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High-latitude (∣ b ∣ > 30°) molecular clouds have virial parameters that exceed 1, but whether these clouds can form stars has not been studied systematically. Using JCMT SCUBA-2 archival data, we surveyed 70 fields that target high-latitude Planck Galactic cold clumps (HLPCs) to find dense cores with density of 10 ^5 –10 ^6 cm ^−3 and size of 1 × 10 ^21 cm ^−2 ). At an average rms of 15 mJy beam ^−1 , we detected Galactic dense cores in only one field, G6.04+36.77 (L183) while also identifying 12 extragalactic objects and two young stellar objects. Compared to the low-latitude clumps, dense cores are scarce in HLPCs. With synthetic observations, the densities of cores are constrained to be n _c ≲ 10 ^5 cm ^−3 should they exist in HLPCs. Low-latitude clumps, Taurus clumps, and HLPCs form a sequence where a higher virial parameter corresponds to a lower dense-core detection rate. If HLPCs were affected by the Local Bubble, the scarcity should favor turbulence-inhibited rather than supernova-driven star formation. Studies of the formation mechanism of the L183 molecular cloud are warranted.

Only a handful of massive starless core candidates have been discovered so far, but none of them have been fully confirmed. Within the MM1 clump in the filamentary infrared dark cloud G34.43+0.24 that was covered by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) ATOMS survey at Band 3 (∼2″, 6000 au) and the ALMA-QUARKS survey at Band 6 (∼0.″3, 900 au), two prestellar core candidates MM1-C and E1 with masses of 71 and 20 M _⊙ and radii of 2100–4400 au were discovered. The two cores show no obvious sign of star formation activities. In particular, MM1-C is a very promising massive prestellar core candidate with a total gas mass of 71 M _⊙ . Within MM1-C, we detected two extremely dense substructures, C1 and C2, as characterized by their high densities of ${n}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}\sim {10}^{8\mbox{--}9}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ . Moreover, evidence of further fragmentation in C2 was also revealed. We have detected the primordial fragmentation in the earliest stage of massive star formation, and we speculate that MM1-C would be the birthplace of a massive multiple system. However, we cannot fully rule out the possibility that the massive prestellar core MM1-C will just form a cluster of low-mass stars if it undergoes further fragmentation.

In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the IRS 17 filament within the intermediate-mass protocluster IRAS 08448-4343 (of ∼10 ^3 L _⊙ ), using ALMA data from the ATOMS 3 mm and QUARKS 1.3 mm surveys. The IRS 17 filament, which spans ∼54,000 au (0.26 pc) in length and ∼4000 au (0.02 pc) in width, exhibits a complex, multicomponent velocity field and harbors hierarchical substructures. These substructures include three bundles of seven velocity-coherent fibers and 29 dense ( n ∼ 10 ^8 cm ^−3 ) condensations. The fibers have a median length of ∼4500 au and a median width of ∼1400 au. Among these fibers, four are identified as “fertile,” each hosting at least three dense condensations, which are regarded as the “seeds” of star formation. While the detected cores are randomly spaced within the IRS 17 filament based on the 3 mm dust continuum image, periodic spacing (∼1600 au) of condensations is observed in the fertile fibers according to the 1.3 mm dust map, consistent with the predictions of linear isothermal cylinder fragmentation models. These findings underscore the crucial role of fibers in star formation and suggest a hierarchical fragmentation process that extends from the filament to the fibers and, ultimately, to the smallest-scale condensations.

We present 850 μ m thermal dust polarization observations with a resolution of 14.″4 (∼0.13 pc) toward an infrared dark cloud G16.96+0.27 using James Clerk Maxwell Telescope/POL-2. The average magnetic field orientation, which roughly agrees with the larger-scale magnetic field orientation traced by the Planck 353 GHz data, is approximately perpendicular to the filament structure. The estimated plane-of-sky magnetic field strength is ∼96 μ G and ∼60 μ G using two variants of the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi methods. We calculate the virial and magnetic critical parameters to evaluate the relative importance of gravity, the magnetic field, and turbulence. The magnetic field and turbulence are both weaker than gravity, but magnetic fields and turbulence together are equal to gravity, suggesting that G16.96+0.27 is in a quasi-equilibrium state. The alignment between the magnetic field and cloud is found to have a trend moving away from perpendicularity in the dense regions, which may serve as a tracer of potential fragmentation in such quiescent filaments.

Sulfur-bearing molecules are commonly detected in dense cores within star-forming regions, but the total sulfur budget is significantly lower when compared to the interstellar medium value. The properties of sulfur-bearing molecules are not well understood due to the absence of large sample studies with uniform observational configurations. To deepen our understanding of this subject, we conducted a study using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 870 μ m observations of 11 massive protoclusters. By checking the spectra of 248 dense cores in 11 massive protoclusters, a total of 10 sulfur-bearing species (CS, SO, H _2 CS, NS, SO _2 , ^33 SO, ^34 SO _2 , ^33 SO _2 , SO ^18 O, and OC ^34 S) were identified. The parameters including systemic velocities, line widths, gas temperatures, column densities, and abundances were derived. Our results indicate that SO appears to be more easily detected in a wider range of physical environments than H _2 CS, despite these two species showing similarities in gas distributions and abundances. Molecules ^34 SO _2 and H _2 CS are good tracers of the temperature of sulfur-bearing species, in which H _2 CS traces the outer warm envelope and ^34 SO _2 is associated with high-temperature central regions. High-mass star-forming feedback (outflow and other nonthermal motions) significantly elevates the sulfur-bearing molecular abundances and detection rates specifically for SO _2 and SO. A positive correlation between the SO _2 abundance increasing factor ( F ) and temperatures suggests that SO _2 could serve as a sulfur reservoir on the grain mantles of dense cores and then can be desorbed from dust to gas phase as the temperature rises. This work shows the importance of a large and unbiased survey to understand the sulfur depletion in dense cores.

