Ren2016 ApJ 824 52 Page1

The Astrophysical Journal, 824:52 (13pp), 2016 June 10 doi:10.
3847/0004-637X/824/1/52
© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
MASSIVE QUIESCENT CORES IN ORION. VI. THE INTERNAL STRUCTURES AND A CANDIDATE OF
TRANSITING CORE IN NGC 2024 FILAMENT
Zhiyuan Ren1,2,3 and Di Li1,2
1
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, Chaoyang District Datun Rd A20, Beijing, China; [email protected], [email protected]
2
Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Science, Nanjing 210008, China
3
The Department of Astronomy, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Received 2015 July 1; accepted 2016 April 14; published 2016 June 10
ABSTRACT
We present a multiwavelength observational study of the NGC 2024 filament using infrared to submillimeter
continuum and the NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) inversion transitions centered on FIR-3, the most massive core therein.
FIR-3 is found to have no significant infrared point sources in the Spitzer/IRAC bands. But the NH3 kinetic
temperature map shows a peak value at the core center with Tk 25 K, which is significantly higher than the
surrounding level (Tk 15–19 K). Such internal heating signature without an infrared source suggests an ongoing
core collapse possibly at a transition stage from first hydrostatic core (FHSC) to protostar. The eight dense cores in
the filament have dust temperatures between 17.5 and 22 K. They are much cooler than the hot ridge (Td 55 K)
around the central heating star IRS-2b. Comparison with a dust heating model suggests that the filament should
have a distance of 3–5 pc from IRS-2b. This value is much larger than the spatial extent of the hot ridge, suggesting
that the filament is spatially separated from the hot region along the line of sight.
Key words: ISM: clouds – ISM: individual objects (NGC 2024, Orion) – ISM: molecules – stars: formation – stars:
low-mass
1. INTRODUCTION studied massive star-forming complex. Besides the regions

with bright young stars, Orion contains a huge amount of cold,
Revealing the transition stage between prestellar cores and
quiescent, and dense gas (e.g., Salji et al. 2015, and references
protostars is critical for understanding the entire star-forming
process. The low- and intermediate-mass prestellar cores are therein). In our previous studies (Li et al. 2007, 2013;
supposed to initially stay in a hydrostatic equilibrium, referred Velusamy et al. 2008; Ren et al. 2014), the quiescent cores
to as a Bonnor–Ebert sphere (Ebert 1955; Bonnor 1956). The in Orion A and Orion South have been selected and
density would gradually increase due to the self-gravity and investigated. A large fraction of the cores were found to be
external influences such as turbulence, compression flow, and unstable to the self-gravity and likely to have lower
velocity perturbation, which are usually presented in filamen- temperatures than their surroundings (Li et al. 2013). The
tary clouds (e.g., Gómez et al. 2007; Hennebelle & candidate cores for the transition stage can be selected based on
Chabrier 2011; Gong & Ostriker 2015). As the core becomes two requirements: the cores should be supercritical to the self-
supercritical to the self-gravity, the “first collapse” would occur gravity and meanwhile have no detectable IR sources. Some
and generate a much denser object called the first hydrostatic likely candidates were examined but found to actually have
core (FHSC, or first core). The FHSC has a density of ∼1013 faint embedded IR sources, and even the multiple stars that are
cm 3, so that the gas and dust become opaque to radiation associated with the core fragmentation (Ren et al. 2014).
(Larson 1969). The temperature in the FHSC would con- Subsequent studies should be performed over a larger field in
tinuously increase due to the self-gravity and possibly ongoing order to enlarge the sample. And the evolutionary stages should
accretion. Once the central temperature exceeds 2000 K, the be evaluated based on more evidences.
heating would start to dissociate the H2 molecules. The H2 Located ∼4° to the North of Orion A, NGC 2024 in the
dissociation can provide an efficient coolant for the gas and Orion B cloud contains extended gas structures with embedded
largely reduce the thermal pressure support, thereby inducing cold dense cores. The major fraction of the gas is assembled in
the “second collapse.” In this process the FHSC would evolve a compact filamentary structure (Mezger et al. 1992; also see
into a protostar (Masunaga & Inutsuka 2000; André 2011). Figure 1). A number of observations were performed to
Despite this delicately modeled evolutionary track, the examine the physical properties therein (Gaume et al. 1992;
observed examples for the transition stage between pre- and Mauersberger et al. 1992; Mezger et al. 1992; Chandler &
protostellar cores are still scarce. Up until now, only a few low- Carlstrom 1996; Watanabe & Mitchell 2008; Alves et al. 2011;
mass cores have been suggested to be FHSC candidates (e.g., Choi et al. 2015). These observations revealed that the dense
Boss & Yorke 1995; Belloche et al. 2006; Chen et al. 2010; filament is located behind the hot ionized gas and has complex
Pineda et al. 2011; Pezzuto et al. 2012). And a few properties structures. But the specific properties and evolutionary state of
are expected for the FHSCs based on their dust continuum each core are still to be investigated. Gaume et al. (1992)
emissions, including (1) low luminosity ( 10 1 L ) and presented Very Large Array (VLA) observations in the NH3
temperature ( 20 K), (2) no significant emissions in far- lines, but only obtained average physical parameters for several
infrared and shorter wavelengths ( 70 m ), and (3) dense regions owing to the limited velocity resolution and spectral
and compact morphology in (sub)millimeter wavelengths. sensitivity.
At a distance of 415 pc (Menten et al. 2007; Sandstrom In this work, we present a new observational study for NGC
et al. 2007), the Orion molecular cloud is the closest and best- 2024 using the continuum emissions from mid-infrared to

Ren2016 ApJ 824 52 Page1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ren2016 ApJ 824 52 Page1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ren2016 ApJ 824 52 Page1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Astrophysical Journal, 824:52 (13pp), 2016 June 10 doi:10.

1. INTRODUCTION studied massive star-forming complex. Besides the regions

You might also like