Infall through the evolution of high-mass star-forming clumps

Abstract

With the GREAT receiver at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), nine massive molecular clumps have been observed in the ammonia $3_{2+}-2_{2-}$ line at 1.8~THz in a search for signatures of infall. The sources were selected from the ATLASGAL submillimeter dust continuum survey of our Galaxy. Clumps with high masses covering a range of evolutionary stages based on their infrared properties were chosen. The ammonia line was detected in all sources, leading to five new detections and one confirmation of a previous detection of redshifted absorption in front of their strong THz continuum as a probe of infall in the clumps. These detections include two clumps embedded in infrared dark clouds. The measured velocity shifts of the absorptions compared to optically thin \CSEO\ (3--2) emission are 0.3--2.8~km/s, corresponding to fractions of 3\%\ to 30\% of the free-fall velocities of the clumps. The ammonia infall signature is compared with complementary data of different transitions of HCN, HNC, CS, and HCO${}^{+}$, which are often used to probe infall via their blue-skewed line profiles. The best agreement with the ammonia results is found for the HCO${}^{+}$ (4--3) transitions, but the latter is still strongly blended with emission from associated outflows. This outflow signature is far less prominent in the THz ammonia lines, which confirms it as a powerful probe of infall in molecular clumps. Infall rates in the range from 0.3 to 16~$10^{-3}{M}_{\odot }/$yr were derived with a tentative correlation with the virial parameters of the clumps. The new observations show that infall on clump scales is ubiquitous through a wide range of evolutionary stages, from $L/M$ covering about ten to several hundreds.

Accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (5)

• GREAT: the SOFIA high-frequency heterodyne instrument
• Infall of gas as the formation mechanism of stars up to 20 times more massive than the Sun
• ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy: I. CO depletion and isotopic ratios
• Signatures of inflow motion in cores of massive star formation: Potential collapse candidates
• Spectroscopically resolved far-IR observations of the massive star-forming region G5.89--0.39

Cited by in corpus (70)

