Studying Infall in Infrared Dark Clouds with Multiple HCO+ Transitions [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2104.07231


We investigate the infall properties in a sample of 11 infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) showing blue-asymmetry signatures in HCO$^{+}$ J=1–0 line profiles. We used JCMT to conduct mapping observations in HCO$^{+}$ J=4–3 as well as single-pointing observations in HCO$^{+}$ J =3–2, towards 23 clumps in these IRDCs. We applied the HILL model to fit these observations and derived infall velocities in the range of 0.5-2.7 km s$^{-1}$, with a median value of 1.0 km s$^{-1}$, and obtained mass accretion rates of 0.5-14$\times$10$^{-3}$ Msun yr$^{-1}$. These values are comparable to those found in massive star forming clumps in later evolutionary stages. These IRDC clumps are more likely to form star clusters. HCO$^{+}$ J =3–2 and HCO$^{+}$ J =1–0 were shown to trace infall signatures well in these IRDCs with comparable inferred properties. HCO$^{+}$ J=4–3, on the other hand, exhibits infall signatures only in a few very massive clumps, due to smaller opacties. No obvious correlation for these clumps was found between infall velocity and the NH3/CCS ratio.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Xie, J. Wu, G. Fuller, et. al.
Fri, 16 Apr 2021
17/58

Comments: 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted by RAA