Cloud-cloud collision as origin of the G31.41+0.31 massive protocluster

Abstract

The G31.41+0.31 (G31) hot molecular core (HMC) is a high-mass protocluster showing accelerated infall and rotational spin-up that is well studied at high-angular resolution. To complement the accurate view of the small scale in G31, we have traced the kinematics of the large-scale material by carrying out N${}_2$H${}^{+}$\,(1--0) observations with the IRAM 30m telescope of an area of $\sim$6$\times 6$\,arcmin${}^2$ around the HMC. The N${}_2$H${}^{+}$ observations have revealed a large-scale (5\,pc) hub-filament system (HFS) composed by at least four filamentary arms and a NNE--SSW velocity gradient ($\sim$0.4\,km/s/pc) between the northern and southern filaments. The linewidth increases towards the hub at the center of the HFS reaching values of 2.5--3\,km\,s${}^{-1}$ in the central 1\,pc. The origin of the large-scale velocity gradient is likely cloud-cloud collision. In this scenario, the filaments in G31 would have formed by compression resulting from the collision and the rotation of the HMC observed at scales of 1000\,au would have been induced by shear caused by the cloud-cloud collision at scales of a few pc. We conclude that G31 represents a HFS in a compressed layer with an orthogonal orientation to the plane of the sky, and represents a benchmark for the filaments-to-clusters paradigm of star formation.

5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by A&A

References in corpus (10)

• The Boston University-Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Galactic Ring Survey
• Unifying low and high mass star formation through density amplified hubs of filaments
• Cloud-cloud collisions and triggered star formation
• The formation of ethylene glycol and other complex organic molecules in star-forming regions
• Filamentary Accretion Flows in the Infrared Dark Cloud G14.225-0.506 Revealed by ALMA
• The GUAPOS project II. A comprehensive study of peptide-like bond molecules
• The GUAPOS project: G31.41+0.31 Unbiased ALMA sPectral Observational Survey -- I. Isomers of C${}_2$H${}_4$O${}_2$
• Filament coalescence and hub structure in MonR2: Implications to massive star and cluster formation
• Anomalous peculiar motions of high-mass young stars in the Scutum spiral arm
• Fragmentation in the massive G31.41+0.31 protocluster

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Evidence of high-mass star formation through multi-scale mass accretion in hub-filament-system clouds
• Unraveling the observational signatures of cloud-cloud collision and hub-filament systems in W31
• Emergence of high-mass stars in complex fiber networks (EMERGE) V. From filaments to spheroids: the origin of the hub-filament systems
• Structure and Kinematics of Sh2-138 -- A distant hub-filament system in the outer Galactic plane
• Gas and star kinematics in cloud-cloud collisions
• Ionized filaments and ongoing physical processes in massive star-forming sites around l = 345.5 degree
• A multi-scale view of the magnetic field morphology in the hot molecular core G31.41+0.31
• FIRESTORM I: Stellar Feedback and Gas Kinematics in the Evolved W40 Hub-Filament System
• The GUAPOS project -- VII: Physical structure and molecular environment of the G31.41+0.31 HII region