HIERARCHICAL FRAGMENTATION OF THE ORION MOLECULAR FILAMENTS

Journal Article · Sun Jan 20 04:00:00 EST 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/763/1/57· OSTI ID:22167181

Takahashi, Satoko; Ho, Paul T. P.; Su, Yu-Nung ^[1]; Teixeira, Paula S. ^[2]

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1. Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China)
2. Institut fuer Astrophysik, Universitaet Wien, Tuerkenschanzstrasse 17, A-1180, Wien (Austria)

We present a high angular resolution map of the 850 {mu}m continuum emission of the Orion Molecular Cloud-3 (OMC 3) obtained with the Submillimeter Array (SMA); the map is a mosaic of 85 pointings covering an approximate area of 6.'5 Multiplication-Sign 2.'0 (0.88 Multiplication-Sign 0.27 pc). We detect 12 spatially resolved continuum sources, each with an H{sub 2} mass between 0.3-5.7 M {sub Sun} and a projected source size between 1400-8200 AU. All the detected sources are on the filamentary main ridge (n{sub H{sub 2}}{>=}10{sup 6} cm{sup -3}), and analysis based on the Jeans theorem suggests that they are most likely gravitationally unstable. Comparison of multi-wavelength data sets indicates that of the continuum sources, 6/12 (50%) are associated with molecular outflows, 8/12 (67%) are associated with infrared sources, and 3/12 (25%) are associated with ionized jets. The evolutionary status of these sources ranges from prestellar cores to protostar phase, confirming that OMC-3 is an active region with ongoing embedded star formation. We detect quasi-periodical separations between the OMC-3 sources of Almost-Equal-To 17''/0.035 pc. This spatial distribution is part of a large hierarchical structure that also includes fragmentation scales of giant molecular cloud ( Almost-Equal-To 35 pc), large-scale clumps ( Almost-Equal-To 1.3 pc), and small-scale clumps ( Almost-Equal-To 0.3 pc), suggesting that hierarchical fragmentation operates within the Orion A molecular cloud. The fragmentation spacings are roughly consistent with the thermal fragmentation length in large-scale clumps, while for small-scale cores it is smaller than the local fragmentation length. These smaller spacings observed with the SMA can be explained by either a helical magnetic field, cloud rotation, or/and global filament collapse. Finally, possible evidence for sequential fragmentation is suggested in the northern part of the OMC-3 filament.

• OSTI ID: 22167181
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 763; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
APPROXIMATIONS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FILAMENTS
FRAGMENTATION
HYDROGEN
INTERSTELLAR MAGNETIC FIELDS
JETS
MASS
PERIODICITY
PHOTON EMISSION
PROTOSTARS
RESOLUTION
ROTATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS