The Structure and Content of Pre-Stellar Massive Cores

Details The Structure and Content of Pre-Stellar Massive Cores The Structure and Content of Pre-Stellar Massive Cores

Sep 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004sptz.prop.3434b&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #3434

Physics

Scientific paper

Significant progress has been made in understanding the formation of low-mass stars like the Sun through detailed studies of isolated pre-stellar dense cores in nearby dark clouds. Much less progress has been made in understanding the formation of high-mass stars, in part because they are intrinsically rare, short lived, and more distant, but also because the initial phase-- the pre-stellar massive core -- has not been identified. The recent MSX survey of the Galactic Plane has allowed us to construct a catalog of 114 candidate pre-stellar massive cores selected for high extinction (8 micron opacity), proximity to known sites of high-mass star formation, and lack of embedded sources. We have imaged 50 of these candidates in various molecular lines at millimeter wavelengths and find close correspondence between the molecular emission and the dark patches of extinction seen in the mid-infrared. Because of selective depletion of molecules onto cold dust grains, the chemical characteristics of these regions provide an indicator of evolutionary state. We propose to use the Spitzer Space Telescope to observe a sample of these candidate pre-stellar massive cores with the following goals: (1) to search for deeply embedded luminosity sources within the cores using IRAC and MIPS to confirm that they do not harbor any stars to very low luminosity limits, (2) to map the unknown physical structure of the cores using IRAC images to measure extinction against background stars as well as the diffuse Galactic background, and (3) to correlate the derived physical structures of these cores with the known chemical properties to place them in an evolutionary context, similar to that of their low-mass brethren.

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