Density structure of pre-stellar cores seen in absorption with ISOCAM

Details Density structure of pre-stellar cores seen in absorption with ISOCAM Density structure of pre-stellar cores seen in absorption with ISOCAM

Mar 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999esasp.427..467b&link_type=abstract

The Universe as Seen by ISO. Eds. P. Cox & M. F. Kessler. ESA-SP 427., p. 467

Physics

2

Ism: Dust, Extinction, Stars: Formation

Scientific paper

An ISOCAM survey has been carried out in order to detect and map a sample of 23 starless dense cores in absorption against the diffuse mid-infrared background. The goal is to gain insight into the structure of pre-stellar dense cores. In previous submillimeter continuum studies of such starless cores, it was found that the derived column density profiles did not follow a single power-law in NH_2 α r-1 throughout their full extent but flattened out near their centre (Ward-Thompson et al. 1994, André et al. 1996). These observations however could not constrain the density profiles farther than ~ 10000 AU. The present absorption study uses ISOCAM's sensitivity and angular resolution to determine the structure of the cores at angular radii that extend beyond the limits of sensitivity of the submillimeter continuum maps. Among the 23 cores observed in our survey, more than half of them show absorption features. The starless cores studied here all show a column density profile that flattens in the centre, which confirms the above-mentioned submillimeter emission results. More interestingly, beyond a radius of ~ 4000-5000 AU, the typical column density profile steepens with distance from core centre and gets steeper than NH_2 α r-1 until eventually the core merges with the low-density ambient molecular cloud. Thus the cores present a sharp edge at R ~ 15000-30000 AU and appear to be decoupled from the parent cloud, providing a finite reservoir of mass for subsequent star formation.

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