THE MASS-SIZE RELATION FROM CLOUDS TO CORES. II. SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD CLOUDS

Journal Article · Thu Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/716/1/433· OSTI ID:21450845

Kauffmann, J; Shetty, R; Goodman, A A ^[1]; Pillai, T

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1. Initiative in Innovative Computing (IIC), 60 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

We measure the mass and size of cloud fragments in several molecular clouds continuously over a wide range of spatial scales (0.05 {approx}< r/pc {approx}< 3). Based on the recently developed 'dendrogram-technique', this characterizes dense cores as well as the enveloping clouds. 'Larson's Third Law' of constant column density, m(r) {proportional_to} r {sup 2}, is not well suited to describe the derived mass-size data. Solar neighborhood clouds not forming massive stars ({approx}<10 M {sub sun}; Pipe Nebula, Taurus, Perseus, and Ophiuchus) obey m(r) {<=} 870 M {sub sun}(r/pc){sup 1.33}. In contrast to this, clouds forming massive stars (Orion A, G10.15 - 0.34, G11.11 - 0.12) do exceed the aforementioned relation. Thus, this limiting mass-size relation may approximate a threshold for the formation of massive stars. Across all clouds, cluster-forming cloud fragments are found to be-at given radius-more massive than fragments devoid of clusters. The cluster-bearing fragments are found to roughly obey a mass-size law m {proportional_to} r {sup 1.27} (where the exponent is highly uncertain in any given cloud, but is certainly smaller than 1.5).

• OSTI ID: 21450845
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/716/1/433; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
APPROXIMATIONS
DATA ANALYSIS
MASS
NEBULAE
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
CALCULATION METHODS
EVOLUTION