Context. The deuterium fractionation in starless cores gives us a clue to estimate their lifetime scales, thus allowing us to distinguish between dynamical theories of core formation. Cores also seem to be subject to a differential N 2 and CO depletion, which was not expected from the models. Aims. We aim to create a survey of ten cores to estimate their lifetime scales and depletion profiles in detail. After describing L 183, located in Serpens, we present the second cloud of the series, L 1512, from the star-forming region Auriga. Methods. To constrain the lifetime scale, we performed chemical modeling of the deuteration profiles across L 1512 based on dust extinction measurements from near-infrared observations and nonlocal thermal equilibrium radiative transfer with multiple line observations of N 2 H + , N 2 D + , DCO + , C 18 O, and 13 CO, plus H 2 D + (1 10 -1 11 ). Results. We find a peak density of 1.1×10 5 cm −3 and a central temperature of 7.5±1 K, which are higher and lower, respectively, compared with previous dust emission studies. The depletion factors of N 2 H + and N 2 D + are 27 +17 −13 and 4 +2 −1 in L 1512, which are intermediate between the two other more advanced and denser starless core cases, L 183 and L 1544. These factors also indicate a similar freeze-out of N 2 in L 1512, compared to the two others despite a peak density one to two orders of magnitude lower. Retrieving CO and N 2 abundance profiles with the chemical model, we find that CO has a depletion factor of ∼430-870 and the N 2 profile is similar to that of CO unlike that toward L 183. Therefore, L 1512 has probably been living long enough so that N 2 chemistry has reached steady state. Conclusions. N 2 H + modeling is necessary to assess the precise physical conditions in the center of cold starless cores, rather than dust emission. L 1512 is presumably older than 1.4 Myr. Therefore, the dominating core formation mechanism should be ambipolar diffusion for this source.

The formation of filaments in molecular clouds is an important process in star formation. Hub–filament systems (HFSs) are a transition stage connecting parsec-scale filaments and protoclusters. Understanding the origin of HFSs is crucial to reveal how star formation proceeds from clouds to cores. Here we report James Clerk Maxwell telescope POL-2 850 μm polarization and IRAM 30 m C18O (2–1) line observations toward the massive HFS G33.92+0.11. The 850 μm continuum map reveals four major filaments converging to the center of G33.92+0.11 with numerous short filaments connecting to the major filaments at local intensity peaks. We estimate the local orientations of filaments, magnetic field, gravity, and velocity gradients from observations, and we examine their correlations based on their local properties. In the high-density areas, our analysis shows that the filaments tend to align with the magnetic field and local gravity. In the low-density areas, we find that the local velocity gradients tend to be perpendicular to both the magnetic field and local gravity, although the filaments still tend to align with local gravity. A global virial analysis suggests that the gravitational energy overall dominates the magnetic and kinematic energy. Combining local and global aspects, we conclude that the formation of G33.92+0.11 is predominantly driven by gravity, dragging and aligning the major filaments and magnetic field on the way to the inner dense center. Traced by local velocity gradients in the outer diffuse areas, ambient gas might be accreted onto the major filaments directly or via the short filaments.

Understanding how material accretes onto the rotationally supported disk from the surrounding envelope of gas and dust in the youngest protostellar systems is important for describing how disks are formed. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetized, turbulent disk formation usually show spiral-like streams of material (accretion flows) connecting the envelope to the disk. However, accretion flows in these early stages of protostellar formation still remain poorly characterized, due to their low intensity, and possibly some extended structures are disregarded as being part of the outflow cavity. We use ALMA archival data of a young Class 0 protostar, Lupus 3-MMS, to uncover four extended accretion flow–like structures in C18O that follow the edges of the outflows. We make various types of position–velocity cuts to compare with the outflows and find the extended structures are not consistent with the outflow emission, but rather more consistent with a simple infall model. We then use a dendrogram algorithm to isolate five substructures in position–position–velocity space. Four out of the five substructures fit well (>95%) with our simple infall model, with specific angular momenta between 2.7–6.9 × 10−4 km s−1 pc and mass-infall rates of 0.5–1.1 × 10−6 M ⊙ yr−1. Better characterization of the physical structure in the supposed “outflow cavities” is important to disentangle the true outflow cavities and accretion flows.

We present 850 μm polarimetric observations toward the Serpens Main molecular cloud obtained using the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as part of the B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations survey. These observations probe the magnetic field morphology of the Serpens Main molecular cloud on about 6000 au scales, which consists of cores and six filaments with different physical properties such as density and star formation activity. Using the histogram of relative orientation (HRO) technique, we find that magnetic fields are parallel to filaments in less-dense filamentary structures where N H 2 < 0.93 × 10 22 cm−2 (magnetic fields perpendicular to density gradients), while they are perpendicular to filaments (magnetic fields parallel to density gradients) in dense filamentary structures with star formation activity. Moreover, applying the HRO technique to denser core regions, we find that magnetic field orientations change to become perpendicular to density gradients again at N H 2 ≈ 4.6 × 10 22 cm−2. This can be interpreted as a signature of core formation. At N H 2 ≈ 16 × 10 22 cm−2, magnetic fields change back to being parallel to density gradients once again, which can be understood to be due to magnetic fields being dragged in by infalling material. In addition, we estimate the magnetic field strengths of the filaments (B POS = 60–300 μG)) using the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method and discuss whether the filaments are gravitationally unstable based on magnetic field and turbulence energy densities.

We investigate the intrinsic abundance ratio of 13 CO to C 18 O and the X-factor in L 1551 using the Nobeyama Radio Observatory (NRO) 45 m telescope. L 1551 is chosen because it is relatively isolated in the Taurus molecular cloud shielded from FUV photons, providing an ideal environment for studying the target properties. Our observations cover~¢´¢ 40 40 with a resolution of~ 30 , which make up maps with the highest spatial dynamical range to date. We derive the X Xvalue on the sub-parsec scales in the range of ∼3-27 with a mean value of 8.0 ± 2.8. Comparing to the visual extinction map derived from the Herschel observations, we found that the abundance ratio reaches its maximum at low A V (i.e., A V ∼ 1-4 mag), and decreases to the typical solar system value of 5.5 inside L 1551 MC. The high X Xvalue at the boundary of the cloud is most likely due to the selective FUV photodissociation of C 18 O. This is in contrast with Orion-A where internal OB stars keep the abundance ratio at a high level, greater than ∼10. In addition, we explore the variation of the X-factor, because it is an uncertain, but widely used, quantity in extragalactic studies. We found that the X-factor µN H 1.0 2 , which is consistent with previous simulations. Excluding the high density region, the average X-factor is similar to the Milky Way average value.