GMC Collisions as Triggers of Star Formation. V. Observational Signatures

Abstract

We present calculations of molecular, atomic and ionic line emission from simulations of giant molecular cloud (GMC) collisions. We post-process snapshots of the magneto-hydrodynamical simulations presented in an earlier paper in this series by Wu et al. (2017) of colliding and non-colliding GMCs. Using photodissociation region (PDR) chemistry and radiative transfer we calculate the level populations and emission properties of ${}^{12}$CO $J=1-0$, [CI] ${}^3{\mathrm{P}}_1\to {{}^3\mathrm{P}}_0$ at $609\mu$m, [CII] $158\mu$m and [OI] ${}^3{\mathrm{P}}_1\to {{}^3\mathrm{P}}_0$ transition at $63\mu$m. From integrated intensity emission maps and position-velocity diagrams, we find that fine-structure lines, particularly the [CII] $158\mu$m, can be used as a diagnostic tracer for cloud-cloud collision activity. These results hold even in more evolved systems in which the collision signature in molecular lines has been diminished.

10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, comments welcome

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Cited by in corpus (5)

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• New insights in the mid-infrared bubble N49 site: a clue of collision of filamentary molecular clouds
• GMC Collisions as Triggers of Star Formation. VI. Collision-Induced Turbulence
• Unveiling molecular clouds toward bipolar HII region G8.14+0.23
• New insights in giant molecular cloud hosting S147/S153 complex: signatures of interacting clouds