EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
Interpreting the "infall profile"

Malcolm Walmsley
INAF (Arcetri Observatory), Firenze, Italy
Many protostellar and prestellar cores as well as some IRDCs are thought to be associated with infalling gas. The reason for this is usually the observed presence in optically thick transitions of asymmetric line profiles skewed to the blue (suggesting absorption by foreground red shifted gas). Attempts are often made to estimate infall rates which however are usually found to be enormously uncertain. It is rarely clear whether the infall in question is onto protostars associated with the core or merely onto the core itself. I will discuss strategies aimed at reducing these uncertainties.
Collaborators:
M. Padovani, Univ. of Barcelona, Spain; P. Hily-Blant, LAOG Grenoble,
France; M.Tafalla, OAN Madrid, Spain