Evidence that widespread star formation may be underway in G0.253+016, 'The Brick'

Marsh, Kenneth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0107-7803, Ragan, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4164-5588, Whitworth, Anthony Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-5486 and Clark, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4834-043X 2016. Evidence that widespread star formation may be underway in G0.253+016, 'The Brick'. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 461 (1) , L16-L20. 10.1093/mnrasl/slw080

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Abstract

Image cubes of differential column density as a function of dust temperature are constructed for Galactic Centre molecular cloud G0.253+0.016 ('The Brick') using the recently described PPMAP procedure. The input data consist of continuum images from the HerschelSpace Telescope in the wavelength range 70-500 μm, supplemented by previously published interferometric data at 1.3 mm wavelength. While the bulk of the dust in the molecular cloud is consistent with being heated externally by the local interstellar radiation field, our image cube shows the presence, near one edge of the cloud, of a filamentary structure whose temperature profile suggests internal heating. The structure appears as a cool (~14 K) tadpole-like feature, ~6 pc in length, in which is embedded a thin spine of much hotter (~40-50 K) material. We interpret these findings in terms of a cool filament whose hot central region is undergoing gravitational collapse and fragmentation to form a line of protostars. If confirmed, this would represent the first evidence of widespread star formation having started within this cloud. © 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy Advanced Research Computing @ Cardiff (ARCCA)
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Galaxy: centre ISM: clouds Stars: formation Stars: protostars Submillimetre: ISM Techniques: high angular resolution
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Related URLs:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.07609v1
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	26 April 2016
Date of Acceptance:	25 April 2016
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 00:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/89966

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