores, which are believed to be the precursors of clusters and also contain intermediate- and high-mass stars, are important targets because the solar system was probably born within a rich stellar cluster, and such clusters are formed in high-mass star-forming regions. The number of observations in such high-mass dense cores has remained limited so far. In this work, we show the results of IRAM-30 m observations of the J = 1−0 rotational transition of the molecules HCN and HNC and their 15N-bearing counterparts towards 27 intermediate- and high-mass dense cores that are divided almost equally into three evolutionary categories: high-mass starless cores, high-mass protostellar objects, and ultra-compact Hii regions. We have also observed the DNC(2–1) rotational transition in order to search for a relation between the isotopic ratios D/H and 14N/15N. We derive average 14N/15N ratios of 359 ± 16 in HCN and of 438 ± 21 in HNC, with a dispersion of about 150–200. We find no trend of the 14N/15N ratio with evolutionary stage. This result agrees with what has been found for N2H+ and its isotopologues in the same sources, although the 14N/15N ratios from N2H+ show a higher dispersion than in HCN/HNC, and on average, their uncertainties are larger as well. Moreover, we have found no correlation between D/H and 14N/15N in HNC. These findings indicate that (1) the chemical evolution does not seem to play a role in the fractionation of nitrogen, and that (2) the fractionation of hydrogen and nitrogen in these objects is not related.


2020 ◽  
Vol 644 ◽  
pp. A34
Author(s):  
G. Sabatini ◽  
S. Bovino ◽  
A. Giannetti ◽  
F. Wyrowski ◽  
M. A. Órdenes ◽  
...  

Context. Deuteration has been suggested to be a reliable chemical clock of star-forming regions due to its strong dependence on density and temperature changes during cloud contraction. In particular, the H3+ isotopologues (e.g. ortho-H2D+) seem to act as good proxies of the evolutionary stages of the star formation process. While this has been widely explored in low-mass star-forming regions, in the high-mass counterparts only a few studies have been pursued, and the reliability of deuteration as a chemical clock remains inconclusive. Aims. We present a large sample of o-H2D+ observations in high-mass star-forming regions and discuss possible empirical correlations with relevant physical quantities to assess its role as a chronometer of star-forming regions through different evolutionary stages. Methods. APEX observations of the ground-state transition of o-H2D+ were analysed in a large sample of high-mass clumps selected from the ATLASGAL survey at different evolutionary stages. Column densities and beam-averaged abundances of o-H2D+ with respect to H2, X(o-H2D+), were obtained by modelling the spectra under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium. Results. We detect 16 sources in o-H2D+ and find clear correlations between X(o-H2D+) and the clump bolometric luminosity and the dust temperature, while only a mild correlation is found with the CO-depletion factor. In addition, we see a clear correlation with the luminosity-to-mass ratio, which is known to trace the evolution of the star formation process. This would indicate that the deuterated forms of H3+ are more abundant in the very early stages of the star formation process and that deuteration is influenced by the time evolution of the clumps. In this respect, our findings would suggest that the X(o-H2D+) abundance is mainly affected by the thermal changes rather than density changes in the gas. We have employed these findings together with observations of H13CO+, DCO+, and C17O to provide an estimate of the cosmic-ray ionisation rate in a sub-sample of eight clumps based on recent analytical work. Conclusions. Our study presents the largest sample of o-H2D+ in star-forming regions to date. The results confirm that the deuteration process is strongly affected by temperature and suggests that o-H2D+ can be considered a reliable chemical clock during the star formation processes, as proved by its strong temporal dependence.


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