Filaments are believed to play a key role in high-mass star formation. We present a systematic study of the filaments and their hosting clumps in the G35 molecular complex using James Clerk Maxwell Telescope SCUBA-2 850 μ m continuum data. We identified five clouds in the complex and 91 filaments within them, some of which form 10 hub–filament systems (HFSs), each with at least three hub-composing filaments. We also compiled a catalog of 350 dense clumps, 183 of which are associated with the filaments. We investigated the physical properties of the filaments and clumps, such as mass, density, and size, and their relation to star formation. We find that the global mass–length trend of the filaments is consistent with a turbulent origin, while the hub-composing filaments of high line masses ( m _l > 230 M _⊙ pc ^−1 ) in HFSs deviate from this relation, possibly due to feedback from massive star formation. We also find that the most massive and densest clumps ( R > 0.2 pc, M > 35 M _⊙ , Σ > 0.05 g cm ^−2 ) are located in the filaments and in the hubs of HFSs, with the latter bearing a higher probability of the occurrence of high-mass star-forming signatures, highlighting the preferential sites of HFSs for high-mass star formation. We do not find significant variation in the clump mass surface density across different evolutionary environments of the clouds, which may reflect the balance between mass accretion and stellar feedback.

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 ${ \mathcal Q }$ -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.

Massive infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are considered to host the earliest stages of high-mass star formation. In particular, 70 μ m dark IRDCs are the colder and more quiescent clouds. At a scale of about 5000 au using formaldehyde (H _2 CO) emission, we investigate the kinetic temperature of dense cores in 12 IRDCs obtained from the pilot Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Survey of 70 μ m dark High-mass clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). Compared to the 1.3 mm dust continuum and other molecular lines, such as C ^18 O and deuterated species, we find that H _2 CO is mainly sensitive to low-velocity outflow components rather than to quiescent gas expected in the early phases of star formation. The kinetic temperatures of these components range from 26 to 300 K. The Mach number reaches about 15 with an average value of about 4, suggesting that the velocity distribution of gas traced by H _2 CO is significantly influenced by a supersonic nonthermal component. In addition, we detect warm line emission from HC _3 N and OCS in 14 protostellar cores, which requires high excitation temperatures ( E _u / k ∼ 100 K). These results show that some of the embedded cores in the ASHES fields are in an advanced evolutionary stage, previously unexpected for 70 μ m dark IRDCs.

We observe the magnetic field morphology toward a nearby star-forming filamentary cloud, G202.3+2.5, using James Clerk Maxwell Telescope/POL-2 850 μ m thermal dust polarization observations with an angular resolution of 14.″4 (∼0.053 pc). The average magnetic field orientation is found to be perpendicular to the filaments, while showing different behaviors in the four subregions, suggesting various effects from the filaments’ collision in these subregions. With the kinematics obtained by the ${{{\rm{N}}}_{2}{\rm{H}}}^{+}$ observation by IRAM, we estimate the plane-of-sky magnetic field strength by two methods, the classical Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi (DCF) method and the angular dispersion function (ADF) method, giving B _pos,dcf and B _pos,adf of ∼90 and ∼53 μ G. We study the relative importance between the gravity ( G ), magnetic field ( B ), and turbulence ( T ) in the four subregions, and find G > T > B , G ≥ T > B , G ∼ T > B , and T > G > B in the north tail, west trunk, south root, and east wing, respectively. In addition, we investigate the projection effects on the DCF and ADF methods, based on a similar simulation case, and find the 3D magnetic field strength may be underestimated by a factor of ∼3 if applying the widely used statistical B _pos -to- B _3D factor when using the DCF or ADF methods, which may further underestimate/overestimate the related parameters.

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 (H _2 CS) 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. H _2 CS line transitions are observed in 72 out of 145 cores, including line-rich cores, warm cores, and cold cores. The H _2 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 H _2 CS can be widely distributed in star-forming cores with different physical environments. The rotation temperature and column density of H _2 CS are derived using the XCLASS software. The results show that the H _2 CS abundances increase as temperature rises and higher gas temperatures are usually associated with higher H _2 CS column densities. The abundances of H _2 CS are positively correlated with its column density, suggesting that the H _2 CS abundances are enhanced from cold cores, warm cores, and line-rich cores in star-forming regions.

Protostellar outflows and jets are almost ubiquitous characteristics during the mass accretion phase and encode the history of stellar accretion, complex organic molecule (COM) formation, and planet formation. Episodic jets are likely connected to episodic accretion through the disk. Despite the importance, studies on episodic accretion and ejection links have not been done yet in a systematic fashion using high-sensitivity and high-resolution observations. To explore episodic accretion mechanisms and the chronologies of episodic events, we investigated 39 fields containing protostars with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of CO, SiO, and 1.3 mm continuum emission. We detected SiO emission in 19 fields, where 17 sources are driving molecular jets. Jet velocities, mass-loss rates, mass accretion rates, and periods of accretion events appear to have some dependence on the driving forces of the jet (e.g., bolometric luminosity, envelope mass). Next, velocities and mass-loss rates appear to be somewhat correlated with the surrounding envelope mass, suggesting that the presence of high mass around protostars increases the ejection–accretion activity. We determine mean periods of ejection events of 20–175 yr for our sample, which could be associated with perturbation zones of ∼2−25 au extent around the protostars. In addition, mean ejection periods show an apparent anticorrelation with the envelope mass, where high accretion rates may trigger more frequent ejection events. The observed periods of outburst/ejection are much shorter than the freezeout timescale of the simplest COMs like CH _3 OH, suggesting that episodic events could affect the ice–gas balance inside and around the snowline.

The internal structure of the prestellar core G208.68-19.02-N2 (G208-N2) in the Orion Molecular Cloud 3 (OMC-3) region has been studied with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The dust continuum emission revealed a filamentary structure with a length of ∼5000 au and an average H _2 volume density of ∼6 × 10 ^7 cm ^−3 . At the tip of this filamentary structure, there is a compact object, which we call a nucleus , with a radius of ∼150–200 au and a mass of ∼0.1 M _⊙ . The nucleus has a central density of ∼2 × 10 ^9 cm ^−3 with a radial density profile of r ^−1.87±0.11 . The density scaling of the nucleus is ∼3.7 times higher than that of the singular isothermal sphere (SIS). This as well as the very low virial parameter of 0.39 suggests that the gravity is dominant over the pressure everywhere in the nucleus. However, there is no sign of CO outflow localized to this nucleus. The filamentary structure is traced by the N _2 D ^+ 3–2 emission, but not by the C ^18 O 2–1 emission, implying the significant CO depletion due to high density and cold temperature. Toward the nucleus, the N _2 D ^+ also shows the signature of depletion. This could imply either the depletion of the parent molecule, N _2 , or the presence of the embedded very-low luminosity central source that could sublimate the CO in the very small area. The nucleus in G208-N2 is considered to be a prestellar core on the verge of first hydrostatic core (FHSC) formation or a candidate for the FHSC.

