EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
Effective Dust Temperatures in the Pipe Nebula's Dense Cores

Birgit Hasenberger
U Vienna, Vienna, AT
Multi-wavelength observations in the sub-mm regime provide information on the distribution of both the dust column density and the effective dust temperature in molecular clouds. In order to explore the value of dust-temperature measurements in particular towards dense cores, we employ high-resolution and high-dynamic-range maps of the Pipe nebula region based on Herschel, Planck, and 2MASS data. In a sample of previously defined cores, we find that the majority of core regions contain at least one local temperature minimum. Moreover, we observe an anticorrelation between column density and temperature. The slope of this anticorrelation is dependent on the region boundaries and can be used as a metric to distinguish dense from diffuse areas in the cloud. These findings are indicative of the thermodynamically dominant processes in the core sample, namely external heating by the interstellar radiation field and shielding by the surrounding medium. Thus, dust-temperature maps clearly contain valuable information on the physical state of the observed medium.
Caption: Map of effective dust temperature T for part of the Smoke region (upper left), part of the Stem region including B59 (upper right), and part of the Bowl region (lower left), with T minima and cores indicated as described in the legend.
Collaborators:
M. Lombardi, U Milan, IT
J. Alves, U Vienna, AT
J. Forbrich, U Hertfordshire, UK
A. Hacar, Leiden U, NL
C. Lada, CfA, US
Suggested Session: Cores