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Observations of low-mass protostellar systems show evidence of rich, complex organic chemistry. Their low luminosity, however, makes determining abundance distributions of complex organic molecules within the water snowline challenging. However, the excitation conditions sampled by differing molecular distributions may produce substantive changes in the resulting emission. Thus, molecular excitation may recover spatial information from spatially unresolved data. By analyzing spatially unresolved NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array observations of CH3OH and CH3CN, we aim to determine if CH3OH and CH3CN are distributed differently in the protostellar disk around HOPS-370, a highly luminous intermediate-mass protostar. Rotational diagram analysis of CH3OH and CH3CN yields rotational temperatures of 198 ± 1.2 K and 448 ± 19 K, respectively, suggesting the two molecules have different spatial distributions. Source-specific 3D LTE radiative transfer models are used to constrain the spatial distribution of CH3OH and CH3CN within the disk. A uniform distribution with an abundance of 4 × 10−8 reproduces the CH3OH observations. In contrast, the spatial distribution of CH3CN needs to be either more compact (within ∼120 au versus ∼240 au for CH3OH) or exhibit a factor of ≳15 increase in abundance in the inner ∼55 au. A possible explanation for the difference in spatial abundance distributions of CH3OH and CH3CN is carbon-grain sublimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fragmentation during the early stages of high-mass star formation is crucial for understanding the formation of high-mass clusters. We investigated fragmentation within 39 high-mass star-forming clumps as part of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Survey of 70 μ m Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES) survey. Considering projection effects, we have estimated core separations for 839 cores identified from the continuum emission and found mean values between 0.08 and 0.32 pc within each clump. We find compatibility of the observed core separations and masses with the thermal Jeans length and mass, respectively. We also present subclump structures revealed by the 7 m array continuum emission. Comparison of the Jeans parameters using clump and subclump densities with the separation and masses of gravitationally bound cores suggests that they can be explained by clump fragmentation, implying the simultaneous formation of subclumps and cores within rather than a step-by-step hierarchical fragmentation. The number of cores in each clump positively correlates with the clump surface density and the number expected from the thermal Jeans fragmentation. We also find that the higher the fraction of protostellar cores, the larger the dynamic range of the core mass, implying that the cores are growing in mass as the clump evolves. The ASHES sample exhibits various fragmentation patterns: aligned, scattered, clustered, and subclustered. Using the Q -parameter, which can help distinguish between centrally condensed and subclustered spatial core distributions, we finally find that in the early evolutionary stages of high-mass star formation, cores tend to follow a subclustered distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the temperature and density structures of gas in massive protoclusters is crucial for understanding the chemical properties therein. In this study, we present observations of the continuum and thioformaldehyde (H2CS) lines at 345 GHz of 11 massive protoclusters using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope. High spatial resolution and sensitivity observations have detected 145 continuum cores from the 11 sources. H2CS line transitions are observed in 72 out of 145 cores, including line-rich cores, warm cores, and cold cores. The H2 column densities of the 72 cores are estimated from the continuum emission, which are larger than the density threshold value for star formation, suggesting that H2CS can be widely distributed in star-forming cores with different physical environments. The rotation temperature and column density of H2CS are derived using the XCLASS software. The results show that the H2CS abundances increase as temperature rises and higher gas temperatures are usually associated with higher H2CS column densities. The abundances of H2CS are positively correlated with its column density, suggesting that the H2CS abundances are enhanced from cold cores, warm cores, and line-rich cores in star-forming regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the unique kinematic properties in massive filament G352.63-1.07 at 103 au spatial scale with the dense molecular tracers observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. We find the central massive core M1 (12 M ⊙) being separated from the surrounding filament with a velocity difference of v − v ¯ sys = − 2 km s − 1 and a transverse separation within 3″. Meanwhile, as shown in multiple dense-gas tracers, M1 has a spatial extension closely aligned with the main filament and is connected to the filament toward both its ends. M1 thus represents a very beginning state for a massive, young star-forming core escaping from the parental filament, within a timescale of ∼4000 yr. Based on its kinetic energy (3.5 × 1044 erg), the core escape is unlikely solely due to the original filament motion or magnetic field but requires more energetic events such as a rapid intense anisotropic collapse. The released energy also seems to noticeably increase the environmental turbulence. This may help the filament to become stabilized again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present ∼10–40 μ m SOFIA-FORCAST images of 11 isolated protostars as part of the SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey, with this morphological classification based on 37 μ m imaging. We develop an automated method to define source aperture size using the gradient of its background-subtracted enclosed flux and apply this to build spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We fit the SEDs with radiative transfer models, developed within the framework of turbulent core accretion (TCA) theory, to estimate key protostellar properties. Here, we release the sedcreator python package that carries out these methods. The SEDs are generally well fitted by the TCA models, from which we infer initial core masses M c ranging from 20–430 M ⊙, clump mass surface densities