• High-Mass Star and Massive Cluster Formation in the Milky Way
• Global Hierarchical Collapse In Molecular Clouds. Towards a Comprehensive Scenario
• ATLASGAL --- properties of a complete sample of Galactic clumps
• The Origin of Massive Stars: The Inertial-Inflow Model
• Water in star-forming regions (WISH): Physics and chemistry from clouds to disks as probed by Herschel spectroscopy
• The Physics of Star Cluster Formation and Evolution
• ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy III. Dust Continuum Characterization of an Evolutionary Sample
• Disruption of giant molecular clouds and formation of bound star clusters under the influence of momentum stellar feedback
• ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy: V. Temperature structure and evolution
• Testing Larson's relationships in massive clumps
• The ALMA Survey of 70 $\mu \mathrm{m}$ Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). II: Molecular Outflows in the Extreme Early Stages of Protocluster Formation
• The SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. I. Overview and First Results
• The search for high-mass protostars with ALMA revealed up to kilo-parsec scales (SPARKS): I. Indication for a centrifugal barrier in the environment of a single high-mass envelope
• Scale-free gravitational collapse as the origin of $\rho \sim r^{-2}$ density profile -- a possible role of turbulence in regulating gravitational collapse
• ALMA-IMF VI -- Investigating the origin of stellar masses: Core mass function evolution in the W43-MM2&MM3 mini-starburst
• JOYS: JWST Observations of Young protoStars: Outflows and accretion in the high-mass star-forming region IRAS23385+605
• Density profile evolution during prestellar core collapse: Collapse starts at the large scale
• High-mass Starless Clumps in the inner Galactic Plane: the Sample and Dust Properties
• Magnetically Dominated Parallel Interstellar Filaments at the Infrared Dark Cloud G14.225-0.506
• NH_3(1_0-0_0) in the pre-stellar core L1544
• A population of hypercompact HII regions identified from young HII regions
• JWST Observations of Young protoStars (JOYS): overview of program and early results
• Establishing the evolutionary timescales of the massive star formation process through chemistry
• First detection of 13CH in the interstellar medium
• Asymmetric Line Profiles in Dense Molecular Clumps Observed in MALT90: Evidence for Global Collapse
• The SQUALO project (Star formation in QUiescent And Luminous Objects) I: clump-fed accretion mechanism in high-mass star-forming objects
• Multi-scale analysis of the Monoceros OB 1 star-forming region: II. Colliding filaments in the Monoceros OB1 molecular cloud
• Effects of initial density profiles on massive star cluster formation in giant molecular clouds
• The chemical structure of young high-mass star-forming clumps: (II) parsec-scale CO depletion and deuterium fraction of $\mathrm{HC}{\mathrm{O}}^{+}$
• Formation of massive stars under protostellar radiation feedback: Very metal-poor stars
• Formation of proto-cluster: a virialized structure from gravo-turbulent collapse II. A two-dimensional analytical model for rotating and accreting system
• The Serpens filament: at the onset of slightly supercritical collapse
• Criteria for gravitational instability and quasi-isolated gravitational collapse in turbulent medium
• Subsonic islands within a high-mass star-forming IRDC
• The Molecular ISM in the Super Star Clusters of the Starburst NGC 253
• InfraRed Astronomy Satellite Swarm Interferometry (IRASSI): Overview and Study Results
• Unveiling the formation of the massive DR21 ridge
• A global view on star formation: The GLOSTAR Galactic plane survey. IX. Radio Source Catalog III: 2<l<28, 36<l<40, 56<l<60 and |b|<1, VLA B-configuration
• Initial phases of high-mass star formation: A multiwavelength study towards the extended green object G12.42+0.50
• The CH radical at radio wavelengths: Revisiting emission in the 3.3GHz ground state lines
• ATLASGAL -- Star forming efficiencies and the Galactic star formation rate
• Inflow Motions associated with High-mass Protostellar Objects
• Infall in massive clumps harboring bright infrared sources
• Principal component analysis for estimating parameters of the L1287 dense core by fitting model spectral maps into observed ones
• Structure, Dynamics and Deuterium Fractionation of Massive Pre-Stellar Cores
• A survey of SiO $J=$ 1 -- 0 emission toward massive star-forming regions
• Radiative transfer modeling of the observed line profiles in G31.41+0.31
• Density distribution function of a self-gravitating isothermal compressible turbulent fluid in the context of Molecular Clouds ensembles II: the contribution of the turbulent term and the potential of the outer shells
• Multi-line Herschel/HIFI observations of water reveal infall motions and chemical segregation around high-mass protostars
• Probing the initial conditions of high-mass star formation. III. Fragmentation and triggered star formation
• Infall and Outflow Towards High-mass Starless Clump Candidates
• A mean density of $112M_{\odot }\mathrm{p}{\mathrm{c}}^{-3}$ for Central Molecular Zone clumps -- Evidences for shear-enabled pressure equilibrium in the Galactic Center
• ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy: VIII. Chemistry of photodissociation regions
• SOFIA/GREAT observations of OD and OH rotational lines towards high-mass star forming regions
• The physical and chemical structure of high-mass star-forming regions. Unraveling chemical complexity with the NOEMA large program "CORE"
• High-Sensitivity Observations of Molecular Lines with the Arecibo Telescope
• Redshifted methanol absorption tracing infall motions of high-mass star formation regions
• Insights into the physics when modeling cold gas clouds in a hot plasma
• Studying Infall in Infrared Dark Clouds with Multiple HCO+ Transitions
• Distribution of water in the G327.3-0.6 massive star-forming region
• Gemini, SOFIA, and ATCA Reveal Very Young, Massive Protostars in the Collapsing Molecular Cloud BYF 73
• The effects of stellar feedback on molecular clumps in the Lagoon Nebula (M8)
• Excited Hydroxyl Outflow in the High-Mass Star-Forming Region G34.26+0.15
• Density distribution function of a self-gravitating isothermal turbulent fluid in the context of molecular clouds ensembles -- III. Virial analysis
• ATLASGAL-selected high-mass clumps in the inner Galaxy: XI. Morphology and kinematics of warm inner envelopes
• Dense Molecular Clumps with Large Blue Asymmetries: Evidence for Collapse
• Physical Properties and Real Nature of Massive Clumps in the Galaxy
• Chemical environments of 6.7 GHz methanol maser sources
• From Interstellar Clouds to Stars
• NH3 (1,1) hyperfine intensity anomalies in infall sources