EPoS Contribution
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Short Review: Molecular Cloud Cores - Life and Collapse: Observations
Joao Alves University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria | |
Ideally, a molecular cloud core is the simplest unit of dense gas, the platonic gas reservoir from which at least a sun-like star is formed. Observationally, a dense core is a ill defined astronomical object, remarkably hard to study, but our only chance to understand the initial conditions to cloud collapse and star formation. In this talk I will review the latest observational results on molecular cloud cores from dust emission (including the latest Herschel results), dust extinction, and molecular line surveys, with an emphasis on the much debated but poorly understood Core Mass Function (CMF) and its relation to the IMF. A comparison between observations and the results of numerical simulations will be made, together with a wish list for the future. | |