One of the most poorly understood aspects of low-mass star formation is how multiple-star systems are formed. Here we present the results of Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 6 observations toward a forming quadruple protostellar system, G206.93-16.61E2, in the Orion B molecular cloud. ALMA 1.3 mm continuum emission reveals four compact objects, of which two are Class I young stellar objects and the other two are likely in prestellar phase. The 1.3 mm continuum emission also shows three asymmetric ribbon-like structures that are connected to the four objects, with lengths ranging from ∼500 to ∼2200 au. By comparing our data with magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we suggest that these ribbons trace accretion flows and also function as gas bridges connecting the member protostars. Additionally, ALMA CO J = 2−1 line emission reveals a complicated molecular outflow associated with G206.93-16.61E2, with arc-like structures suggestive of an outflow cavity viewed pole-on.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Survey of Star Formation and Evolution in Massive Protoclusters with Blue Profiles (ASSEMBLE) aims to investigate the process of mass assembly and its connection to high-mass star formation theories in protoclusters in a dynamic view. We observed 11 massive ( M _clump ≳ 10 ^3 M _⊙ ), luminous ( L _bol ≳ 10 ^4 L _⊙ ), and blue-profile (infall signature) clumps by ALMA with resolution of ∼2200–5500 au (median value of 3500 au) at 350 GHz (870 μ m). We identified 248 dense cores, including 106 cores showing protostellar signatures and 142 prestellar core candidates. Compared to early stage infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) by ASHES, the core mass and surface density within the ASSEMBLE clumps exhibited a significant increment, suggesting concurrent core accretion during the evolution of the clumps. The maximum mass of prestellar cores was found to be 2 times larger than that in IRDCs, indicating that evolved protoclusters have the potential to harbor massive prestellar cores. The mass relation between clumps and their most massive core (MMCs) is observed in ASSEMBLE but not in IRDCs, which is suggested to be regulated by multiscale mass accretion. The mass correlation between the core clusters and their MMCs has a steeper slope compared to that observed in stellar clusters, which can be due to fragmentation of the MMC and stellar multiplicity. We observe a decrease in core separation and an increase in central concentration as protoclusters evolve. We confirm primordial mass segregation in the ASSEMBLE protoclusters, possibly resulting from gravitational concentration and/or gas accretion.

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array subarcsecond-resolution observations of both continuum and molecular lines at 345 GHz toward the massive star-forming region IRAS 16351-4722 (hereafter I16351). A total of 12 dust cores were detected based on high-spatial-resolution observations of the continuum. Among them, a high-mass core (11.6 M _⊙ ) and a low-mass core (1.7 M _⊙ ) show abundant molecular line emissions. 164 molecular transitions from 29 species and 104 molecular transitions from 25 species are identified in the high-mass and low-mass cores, respectively. Complex organic molecules (COMs) such as CH _3 OH, CH _3 OCHO, CH _3 OCH _3 , C _2 H _5 OH, and C _2 H _5 CN are detected in the two cores. Under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium, the rotational temperatures and column densities of the COMs are derived with the XCLASS software. The maximum rotation temperature values in the low-mass core and the high-mass core were found to be approximately 130 K and 198 K, respectively. Additionally, the line widths in the high-mass core are larger than those in the low-mass one. The abundant COM line transitions, high gas temperatures, and smaller line widths indicate the presence of a low-mass line-rich core in the massive star formation region for the first time, while the high-mass line-rich core shows hot core properties. When comparing the molecular abundances of CH _3 OH, CH _3 OCHO, CH _3 OCH _3 , and C _2 H _5 OH of the two cores with other hot cores and hot corinos reported in the literature, we further confirm that both a hot core and a low-mass line-rich core are simultaneously detected in I16351.

Hot corinos are of great interest due to their richness in interstellar complex organic molecules (COMs) and the consequent potential prebiotic connection to solar-like planetary systems. Recent surveys have reported an increasing number of detected hot corinos in Class 0/I protostars; however, the relationships between their physical properties and the hot-corino signatures remain elusive. In this study, our objective is to establish a general picture of the detectability of hot corinos by identifying the origins of the hot-corino signatures in the sample of young stellar objects (YSOs) obtained from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps project. We apply spectral energy distribution modeling to our sample and identify the physical parameters of the modeled YSOs directly, linking the detection of hot-corino signatures to the envelope properties of the YSOs. Imaging simulations of the methanol emission further support this scenario. We therefore posit that the observed COM emission originates from the warm inner envelopes of the sample YSOs, based on both the warm region size and the envelope density profile. The former is governed by the source luminosity and is additionally affected by the disk and cavity properties, while the latter is related to the evolutionary stages. This scenario provides a framework for detecting hot-corino signatures toward luminous Class 0 YSOs, with fewer detections being observed toward similarly luminous Class I sources.

Most stars form in multiple-star systems. For a better understanding of their formation processes, it is important to resolve the individual protostellar components and the surrounding envelope and disk material at the earliest possible formation epoch, because the formation history can be lost in a few orbital timescales. Here we present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observational results of a young multiple protostellar system, IRAS 04239+2436, where three well-developed large spiral arms were detected in the shocked SO emission. Along the most conspicuous arm, the accretion streamer was also detected in the SO _2 emission. The observational results are complemented by numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations, where those large arms only appear in magnetically weakened clouds. Numerical simulations also suggest that the large triple spiral arms are the result of gravitational interactions between compact triple protostars and the turbulent infalling envelope.

