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| EPoS Contribution |
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Changing the Paradigm for the Inner Envelope of Class 0 Protostars
Leslie Looney University of Illinois, Urbana, USA | |
| Although interferometric continuum imaging of the inner envelope of Class 0 protostars often suggests spherical structure, it is becoming clear that the observations are skewed by dust properties and temperature and that filamentary morphologies on scales greater than 1000 AU are common. Indeed, filamentary structures are ubiquitous in the star formation process from large-scale molecular clouds (few parsecs) to the small-scale circumstellar envelopes around Class 0 sources (few tenths of parsecs). We examine the consequences of connecting the large scale structure seen in Herschel observations with the smaller scale envelopes seen in Spitzer 8 micron absorption observations and interferometric imaging of molecular gas, describing a scenario for filamentary star formation that illustrates the evolution of structures and the formation of cores. We merge the results of interferometric dust continuum and molecular gas observations to reveal the interplay between kinematics and structure that is consistent with filamentary structure. Finally, we explain the to-date non-detections of structure in starless cores and predict that ALMA is capable of detecting the filamentary structures at the prestellar stage. | |
| Collaborators: Katherine Lee, UI, USA John Tobin, NRAO, USA Lee Hartmann, UM, USA Doug Johnstone, HIA, CA |
Key publication
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