Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21725802b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #258.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
In the past decade, compelling evidence has emerged that suggests Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) may be the precursors to stellar clusters and therefore massive stars. Detection of an IRDC, however, requires that the cloud be on the near-side of a bright mid-IR background, while dust continuum observations are subject only to a sensitivity limit. We present full dust temperature and column density maps in the Hi-GAL Science Demonstration Phase fields based on background-subtracted graybody fits to SPIRE and PACS data. We compare the physical properties of IR-dark vs. IR-bright regions and examine how these physical properties vary with the presence of different star formation tracers. We identify the dust temperatures and column densities that characterize IRDCs and explore the population of dust continuum sources that are not IRDCs. If IRDCs truly are the precursors to massive stars and clusters it is essential to understand their physical properties on a Galactic scale, which requires a sample that is unbiased by viewing angle. We use Hi-GAL to expand this sample of potential proto-clusters to cold, high-column sources without a background to absorb.
Bally John
Battersby Cara
Ginsburg Adam
Hi-GAL Consortium
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