Σcl ∼ 0.3–1.7 g cm−2, and current protostellar masses m * ∼ 3–50 M ⊙. From a uniform analysis of the 40 sources in the full SOMA survey to date, we find that massive protostars form across a wide range of clump mass surface density environments, placing constraints on theories that predict a minimum threshold Σcl for massive star formation. However, the upper end of the m *−Σcl distribution follows trends predicted by models of internal protostellar feedback that find greater star formation efficiency in higher Σcl conditions. We also investigate protostellar far-IR variability by comparison with IRAS data, finding no significant variation over an ∼40 yr baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spectral survey of methyl acetylene (CH3CCH) was conducted toward the hot molecular core/outflow G331.512-0.103. Our APEX observations allowed the detection of 41 uncontaminated rotational lines of CH3CCH in the frequency range between 172 and 356 GHz. Through an analysis under the local thermodynamic equilibrium assumption, by means of rotational diagrams, we determined T exc = 50 ± 1 K, N (CH3CCH) = (7.5 ± 0.4) Ă— 1015 cm2, X [CH3CCH/H2] ≈ (0.8â€"2.8) Ă— 10âˆ'8, and X [CH3CCH/CH3OH] ≈ 0.42 ± 0.05 for an extended emitting region (∼10″). The relative intensities of the K = 2 and K = 3 lines within a given K -ladder are strongly negatively correlated to the transitions’ upper J quantum number (r = âˆ'0.84). Pure rotational spectra of CH3CCH were simulated at different temperatures, in order to interpret this observation. The results indicate that the emission is characterized by a nonnegligible temperature gradient with upper and lower limits of ∼45 and ∼60 K, respectively. Moreover, the line widths and peak velocities show an overall strong correlation with their rest frequencies, suggesting that the warmer gas is also associated with stronger turbulence effects. The K = 0 transitions present a slightly different kinematic signature than the remaining lines, indicating that they might be tracing a different gas component. We speculate that this component is characterized by lower temperatures and therefore larger sizes. Moreover, we predict and discuss the temporal evolution of the CH3CCH abundance using a two-stage zero-dimensional model of the source constructed with the three-phase Nautilus gas-grain code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Orion Kleinmann-Low nebula (Orion KL) is notoriously complex and exhibits a range of physical and chemical components. We conducted high-angular-resolution (subarcsecond) observations of 13CH3OH ν = 0 (∼0.″3 and ∼0.″7) and CH3CN ν 8 = 1 (∼0.″2 and ∼0.″9) line emission with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to investigate Orion KL’s structure on small spatial scales (≤350 au). Gas kinematics, excitation temperatures, and column densities were derived from the molecular emission via a pixel-by-pixel spectral line fitting of the image cubes, enabling us to examine the small-scale variation of these parameters. Subregions of the Hot Core have a higher excitation temperature in a 0.″2 beam than in a 0.″9 beam, indicative of possible internal sources of heating. Furthermore, the velocity field includes a bipolar ∼7â€"8 km sâˆ'1 feature with a southeastâ€"northwest orientation against the surrounding ∼4â€"5 km sâˆ'1 velocity field, which may be due to an outflow. We also find evidence of a possible source of internal heating toward the Northwest Clump, since the excitation temperature there is higher in a smaller beam versus a larger beam. Finally, the region southwest of the Hot Core (Hot Core-SW) presents itself as a particularly heterogeneous region bridging the Hot Core and Compact Ridge. Additional studies to identify the (hidden) sources of luminosity and heating within Orion KL are necessary to better understand the nebula and its chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical and numerical works indicate that a strong magnetic field should suppress fragmentation in dense cores. However, this has never been tested observationally in a relatively large sample of fragmenting massive dense cores. Here, we use the polarization data obtained in the Submillimeter Array Legacy Survey of Zhang et al. to build a sample of 18 massive dense cores where both fragmentation and magnetic field properties are studied in a uniform way. We measured the fragmentation level, Nmm, within the field of view common to all regions of ∼0.15 pc, with a mass sensitivity of ∼0.5 M☉, and a spatial resolution of ∼1000 au. In order to obtain the magnetic field strength using the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method, we estimated the dispersion of the polarization position angles, the velocity dispersion of the H13CO+(4–3) gas, and the density of each core, all averaged within 0.15 pc. A strong correlation is found between Nmm and the average density of the parental core, although with significant scatter. When large-scale systematic motions are separated from the velocity dispersion and only the small-scale (turbulent) contribution is taken into account, a tentative correlation is found between Nmm and the mass-to-flux ratio, as suggested by numerical and theoretical works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have analyzed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array cycle 2 data of band 6 toward the G345.4938+01.4677 massive young protostellar object (G345.5+1.47 MYSO) in the IRAS 16562–3959 high-mass star-forming region with an angular resolution of ∼0.″3, corresponding to ∼760 au. We spatially resolve the central region, which consists of three prominent molecular emission cores. A hypercompact H ii region (Core A) and two molecule-rich cores (Core B and Core C) are identified using the moment zero images of the H30α line and a CH3OH line, respectively. Various oxygen-bearing complex organic molecules, such as (CH3)2CO and CH3OCHO, have been detected toward the positions of Core B and Core C, while nitrogen-bearing species, CH3CN, HC3N, and its 13C isotopologues, have been detected toward all of the cores. We discuss the formation mechanisms of H2CO by comparing the spatial distribution of C18O with that of H2CO. The 33SO emission, on the other hand, shows a ring-like structure surrounding Core A, and it peaks on the outer edge of the H30α emission region. These results imply that SO is enhanced in a shock produced by the expanding motion of the ionized region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]