Gravity or turbulence? - III. Evidence of pure thermal Jeans fragmentation at ~0.1 pc scale

We combine previously published interferometric and single-dish data of relatively nearby massive dense cores that are actively forming stars to test whether their 'fragmentation level' is controlled by turbulent or thermal support. We find no clear correlation between the fragmentation le...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Palau, Aina, Ballesteros-Paredes, Javier, Vázquez-Semadeni, Enrique, Sánchez-Monge, Álvaro, Estalella, Robert, Fall, S. Michael, Zapata, Luis A., Camacho, Vianey, Gómez, Laura, Naranjo-Romero, Raúl, Busquet, Gemma, Fontani, Francesco
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/388627
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/388627
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Turbulence
Stars: formation
ISM: lines and bands
ISM: structure
Radio continuum: ISM
Descripción
Sumario:We combine previously published interferometric and single-dish data of relatively nearby massive dense cores that are actively forming stars to test whether their 'fragmentation level' is controlled by turbulent or thermal support. We find no clear correlation between the fragmentation level and velocity dispersion, nor between the observed number of fragments and the number of fragments expected when the gravitationally unstable mass is calculated including various prescriptions for 'turbulent support'. On the other hand, the best correlation is found for the case of pure thermal Jeans fragmentation, for which we infer a core formation efficiency around 13 per cent, consistent with previous works. We conclude that the dominant factor determining the fragmentation level of star-forming massive dense cores at 0.1 pc scale seems to be thermal Jeans fragmentation. © 2015 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.