ALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless Cores

Star formation is a series of mass assembly processes and starless cores; those cold and dense condensations in molecular clouds play a pivotal role as initial seeds of stars. With only a limited sample of known starless cores, however, the origin and growth of such stellar precursors had not been w...

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Main Authors: Shih-Ying Hsu, Sheng-Yuan Liu, Xunchuan Liu, Pak Shing Li, Tie Liu, Dipen Sahu, Ken'ichi Tatematsu, Shanghuo Li, Naomi Hirano, Chin-Fei Lee, Sheng-Jun Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal Letters
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adcd6a
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author Shih-Ying Hsu
Sheng-Yuan Liu
Xunchuan Liu
Pak Shing Li
Tie Liu
Dipen Sahu
Ken'ichi Tatematsu
Shanghuo Li
Naomi Hirano
Chin-Fei Lee
Sheng-Jun Lin
author_facet Shih-Ying Hsu
Sheng-Yuan Liu
Xunchuan Liu
Pak Shing Li
Tie Liu
Dipen Sahu
Ken'ichi Tatematsu
Shanghuo Li
Naomi Hirano
Chin-Fei Lee
Sheng-Jun Lin
author_sort Shih-Ying Hsu
collection DOAJ
description Star formation is a series of mass assembly processes and starless cores; those cold and dense condensations in molecular clouds play a pivotal role as initial seeds of stars. With only a limited sample of known starless cores, however, the origin and growth of such stellar precursors had not been well characterized previously. Meanwhile, the recent discovery of CH _3 OH emission, which is generally associated with the desorbed icy mantle in warm regions, particularly at the periphery of starless cores, also remains puzzling. We present sensitive Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (Band 3) observations (at 3 mm) toward a sample of newly identified starless cores in the Orion molecular cloud. The spatially resolved images distinctly indicate that the observed CH _3 OH and N _2 H ^+ emission associated with these cores are morphologically anticorrelated and kinematically offset from each other. We postulate that the CH _3 OH emission highlights the desorption of icy mantle by shocks resulting from gas piling onto dense cores in the filaments traced by N _2 H ^+ . Our magnetohydrodynamic simulations of star formation in turbulent clouds combined with radiative transfer calculations and imaging simulations successfully reproduced the observed signatures and reaffirmed the above scenario at work. Our result serves as an intriguing and exemplary illustration, a snapshot in time, of the dynamic star-forming processes in turbulent clouds. The results offer compelling insights into the mechanisms governing the growth of starless cores and the presence of gas-phase complex organic molecules associated with these cores.
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spelling doaj-art-8d3cb1454c2143f0afe497fef89fe2da2025-08-20T03:52:41ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019842L5810.3847/2041-8213/adcd6aALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless CoresShih-Ying Hsu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1369-1563Sheng-Yuan Liu1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4603-7119Xunchuan Liu2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8315-4248Pak Shing Li3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8077-7095Tie Liu4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5286-2564Dipen Sahu5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4393-3463Ken'ichi Tatematsu6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8149-8546Shanghuo Li7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1275-5251Naomi Hirano8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9304-7884Chin-Fei Lee9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3024-5864Sheng-Jun Lin10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6868-4483Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (R.O.C.) ; seansyhsu@gmail.com, syliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.twInstitute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (R.O.C.) ; seansyhsu@gmail.com, syliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.twShanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of ChinaPhysical Research Laboratory , Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009, IndiaNobeyama Radio Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Institutes of Natural Sciences , 462-2 Nobeyama, Minamimaki, Minamisaku, Nagano 384-1305, Japan; Astronomical Science Program, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies , SOKENDAI, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, JapanSchool of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of ChinaInstitute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (R.O.C.) ; seansyhsu@gmail.com, syliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.twInstitute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (R.O.C.) ; seansyhsu@gmail.com, syliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.twInstitute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (R.O.C.) ; seansyhsu@gmail.com, syliu@asiaa.sinica.edu.twStar formation is a series of mass assembly processes and starless cores; those cold and dense condensations in molecular clouds play a pivotal role as initial seeds of stars. With only a limited sample of known starless cores, however, the origin and growth of such stellar precursors had not been well characterized previously. Meanwhile, the recent discovery of CH _3 OH emission, which is generally associated with the desorbed icy mantle in warm regions, particularly at the periphery of starless cores, also remains puzzling. We present sensitive Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (Band 3) observations (at 3 mm) toward a sample of newly identified starless cores in the Orion molecular cloud. The spatially resolved images distinctly indicate that the observed CH _3 OH and N _2 H ^+ emission associated with these cores are morphologically anticorrelated and kinematically offset from each other. We postulate that the CH _3 OH emission highlights the desorption of icy mantle by shocks resulting from gas piling onto dense cores in the filaments traced by N _2 H ^+ . Our magnetohydrodynamic simulations of star formation in turbulent clouds combined with radiative transfer calculations and imaging simulations successfully reproduced the observed signatures and reaffirmed the above scenario at work. Our result serves as an intriguing and exemplary illustration, a snapshot in time, of the dynamic star-forming processes in turbulent clouds. The results offer compelling insights into the mechanisms governing the growth of starless cores and the presence of gas-phase complex organic molecules associated with these cores.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adcd6aRadio astronomyStar formationMagnetohydrodynamicsComplex organic moleculesLow mass starsShocks
spellingShingle Shih-Ying Hsu
Sheng-Yuan Liu
Xunchuan Liu
Pak Shing Li
Tie Liu
Dipen Sahu
Ken'ichi Tatematsu
Shanghuo Li
Naomi Hirano
Chin-Fei Lee
Sheng-Jun Lin
ALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless Cores
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Radio astronomy
Star formation
Magnetohydrodynamics
Complex organic molecules
Low mass stars
Shocks
title ALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless Cores
title_full ALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless Cores
title_fullStr ALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless Cores
title_full_unstemmed ALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless Cores
title_short ALMASOP: Detection of Turbulence-induced Mass Assembly Shocks in Starless Cores
title_sort almasop detection of turbulence induced mass assembly shocks in starless cores
topic Radio astronomy
Star formation
Magnetohydrodynamics
Complex organic molecules
Low mass stars
Shocks
url https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adcd6a
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