Studying Infall in Infrared Dark Clouds with Multiple HCO+ Transitions

Abstract

We investigate the infall properties in a sample of 11 infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) showing blue-asymmetry signatures in HCO${}^{+}$ J=1--0 line profiles. We used JCMT to conduct mapping observations in HCO${}^{+}$ J=4--3 as well as single-pointing observations in HCO${}^{+}$ J =3--2, towards 23 clumps in these IRDCs. We applied the HILL model to fit these observations and derived infall velocities in the range of 0.5-2.7 km s${}^{-1}$, with a median value of 1.0 km s${}^{-1}$, and obtained mass accretion rates of 0.5-14$\times$10${}^{-3}$ Msun yr${}^{-1}$. These values are comparable to those found in massive star forming clumps in later evolutionary stages. These IRDC clumps are more likely to form star clusters. HCO${}^{+}$ J =3--2 and HCO${}^{+}$ J =1--0 were shown to trace infall signatures well in these IRDCs with comparable inferred properties. HCO${}^{+}$ J=4--3, on the other hand, exhibits infall signatures only in a few very massive clumps, due to smaller opacties. No obvious correlation for these clumps was found between infall velocity and the NH3/CCS ratio.

22 pages, 14 figures, accepted by RAA

References in corpus (4)

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