Characterizing the properties of cluster precursors in the MALT90 survey

Abstract

In the Milky Way there are thousands of stellar clusters each harboring from a hundred to a million stars. Although clusters are common, the initial conditions of cluster formation are still not well understood. To determine the processes involved in the formation and evolution of clusters it is key to determine the global properties of cluster-forming clumps in their earliest stages of evolution. Here, we present the physical properties of 1,244 clumps identified from the MALT90 survey. Using the dust temperature of the clumps as a proxy for evolution we determined how the clump properties change at different evolutionary stages. We find that less-evolved clumps exhibiting dust temperatures lower than 20 K have higher densities and are more gravitationally bound than more-evolved clumps with higher dust temperatures. We also identified a sample of clumps in a very early stage of evolution, thus potential candidates for high-mass star-forming clumps. Only one clump in our sample has physical properties consistent with a young massive cluster progenitor, reinforcing the fact that massive proto-clusters are very rare in the Galaxy.

References in corpus (7)

• Theory of Star Formation
• Equilibrium Star Cluster Formation
• A cluster in the making: ALMA reveals the initial conditions for high-mass cluster formation
• Turbulence sets the initial conditions for star formation in high-pressure environments
• ATLASGAL --- Complete compact source catalogue: 280\degr\ $<\ell <$ 60\degr
• ATLASGAL - Kinematic distances and the dense gas mass distribution of the inner Galaxy
• G0.253+0.016: A centrally condensed, high-mass protocluster

Cited by in corpus (20)

• ATLASGAL --- properties of a complete sample of Galactic clumps
• The ALMA Survey of 70 $\mu$m Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). IX. Physical Properties and Spatial Distribution of Cores in IRDCs
• 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 ALMA Survey of 70 μm Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). VIII. Dynamics of Embedded Dense Cores
• Massive 70 micron quiet clumps I: evidence of embedded low/intermediate-mass star formation activity
• Young massive star cluster formation in the Galactic Centre is driven by global gravitational collapse of high-mass molecular clouds
• ATLASGAL --- Molecular fingerprints of a sample of massive star forming clumps
• The ALMA Survey of 70 μm Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). VI. The core-scale CO-depletion
• The circumstellar environment around the embedded protostar EC 53
• The ALMA Survey of 70$\mu$m Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES) III. A Young Molecular Outflow Driven by a Decelerating Jet
• Large-scale Map of Millimeter-wavelength Hydrogen Radio Recombination Lines around a Young Massive Star Cluster
• Probing the massive star forming environment - a multiwavelength investigation of the filamentary IRDC G333.73+0.37
• Characterization of dense Planck clumps observed with Herschel and SCUBA-2
• Chemical evolution of N2H+ in six massive star-forming regions
• Infall and Outflow Towards High-mass Starless Clump Candidates
• The initial conditions for young massive cluster formation in the Galactic Centre: convergence of large-scale gas flows
• ALMA observations of two massive and dense MALT90 clumps
• Dense Molecular Clumps with Large Blue Asymmetries: Evidence for Collapse
• Characterizing [C II] Line Emission In Massive Star Forming Clumps
• The Dynamical State of Massive Clumps