GBT21B-275

Expanding the transition to coherence

Abstract

Stars form in dense cores within molecular clouds. The cores are characterised by subsonic turbulence, in contrast to the ambient cloud with supersonic turbulence. Previous observations show the transition in turbulence from core to cloud to be sharp across the boundary. Therefore, cores are modelled and studied as isolated units of star formation.

Recently, we used stacking analysis and detected, for the first time, faint subsonic emission outside the cores. This implies that cores do not have as sharp an edge with the surrounding cloud as previously thought, which changes our understanding of the structure and dynamical evolution of dense cores, the simplest units of star formation. However, due to insufficient sensitivity in the previous observations, this analysis could only be done using stacked spectra in large regions, and therefore, we could not retain any spatial resolution.

We propose high-sensitivity observations towards a region including and around the prestellar core H-MM1 in L1688 (Ophiuchus). We will measure, for the first time, the spatial extent, mass and the morphological and kinematical structure of the subsonic region outside the cores, and how it connects to the surrounding turbulent cloud. This will enable us to put stringent constraints on models of star formation.

Investigators

Name	Institution
Spandan Choudhury *	Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Jaime Pineda	Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik
Paola Caselli	Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik; Leeds, University of

* indicates the PI