PRESTELLAR CORES IN THE COALSACK

Journal Article · Sat Sep 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/738/2/152; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21584863

Saul, M; Cunningham, M ^[1]; Rathborne, J ^[2]; Walsh, W ^[3]

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1. School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052 NSW (Australia)
2. Departamento de Astronomia, Las Condes, Santiago (Chile)
3. Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

We present high spectral resolution millimeter mapped observations of seven prestellar cores in the Coalsack, including imaging in five optically thin molecular species of the kinematic structure of two of the densest cores, C2 and C4. Various collapse-critical indices are calculated; critical masses needed for collapse are consistently greater than those observed, the latter ranging from 0.4 to 2.4 M{sub sun}. The molecular emission in several of the cores shows line profiles with infall characteristics as well as elongated areas of increased line widths and reversals of center velocity gradients, implying that accretion disks may be forming.

• OSTI ID: 21584863
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 738, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/738/2/152; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCRETION DISKS
CLOUDS
EMISSION
MOLECULES
PROTOSTARS
STARS