Synthetic observations of the evolution of starless cores in a molecular cloud simulation: Comparisons with JCMT data and predictions for alma
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 1A1 (Canada)
- Department of Astronomy, 260 Whitney Avenue, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States)
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903 (United States)
Interpreting the nature of starless cores has been a prominent goal in star formation for many years. In order to characterize the evolutionary stages of these objects, we perform synthetic observations of a numerical simulation of a turbulent molecular cloud. We find that nearly all cores that we detect are associated with filaments and eventually form protostars. We conclude that observed starless cores that appear Jeans unstable are only marginally larger than their respective Jeans masses (within a factor of three). We note single dish observations such as those performed with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope appear to miss significant core structure on small scales because of beam averaging. Finally, we predict that interferometric observations with Atacama Large Millimeter Array Cycle 1 will resolve the important small-scale structure, which has so far been missed by millimeter wavelength observations.
- OSTI ID:
- 22351342
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 783, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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