There is growing evidence that high-mass star formation and hub-filament systems (HFS) are intricately linked. The gas kinematics along the filaments and the forming high-mass star(s) in the central hub are in excellent agreement with the new generation of global hierarchical high-mass star formation models. In this paper, we present an observational investigation of a typical HFS cloud, G310.142+0.758 (G310 hereafter), which reveals unambiguous evidence of mass inflow from the cloud scale via the filaments onto the forming protostar(s) at the hub conforming with the model predictions. Continuum and molecular line data from the ATOMS and MALT90 surveys that cover different spatial scales are used. Three filaments (with a total mass of 5.7 ± 1.1 × 10 ^3 M _⊙ ) are identified converging toward the central hub region where several signposts of high-mass star formation have been observed. The hub region contains a massive clump (1280 ± 260 M _⊙ ) harboring a central massive core. Additionally, five outflow lobes are associated with the central massive core implying a forming cluster. The observed large-scale, smooth, and coherent velocity gradients from the cloud down to the core scale, and the signatures of infall motion seen in the central massive clump and core, clearly unveil a nearly continuous, multi-scale mass accretion/transfer process at a similar mass infall rate of ∼10 ^−3 M _⊙ yr ^−1 over all scales, feeding the central forming high-mass protostar(s) in the G310 HFS cloud.

The initial conditions found in infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) provide insights on how high-mass stars and stellar clusters form. We have conducted high-angular resolution and high-sensitivity observations toward thirty-nine massive IRDC clumps, which have been mosaicked using the 12 and 7 m arrays from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The targets are 70 μ m dark massive (220–4900 M _⊙ ), dense (>10 ^4 cm ^−3 ), and cold (∼10–20 K) clumps located at distances between 2 and 6 kpc. We identify an unprecedented number of 839 cores, with masses between 0.05 and 81 M _⊙ using 1.3 mm dust continuum emission. About 55% of the cores are low-mass (

We present dynamical properties of 294 cores embedded in twelve IRDCs observed as part of the ASHES Survey. Protostellar cores have higher gas masses, surface densities, column densities, and volume densities than prestellar cores, indicating core mass growth from the prestellar to the protostellar phase. We find that ∼80% of cores with virial parameter ( α ) measurements are gravitationally bound ( α < 2). We also find an anticorrelation between the mass and the virial parameter of cores, with massive cores having on average lower virial parameters. Protostellar cores are more gravitationally bound than prestellar cores, with an average virial parameter of 1.2 and 1.5, respectively. The observed nonthermal velocity dispersion (from N _2 D ^+ or DCO ^+ ) is consistent with simulations in which turbulence is continuously injected, whereas the core-to-core velocity dispersion is neither in agreement with driven nor decaying turbulence simulations. We find a not significant increment in the line velocity dispersion from prestellar to protostellar cores, suggesting that the dense gas within the core traced by these deuterated molecules is not yet severely affected by turbulence injected from outflow activity at the early evolutionary stages traced in ASHES. The most massive cores are strongly self-gravitating and have greater surface density, Mach number, and velocity dispersion than cores with lower masses. Dense cores do not have significant velocity shifts relative to their low-density envelopes, suggesting that dense cores are comoving with their envelopes. We conclude that the observed core properties are more in line with the predictions of clump-fed scenarios rather than with those of core-fed scenarios.

To study the transportation of magnetic flux from large to small scales in protostellar sources, we analyzed the Nobeyama 45 m N _2 H ^+ (1–0), JCMT 850 μ m polarization, and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) C ^18 O (2–1) and 1.3 and 0.8 mm (polarized) continuum data of the Class 0 protostar HH 211. The magnetic field strength in the dense core on a 0.1 pc scale was estimated with the single-dish line and polarization data using the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method, and that in the protostellar envelope on a 600 au scale was estimated from the force balance between the gravity and magnetic field tension by analyzing the gas kinematics and magnetic field structures with the ALMA data. Our analysis suggests that from 0.1 pc–600 au scales, the magnetic field strength increases from 40–107 μ G to 0.3–1.2 mG with a scaling relation between the magnetic field strength and density of B ∝ ρ ^0.36±0.08 , and the mass-to-flux ratio increases from 1.2–3.7 to 9.1–32.3. The increase in the mass-to-flux ratio could suggest that the magnetic field is partially decoupled from the neutral matter between 0.1 pc and 600 au scales, and hint at efficient ambipolar diffusion in the infalling protostellar envelope in HH 211, which is the dominant nonideal magnetohydrodynamic effect considering the density on these scales. Thus, our results could support the scenario of efficient ambipolar diffusion enabling the formation of the 20 au Keplerian disk in HH 211.

Starless cores represent the initial stage of evolution toward (proto)star formation, and a subset of them, known as prestellar cores, with high density (∼ 10 ^6 cm ^−3 or higher) and being centrally concentrated are expected to be embryos of (proto)stars. Determining the density profile of prestellar cores therefore provides an important opportunity to gauge the initial conditions of star formation. In this work, we perform rigorous modeling to estimate the density profiles of three nearly spherical prestellar cores among a sample of five highly dense cores detected by our recent observations. We employed multiscale observational data of the (sub)millimeter dust continuum emission, including those obtained by SCUBA-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope with a resolution of ∼ 5600 au and by multiple Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations with a resolution as high as ∼ 480 au. We are able to consistently reproduce the observed multiscale dust continuum images of the cores with a simple prescribed density profile, which bears an inner region of flat density and an r ^−2 profile toward the outer region. By utilizing the peak density and the size of the inner flat region as a proxy for the dynamical stage of the cores, we find that the three modeled cores are most likely unstable and prone to collapse. The sizes of the inner flat regions, as compact as ∼ 500 au, signify them as being the highly evolved prestellar cores rarely found to date.

The magnetic field structure of a star-forming Bok globule BHR 71 was determined based on near-infrared polarimetric observations of background stars. The magnetic field in BHR 71 was mapped from 25 stars. By using a simple 2D parabolic function, the plane-of-sky magnetic axis of the core was found to be θmag = 125° ± 11°. The plane-of-sky mean magnetic field strength of BHR 71 was found to be Bpos = 8.8–15.0 μG, indicating that the BHR 71 core is magnetically supercritical with λ = 1.44–2.43. Taking into account the effect of thermal/turbulent pressure and the plane-of-sky magnetic field component, the critical mass of BHR 71 was Mcr = 14.5–18.7 M⊙, which is consistent with the observed core mass of Mcore ≈ 14.7 M⊙. We conclude that BHR 71 is in a condition close to a kinematically critical state, and the magnetic field direction lies close to the plane of sky. Since BHR 71 is a star-forming core, a significantly subcritical condition (i.e., the magnetic field direction deviating from the plane of sky) is unlikely, and collapsed from a condition close to a kinematically critical state. There are two possible scenarios to explain the curved magnetic fields of BHR 71, one is an hourglass-like field structure due to mass accumulation and the other is the Inoue & Fukui mechanism, which proposes the interaction of the core with a shock wave to create curved magnetic fields wrapping around the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offsets of molecular line emission peaks from continuum peaks are very common but frequently difficult to explain with a single spherical cloud chemical model. We propose that the spatial projection effects of an irregular three-dimensional (3D) cloud structure can be a solution. This work shows that the idea can be successfully applied to the Planck cold clump G224.4-0.6 by approximating it with four individual spherically symmetric cloud cores whose chemical patterns overlap with each other to produce observable line maps. With the empirical physical structures inferred from the observation data of this clump and a gas-grain chemical model, the four cores can satisfactorily reproduce its 850 μm continuum map and the diverse peak offsets of CCS, HC3N, and N2H+ simultaneously at chemical ages of about 8 × 105 ∼ 3 × 106 yr. The 3D projection effects on chemistry has the potential to explain such asymmetrical distributions of chemicals in many other molecular clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the detailed magnetic field structure of the dense protostellar core Barnard 335 (B335) was revealed, based on near-infrared polarimetric observations of background stars to measure dichroically polarized light produced by magnetically aligned dust grains in the core. Magnetic fields pervading B335 were mapped using 24 stars after subtracting unrelated ambient polarization components, revealing that they have an axisymmetrically distorted hourglass-shaped structure toward the protostellar core. On the basis of simple two- and three-dimensional magnetic field modeling, magnetic inclination angles in the plane-of-sky and line-of-sight directions were determined to be 90° ± 7° and 50° ± 10°, respectively. The total magnetic field strength of B335 was determined to be 30.2 ± 17.7 μG. The critical mass of B335, evaluated using both magnetic and thermal/turbulent support against collapse, was determined to be Mcr = 3.37 ± 0.94 M⊙, which is identical to the observed core mass of Mcore = 3.67 M⊙. We thus concluded that B335 started its contraction from a condition near equilibrium. We found a linear relationship in the polarization versus extinction diagram, up to AV ∼ 15 mag toward the stars with the greatest obscuration, which verified that our observations and analysis provide an accurate depiction of the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detailed magnetic field structure of the starless dense core CB81 (L1774, Pipe 42) in the Pipe Nebula was determined based on near-infrared polarimetric observations of background stars to measure dichroically polarized light produced by magnetically aligned dust grains in the core. The magnetic fields pervading CB81 were mapped using 147 stars and axisymmetrically distorted hourglass-like fields were identified. On the basis of simple 2D and 3D magnetic field modeling, the magnetic inclination angles in the plane-of-sky and line-of-sight directions were determined to be 4° ± 8° and 20° ± 20°, respectively. The total magnetic field strength of CB81 was found to be 7.2 ± 2.3 μG. Taking into account the effects of thermal/turbulent pressure and magnetic fields, the critical mass of CB81 was calculated to be Mcr = 4.03 ± 0.40 M⊙, which is close to the observed core mass of Mcore = 3.37 ± 0.51 M⊙. We thus conclude that CB81 is in a condition close to the critical state. In addition, a spatial offset of 92″ was found between the center of the magnetic field geometry and the dust extinction distribution; this offset structure could not have been produced by self-gravity. The data also indicate a linear relationship between polarization and extinction up to AV ∼ 30 mag going toward the core center. This result confirms that near-infrared polarization can accurately trace the overall magnetic field structure of the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observational data for the hourglass-like magnetic field toward the starless dense core FeSt 1–457 were compared with a flux freezing magnetic field model. Fitting of the observed plane-of-sky magnetic field using the flux freezing model gave a residual angle dispersion comparable to the results based on a simple 3D parabolic model. The best-fit parameters for the flux freezing model were a line-of-sight magnetic inclination angle of γmag = 35° ± 15° and a core center to ambient (background) density contrast of ρc/ρbkg = 75. The initial density for core formation (ρ0) was estimated to be ρc/75 = 4670 cm−3, which is about one order of magnitude higher than the expected density (∼300 cm−3) for the interclump medium of the Pipe Nebula. FeSt 1–457 is likely to have been formed from the accumulation of relatively dense gas, and the relatively dense background column density of AV ≃ 5 mag supports this scenario. The initial radius (core formation radius) R0 and the initial magnetic field strength B0 were obtained to be 0.15 pc (1.64R) and 10.8–14.6 μG, respectively. We found that the initial density ρ0 is consistent with the mean density of the nearly critical magnetized filament with magnetic field strength B0 and radius R0. The relatively dense initial condition for core formation can be naturally understood if the origin of the core is the fragmentation of magnetized filaments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ALMA Survey of 70 μm dark High-mass clumps in Early Stages (ASHES) is designed to systematically characterize the earliest stages and constrain theories of high-mass star formation. Twelve massive (>500 ), cold (≤15 K), 3.6–70 μm dark prestellar clump candidates, embedded in infrared dark clouds, were carefully selected in the pilot survey to be observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We have mosaicked each clump (∼1 arcmin2) in continuum and line emission with the 12 m, 7 m, and Total Power (TP) arrays at 224 GHz (1.34 mm), resulting in ∼1.″2 resolution (∼4800 au, at the average source distance). As the first paper in the series, we concentrate on the continuum emission to reveal clump fragmentation. We detect 294 cores, from which 84 (29%) are categorized as protostellar based on outflow activity or “warm core” line emission. The remaining 210 (71%) are considered prestellar core candidates. The number of detected cores is independent of the mass sensitivity range of the observations and, on average, more massive clumps tend to form more cores. We find a large population of low-mass (<1 ) cores and no high-mass (>30 ) prestellar cores (maximum mass 11 ). From the prestellar core mass function, we derive a power-law index of 1.17 ± 0.10, which is slightly shallower than Salpeter. We used the minimum spanning tree (MST) technique to characterize the separation between cores and their spatial distribution, and to derive mass segregation ratios. While there is a range of core masses and separations detected in the sample, the mean separation and mass per clump are well explained by thermal Jeans fragmentation and are inconsistent with turbulent Jeans fragmentation. Core spatial distribution is well described by hierarchical subclustering rather than centrally peaked clustering. There is no conclusive evidence of mass segregation. We test several theoretical conditions and conclude that overall, competitive accretion and global hierarchical collapse scenarios are favored over the turbulent core accretion scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Filaments are ubiquitous structures in molecular clouds and play an important role in the mass assembly of stars. We present results of dynamical stability analyses for filaments in the infrared dark cloud G14.225−0.506, where a delayed onset of massive star formation was reported in the two hubs at the convergence of multiple filaments of parsec length. Full-synthesis imaging is performed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array to map the emission in two hub-filament systems with a spatial resolution of ∼0.034 pc. Kinematics are derived from a sophisticated spectral fitting algorithm that accounts for line blending, large optical depth, and multiple velocity components. We identify five velocity coherent filaments and derive their velocity gradients with principal component analysis. The mass accretion rates along the filaments are up to and are significant enough to affect the hub dynamics within one freefall time (∼105 yr). The filaments are in equilibrium with virial parameter αvir ∼ 1.2. We compare αvir measured in the filaments, filaments, 870 μm dense clumps, and 3 mm dense cores. The decreasing trend in αvir with decreasing spatial scales persists, suggesting an increasingly important role of gravity at small scales. Meanwhile, αvir also decreases with decreasing nonthermal motions. In combination with the absence of high-mass protostars and massive cores, our results are consistent with the global hierarchical collapse scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between submillimeter dust emission polarization and near-infrared (NIR) H-band polarization produced by dust dichroic extinction was studied for the cold starless dense core FeSt 1–457. The distributions of polarization angles (90°-rotated for the submillimeter) and degrees were found to be very different between submillimeter and NIR wavelengths. The mean polarization angles for FeSt 1-457 at submillimeter and NIR wavelengths are 132.°1 ± 22.°0 and 2.°7 ± 16.°2, respectively. The correlation between PH and AV was found to be linear from the outermost regions to the relatively dense lines of sight of AV ≈ 25 mag, indicating that NIR polarization reflects the overall polarization (magnetic field) structure of the core, at least in this density range. The flat PH/AV versus AV correlations were confirmed, and the polarization efficiency was found to be comparable to the observational upper limit. On the other hand, as reported by Alves et al. submillimeter polarization degrees show a clear linearly decreasing trend against AV from AV ≈ 20 mag to the densest center (AV ≈ 41 mag), appearing as a “polarization hole” structure. The power-law index for the Psubmm versus AV relationship was obtained to be ≈−1, indicating that the alignment for the submillimeter-sensitive dust is lost. These very different polarization distributions at submillimeter and NIR wavelengths suggest either that (1) there are different radiation environments at these wavelengths or (2) submillimeter-sensitive dust is localized or (3) a combination of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the magnetic field scaling on density, , was revealed in a single starless core for the first time. The κ index of 0.78 ± 0.10 was obtained toward the starless dense core FeSt 1-457 based on the analysis of the radial distribution of the polarization angle dispersion of background stars measured at the near-infrared wavelengths. The result prefers κ = 2/3 for the case of isotropic contraction, and the difference of the observed value from κ = 1/2 is 2.8 sigma. The distribution of the ratio of mass-to-magnetic flux was evaluated. FeSt 1-457 was found to be magnetically supercritical near the center (λ ≈ 2), whereas nearly critical or slightly subcritical at the core boundary (λ ≈ 0.98). Ambipolar diffusion-regulated star formation models for the case of moderate magnetic field strength may explain the physical status of FeSt 1-457. The mass-to-flux ratio distribution for typical dense cores (critical Bonnor–Ebert sphere with central λ = 2 and κ = 1/2–2/3) was calculated, and found to be magnetically critical/subcritical at the core edge, which indicates that typical dense cores are embedded in and evolve from magnetically critical/subcritical diffuse surrounding medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Galactic Plane surveys, we have selected a massive (1200 M⊙), cold (14 K) 3.6–70 μm dark IRDC, G331.372-00.116. This infrared dark cloud (IRDC) has the potential to form high-mass stars, and given the absence of current star formation signatures, it seems to represent the earliest stages of high-mass star formation. We have mapped the whole IRDC with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 1.1 and 1.3 mm in dust continuum and line emission. The dust continuum reveals 22 cores distributed across the IRDC. In this work, we analyze the physical properties of the most massive core, ALMA1, which has no molecular outflows detected in the CO (2–1), SiO (5–4), and H2CO (3–2) lines. This core is relatively massive (M = 17.6 M⊙), subvirialized (virial parameter αvir = Mvir/M = 0.14), and is barely affected by turbulence (transonic Mach number of 1.2). Using the HCO+ (3–2) line, we find the first detection of infall signatures in a relatively massive, prestellar core (ALMA1) with the potential to form a high-mass star. We estimate an infall speed of 1.54 km s−1 and a high accretion rate of 1.96 × 10−3M⊙ yr−1. ALMA1 is rapidly collapsing, out of virial equilibrium, which is more consistent with competitive accretion scenarios rather than the turbulent core accretion model. On the other hand, ALMA1 has a mass ∼6 times larger than the clumps Jeans mass, as it is in an intermediate mass regime (MJ = 2.7 < M ≲ 30 M⊙), contrary to what both the competitive accretion and turbulent core accretion theories predict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic field plays a crucial role in shaping molecular clouds and regulating star formation, yet the complete information on the magnetic field is not well constrained owing to the limitations in observations. We study the magnetic field in the massive infrared dark cloud G035.39-00.33 from dust continuum polarization observations at 850 μm with SCUBA-2/POL-2 at JCMT for the first time. The magnetic field tends to be perpendicular to the densest part of the main filament (FM), whereas it has a less defined relative orientation in the rest of the structure, where it tends to be parallel to some diffuse regions. A mean plane-of-the-sky magnetic field strength of ∼50 μG for FM is obtained using the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method. Based on 13CO (1–0) line observations, we suggest a formation scenario of FM due to large-scale (∼10 pc) cloud–cloud collision. Using additional NH3 line data, we estimate that FM will be gravitationally unstable if it is only supported by thermal pressure and turbulence. The northern part of FM, however, can be stabilized by a modest additional support from the local magnetic field. The middle and southern parts of FM are likely unstable even if the magnetic field support is taken into account. We claim that the clumps in FM may be supported by turbulence and magnetic fields against gravitational collapse. Finally, we identified for the first time a massive (∼200 M⊙), collapsing starless clump candidate, “c8,” in G035.39-00.33. The magnetic field surrounding “c8” is likely pinched, hinting at an accretion flow along the filament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between dust polarization and extinction was determined for the cold dense starless molecular cloud core FeSt 1-457 based on the background star polarimetry of dichroic extinction at near-infrared wavelengths. Owing to the known (three-dimensional) magnetic field structure, the observed polarizations from the core were corrected by considering (a) the subtraction of the ambient polarization component, (b) the depolarization effect of inclined distorted magnetic fields, and (c) the magnetic inclination angle of the core. After these corrections, a linear relationship between polarization and extinction was obtained for the core in the range up to AV ≈ 20 mag. The initial polarization versus extinction diagram changed dramatically after the corrections of (a) to (c), with the correlation coefficient being refined from 0.71 to 0.79. These corrections should affect the theoretical interpretation of the observational data. The slope of the finally obtained polarization–extinction relationship is , which is close to the statistically estimated upper limit of the interstellar polarization efficiency. This consistency suggests that the upper limit of interstellar polarization efficiency might be determined by the observational viewing angle toward polarized astronomical objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the TUKH122 prestellar core in the Orion A cloud using ALMA 3 mm dust continuum, N2H+ (J = 1−0), and CH3OH () molecular-line observations. Previous studies showed that TUKH122 is likely on the verge of star formation because the turbulence is almost dissipated and chemically evolved among other starless cores in the Orion A cloud. By combining ALMA 12 m and ACA data, we recover extended emission with a resolution of ∼5″ corresponding to 0.01 pc and identify six condensations with a mass range of 0.1–0.4 M⊙ and a radius of ≲0.01 pc. These condensations are gravitationally bound following a virial analysis and are embedded in the filament, including the elongated core with a mass of ∼29 M⊙ and a radial density profile of r−1.6 derived by Herschel. The separation of these condensations is ∼0.035 pc, consistent with the thermal Jeans length at a density of 4.4 × 105 cm−3. This density is similar to the central part of the core. We also find a tendency for the N2H+ molecule to deplete at the dust peak condensation. This condensation may be beginning to collapse because the line width becomes broader. Therefore, the fragmentation still occurs in the prestellar core by thermal Jeans instability, and multiple stars are formed within the TUKH122 prestellar core. The CH3OH emission shows a large shell-like distribution and surrounds these condensations, suggesting that the CH3OH molecule formed on dust grains is released into the gas phase by nonthermal desorption such as photoevaporation caused by cosmic-ray-induced UV radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs) possibly represent the early stages of star formation. To understand better the properties of PGCCs, we studied 16 PGCCs in the L1495 cloud with molecular lines and continuum data from Herschel, JCMT/SCUBA-2, and the PMO 13.7 m telescope. Thirty dense cores were identified in 16 PGCCs from 2D Gaussian fitting. The dense cores have dust temperatures of Td = 11–14 K, and H2 column densities of = (0.36–2.5) × 1022 cm−2. We found that not all PGCCs contain prestellar objects. In general, the dense cores in PGCCs are usually at their earliest evolutionary stages. All the dense cores have non-thermal velocity dispersions larger than the thermal velocity dispersions from molecular line data, suggesting that the dense cores may be turbulence-dominated. We have calculated the virial parameter α and found that 14 of the dense cores have α <2, while 16 of the dense cores have α >2. This suggests that some of the dense cores are not bound in the absence of external pressure and magnetic fields. The column density profiles of dense cores were fitted. The sizes of the flat regions and core radii decrease with the evolution of dense cores. CO depletion was found to occur in all the dense cores, but is more significant in prestellar core candidates than in protostellar or starless cores. The protostellar cores inside the PGCCs are still at a very early evolutionary stage, sharing similar physical and chemical properties with the prestellar core candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Filamentary structures are ubiquitous in high-mass star-forming molecular clouds. Their relation with high-mass star formation is still to be understood. Here we report interferometric observations toward eight filamentary high-mass star-forming clouds. A total of 50 dense cores are identified in these clouds, most of which present signatures of high-mass star formation. Five of them are not associated with any star formation indicators and hence are prestellar core candidates. Evolutionary phases of these cores and their line widths, temperatures, abundances, and virial parameters are found to be correlated. In a subsample of four morphologically well-defined filaments, we find that their fragmentation cannot be solely explained by thermal or turbulence pressure support. We also investigate distributions of gas temperatures and nonthermal motions along the filaments and find a spatial correlation between nonthermal line widths and star formation activities. We find evidence of gas flows along these filaments and derive an accretion rate along filaments of ∼10−4 . These results suggest a strong relationship between massive filaments and high-mass star formation, through (i) filamentary fragmentation in very early evolutionary phases to form dense cores, (ii) accretion flows along filaments that are important for the growth of dense cores and protostars, and (iii) enhancement of nonthermal motion in the filaments by the feedback or accretion during star formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stellar feedback from high-mass stars (e.g., H ii regions) can strongly influence the surrounding interstellar medium and regulate star formation. Our new ALMA observations reveal sequential high-mass star formation taking place within one subvirial filamentary clump (the G9.62 clump) in the G9.62+0.19 complex. The 12 dense cores (MM1–MM12) detected by ALMA are at very different evolutionary stages, from the starless core phase to the UC H ii region phase. Three dense cores (MM6, MM7/G, MM8/F) are associated with outflows. The mass–velocity diagrams of the outflows associated with MM7/G and MM8/F can be well-fit by broken power laws. The mass–velocity diagram of the SiO outflow associated with MM8/F breaks much earlier than other outflow tracers (e.g., CO, SO, CS, HCN), suggesting that SiO traces newly shocked gas, while the other molecular lines (e.g., CO, SO, CS, HCN) mainly trace the ambient gas continuously entrained by outflow jets. Five cores (MM1, MM3, MM5, MM9, MM10) are massive starless core candidates whose masses are estimated to be larger than 25 M☉, assuming a dust temperature of ≤20 K. The shocks from the expanding H ii regions (“B” and “C”) to the west may have a great impact on the G9.62 clump by compressing it into a filament and inducing core collapse successively, leading to sequential star formation. Our findings suggest that stellar feedback from H ii regions may enhance the star formation efficiency and suppress low-mass star formation in adjacent pre-existing massive clumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field information on molecular clouds and cores is important for revealing their kinematical stability (magnetic support) against gravity, which is fundamental for studying the initial conditions of star formation. In the present study, the 3D magnetic field structure of the dense starless core FeSt 1-457 is determined based on the near-infrared polarimetric observations of the dichroic polarization of background stars and simple 3D modeling. With an obtained angle of line-of-sight magnetic inclination axis of and previously determined plane-of-sky magnetic field strength of 23.8 ± 12.1 , the total magnetic field strength for FeSt 1-457 is derived to be 33.7 ± 18.0 . The critical mass of FeSt 1-457, evaluated using both magnetic and thermal/turbulent support is , which is identical to the observed core mass, . We thus conclude that the stability of FeSt 1-457 is in a condition close to the critical state. Without infalling gas motion and no associated young stars, the core is regarded to be in the earliest stage of star formation, i.e., the stage just before the onset of dynamical collapse following the attainment of a supercritical condition. These properties could make FeSt 1-457 one of the best starless cores for future studies of the initial conditions of star formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic fields are believed to play an important role in controlling the stability and contraction of the dense condensations of gas and dust that lead to the formation of stars and planetary systems. In the present study, the magnetic field of FeSt 1–457, a cold starless molecular cloud core, was mapped on the basis of the polarized near-infrared light from 185 background stars after being dichroically absorbed by dust aligned with the magnetic field in the core. A distinct “hourglass-shaped” magnetic field was identified in the region of the core, and was interpreted as the first evidence of a magnetic field structure distorted by mass condensation in a starless core. The steep curvature of the magnetic field lines obtained in the present study indicates that the distortion was mainly created during the formation phase of the dense core. The derived mass-to-magnetic flux ratio indicates that the core is in a magnetically supercritical state. However, the stability of the core can be considered to be in a nearly critical state if the additional contributions from the thermal and turbulent support are included. Further diffusion of the magnetic field and/or turbulent dissipation would cause the onset of the dynamical collapse of the core. The geometrical relationship between the direction of the magnetic field lines and the elongation of the core was found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions for the formation of Sun-like stars under the influence of a magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infrared dark cloud (IRDC) G028.23-00.19 hosts a massive (1500 M⊙), cold (12 K), and 3.6–70 μm IR dark clump (MM1) that has the potential to form high-mass stars. We observed this prestellar clump candidate with the Submillimeter Array (∼3.″5 resolution) and Jansky Very Large Array (∼2.″1 resolution) in order to characterize the early stages of high-mass star formation and to constrain theoretical models. Dust emission at 1.3 mm wavelength reveals five cores with masses ≤15 M⊙. None of the cores currently have the mass reservoir to form a high-mass star in the prestellar phase. If the MM1 clump will ultimately form high-mass stars, its embedded cores must gather a significant amount of additional mass over time. No molecular outflows are detected in the CO (2-1) and SiO (5-4) transitions, suggesting that the SMA cores are starless. By using the NH3 (1, 1) line, the velocity dispersion of the gas is determined to be transonic or mildly supersonic (ΔVnt/ΔVth ∼ 1.1–1.8). The cores are not highly supersonic as some theories of high-mass star formation predict. The embedded cores are four to seven times more massive than the clump thermal Jeans mass and the most massive core (SMA1) is nine times less massive than the clump turbulent Jeans mass. These values indicate that neither thermal pressure nor turbulent pressure dominates the fragmentation of MM1. The low virial parameters of the cores (0.1–0.5) suggest that they are not in virial equilibrium, unless strong magnetic fields of ∼1–2 mG are present. We discuss high-mass star formation scenarios in a context based on IRDC G028.23-00.19, a study case believed to represent the initial fragmentation of molecular clouds that will form high-mass stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the implication of the association (or lack of it) of 6.7 GHz class II methanol (CH3OH) masers with massive dense cores (MDCs) detected (within a sample of ATLASGAL selected infrared quiet massive clumps) at 0.9 mm with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array. We found 42 out of the 112 cores (37.5%) detected with the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) to be associated with 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers. The lowest mass core with CH3OH maser association is . The angular offsets of the ACA cores from the 6.7 GHz CH3OH maser peak positions range from 0.″17 to 4.″79, with a median value of 2.″19. We found a weak correlation between the 0.9 mm continuum (MDCs) peak fluxes and the peak fluxes of their associated methanol multibeam (MMB) 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers. About 90% of the cores associated with 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers have masses of >40 M⊙. The CH3OH maser containing cores are candidates for embedded high-mass protostellar objects in their earliest evolutionary stages. With our ACA 0.9 continuum data compared with the MMB 6.7 GHz CH3OH maser survey, we have constrained the cores already housing massive protostars based on their association with the radiatively pumped 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "Measurement of HDCO/H2CO Ratios in the Envelopes of Extremely Cold Protostars in Orion" that was published in the previous issue.