The clump mass function of the dense clouds in the Carina nebula complex

Pekruhl, Stephanie; Preibisch, Thomas; Schüller, F.; Menten, K. M.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201218815

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The total mass of all individual clumps detected in our LABOCA sub-mm map (as determined by Pekruhl et al 2013) is between the cloud mass estimates based on 13 CO and C 18 O, which agrees well with the idea that C 18 O traces denser gas than 13 CO.…”

Section: Cloud Mass Budgets Based On Different Tracerssupporting

confidence: 84%

Herschelfar-infrared observations of the Carina Nebula complex

Roccatagliata

Preibisch

Ratzka

et al. 2013

A&A

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Context. The star formation process in large clusters/associations can be strongly influenced by the feedback from high-mass stars. Whether the resulting net effect of the feedback is predominantly negative (cloud dispersal) or positive (triggering of star formation due to cloud compression) is still an open question. Aims. The Carina Nebula complex (CNC) represents one of the most massive star-forming regions in our Galaxy. We use our Herschel far-infrared observations to study the properties of the clouds over the entire area of the CNC (with a diameter of ≈3.2 • , which corresponds to ≈125 pc at a distance of 2.3 kpc). The good angular resolution (10 −36 ) of the Herschel maps corresponds to physical scales of 0.1-0.4 pc, and allows us to analyze the small-scale (i.e., clump-size) structures of the clouds. Methods. The full extent of the CNC was mapped with PACS and SPIRE in the 70, 160, 250, 350, and 500 μm bands. We determined temperatures and column densities at each point in these maps by modeling the observed far-infrared spectral energy distributions. We also derived a map showing the strength of the UV radiation field. We investigated the relation between the cloud properties and the spatial distribution of the high-mass stars and computed total cloud masses for different density thresholds. Results. Our Herschel maps resolve for the first time the small-scale structure of the dense clouds over the entire spatial extent of the CNC. Several particularly interesting regions, including the prominent pillars south of η Car, are analyzed in detail. We compare the cloud masses derived from the Herschel data with previous mass estimates based on sub-mm and molecular line data. Our maps also reveal a peculiar wave-like pattern in the northern part of the Carina Nebula. Finally, we characterize two prominent cloud complexes at the periphery of our Herschel maps, which are probably molecular clouds in the Galactic background. Conclusions. We find that the density and temperature structure of the clouds in most parts of the CNC is dominated by the strong feedback from the numerous massive stars, and not by random turbulence. Comparing the cloud mass and the star formation rate derived for the CNC with other Galactic star-forming regions suggests that the CNC is forming stars in a particularly efficient way. We suggest this to be a consequence of triggered star formation by radiative cloud compression.

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Section: Cloud Mass Budgets Based On Different Tracerssupporting

confidence: 84%

Herschelfar-infrared observations of the Carina Nebula complex

Roccatagliata

Preibisch

Ratzka

et al. 2013

A&A

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“…We set sa = s b = sc = 1.0 following Kramer et al (1998) 4 . The threshold below which the algorithm stops iterating is usually taken to be several times the data rms (Curtis & Richer 2010;Pekruhl et al 2013;Csengeri et al 2014). We adopt a stringent threshold of 5 times the noise level for the input 12 CO and 13 CO maps.…”

Section: Overview Of the Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatially associated clump populations in Rosette from CO and dust maps

Veltchev

Ossenkopf-Okada

Stanchev

et al. 2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Spatial association of clumps from different tracers turns out to be a valuable tool to determine the physical properties of molecular clouds. It provides a reliable estimate for the X-factors, serves to trace the density of clumps seen in column densities only and allows to measure the velocity dispersion of clumps identified in dust emission. We study the spatial association between clump populations, extracted by use of the Gaussclumps technique from 12 CO (1 − 0), 13 CO (1 − 0) line maps and Herschel dust-emission maps of the star-forming region Rosette, and analyse their physical properties. All CO clumps that overlap with another CO or dust counterpart are found to be gravitationally bound and located in the massive star-forming filaments of the molecular cloud. They obey a single mass-size relation M cl ∝ R γ cl with γ ≃ 3 (implying constant mean density) and display virtually no velocity-size relation. We interpret their population as low-density structures formed through compression by converging flows and still not evolved under the influence of self-gravity. The high-mass parts of their clump mass functions are fitted by a power law dN cl /d log M cl ∝ M Γ cl and display a nearly Salpeter slope Γ ∼ −1.3. On the other hand, clumps extracted from the dust-emission map exhibit a shallower mass-size relation with γ = 2.5 and mass functions with very steep slopes Γ ∼ −2.3 even if associated with CO clumps. They trace density peaks of the associated CO clumps at scales of a few tenths of pc where no single density scaling law should be expected.

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“…The simulation by Reid et al (2010) suggests that δ is constant for clumps down to ∼2 M ⊙ . Observations are not typically complete enough to sample this low-mass regime, but Pekruhl et al (2013) showed that δ appears to at least be constant down to ∼50 M ⊙ . We will assume that the ClMF extends down to 2 M ⊙ .…”

Section: Investigating Whether the Low-mass Star-forming Clumps Dominmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Dense Gas From the Milky Way to External Galaxies

Stephens

Jackson

Whitaker

et al. 2016

ApJ

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In a survey of 65 galaxies, Gao & Solomon found a tight linear relation between the infrared luminosity (L IR , a proxy for the star formation rate) and the HCN(1-0) luminosity (L HCN ). Wu et al. found that this relation extends from these galaxies to the much less luminous Galactic molecular high-mass star-forming clumps (∼1 pc scales), and posited that there exists a characteristic ratio L IR /L HCN for high-mass star-forming clumps. The Gao-Solomon relation for galaxies could then be explained as a summation of large numbers of high-mass star-forming clumps, resulting in the same L IR /L HCN ratio for galaxies. We test this explanation and other possible origins of the GaoSolomon relation using high-density tracers (including HCN(1-0), N 2 H + (1-0), HCO + (1-0), HNC(1-0), HC 3 N (10-9), and C 2 H(1-0)) for ∼300 Galactic clumps from the Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team 90 GHz (MALT90) survey. The MALT90 data show that the Gao-Solomon relation in galaxies cannot be satisfactorily explained by the blending of large numbers of high-mass clumps in the telescope beam. Not only do the clumps have a large scatter in the L IR /L HCN ratio, but also far too many high-mass clumps are required to account for the Galactic IR and HCN luminosities. We suggest that the scatter in the L IR /L HCN ratio converges to the scatter of the Gao-Solomon relation at some size-scale 1 kpc. We suggest that the Gao-Solomon relation could instead result from of a universal large-scale star formation efficiency, initial mass function, core mass function, and clump mass function.

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The clump mass function of the dense clouds in the Carina nebula complex

Cited by 14 publications

References 48 publications

Herschelfar-infrared observations of the Carina Nebula complex

Herschelfar-infrared observations of the Carina Nebula complex

Spatially associated clump populations in Rosette from CO and dust maps

Linking Dense Gas From the Milky Way to External Galaxies

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