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| EPoS Contribution |
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From filaments to cores: hierarchical fragmentation and sub-filaments
Seamus Clarke U Koeln, Cologne, DE | |
| Recent observations have revealed the presence of small fibres or sub-filaments within larger filaments. We present a numerical fragmentation study of fibrous filaments investigating the link between cores and sub-filaments. We show that cores form in two environments: (i) as an isolated core, or small chain of cores, on a single sub-filament, or (ii) as an ensemble of cores located at the junction of sub-filaments. We term these isolated and hub cores respectively. We show that these core populations are statistically different from each other. Hub cores have a greater mean mass than isolated cores, and the mass distribution of hub cores is significantly wider than isolated cores. This fragmentation is reminiscent of parsec-scale hub-filament systems, showing that the combination of turbulence and gravity leads to similar fragmentation signatures on multiple scales, even within filaments. Moreover, the fact that fragmentation proceeds through sub-filaments means that there exist no characteristic fragmentation length-scale between cores. This is in opposition to earlier theoretical works studying fibre-less filaments which suggest a strong tendency towards the formation of quasi-periodically spaced cores, but in better agreement with observations. We also show tentative signs that global collapse of filaments preferentially form cores at both filament ends, which are more massive and dense than other cores. | |
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| Caption: (Left) The map shows the column density of an example filament. Overlaid are red contours outlining the boundaries of the cores and black dots showing the column density weighted core location. Cores are identified as leaves of a dendrogram. (Right) A mass distribution of all 116 cores from the ten simulations, with separate distributions showing the isolated and hub core mass distributions. The hub cores reach considerably larger masses and have a broader distribution than the isolated cores. | |
| Collaborators: G.M. Williams, UoH, UK S. Walch, U Koeln, DE |
Suggested Session:
Cores |