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We performed correlation analyses between the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO $J=$1-0 line intensities in order to derive the variability of the CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor ($X_{\rm CO, iso}$) in the central molecular zone (CMZ) of our Galaxy. New high-resolution $X_{\rm CO, iso}$ maps at a resolution of $\sim 30$" and the longitude-velocity diagram (LVD) at resolution $\sim 30$" $ \times\ 2$ km s$^{-1}$ are presented using the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO archival survey data obtained by the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. We revealed the variation of $X_{\rm CO, iso}$ in the CMZ within the range of $X_{\rm CO, iso} \sim (0.2-1.3) \times 10^{20}\ {\rm cm^{-2}\ (K\ km\ s^{-1})^{-1}}$, if we assume the normalization value of $0.59 \times 10^{20}\ {\rm cm^{-2}\ (K\ km\ s^{-1})^{-1}}$. The mean value is obtained as $X_{\rm CO, iso} = (0.48 \pm 0.15) \times 10^{20}\ {\rm cm^{-2}\ (K\ km\ s^{-1})^{-1}}$ in the CMZ of our Galaxy., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables, accepted for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ)

We investigated the correlation between intensities of the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO ($J=1$-0) lines toward the Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs) W51A, W33, N35-N36 complex, W49A, M17SW, G12.02-00.03, W43, and M16 using the FUGIN (FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope) CO line data. All the GMCs show intensity saturation in the $^{12}$CO line when the brightness temperature of $^{13}$CO is higher than a threshold temperature of about $\sim 5$ K. We obtained high-resolution ($\sim 20"$) distribution maps of the $X_{\rm CO}$ factor ($X_{\rm CO, iso}$) in individual GMCs using correlation diagrams of the CO isotopologues. It is shown that $X_{\rm CO, iso}$ is variable in each GMC within the range of $X_{\rm CO, iso} \sim (0.9 {\rm -} 5) \times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$ (K km s$^{-1})^{-1}$. Despite the variability in the GMCs, the average value among the GMCs is found to be nearly constant at $X_{\rm CO, iso} = (2.17 \pm 0.27) \times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$ (K km s$^{-1})^{-1}$, which is consistent with that from previous studies in the Milky Way., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We studied the H$_2$ column density probability distribution function (N-PDF) based on molecular emission lines using the Nobeyama 45-m Cygnus X CO survey data. Using the DENDROGRAM and SCIMES algorithms, we identified 124 molecular clouds in the $^{13}$CO data. From these identified molecular clouds, an N-PDF was constructed for 11 molecular clouds with an extent of more than 0.4 deg$^2$. From the fitting of the N-PDF, we found that the N-PDF could be well-fitted with one or two log-normal distributions. These fitting results provided an alternative density structure for molecular clouds from a conventional picture. We investigated the column density, dense molecular cloud cores, and radio continuum source distributions in each cloud and found that the N-PDF shape was less correlated with the star-forming activity over a whole cloud. Furthermore, we found that the log-normal N-PDF parameters obtained from the fitting showed two impressive features. First, the log-normal distribution at the low-density part had the same mean column density ($\sim$ 10$^{21.5}$ cm$^{-2}$) for almost all the molecular clouds. Second, the width of the log-normal distribution tended to decrease with an increasing mean density of the structures. These correlations suggest that the shape of the N-PDF reflects the relationship between the density and turbulent structure of the whole molecular cloud but is less affected by star-forming activities., Comment: 14 pages, 7 Figures, Accepted in MNRAS

We have carried out the NH$_3$ $(J,K)=(1,1),(2,2),$ and $(3,3)$ mapping observations toward the Galactic infrared bubble N49 (G28.83-0.25) using the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. Three NH$_3$ clumps (A, B, and C) were discovered along the molecular filament with the radial velocities of $\sim$ 96, 87, and 89 km s$^{-1}$, respectively. The kinetic temperature derived from the NH$_3$ (2,2)/NH$_3$ (1,1) shows $T_{\rm kin} = 27.0 \pm 0.6$ K enhanced at Clump B in the eastern edge of the bubble, where position coincides with massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) associated with the 6.7 GHz class II methanol maser source. This result shows the dense clump is locally heated by stellar feedback from the embedded MYSOs. The NH$_3$ Clump B also exists at the 88 km s$^{-1}$ and 95 km s$^{-1}$ molecular filament intersection. We therefore suggest that the NH$_3$ dense gas formation in Clump B can be explained by a filament-filament interaction scenario. On the other hand, NH$_3$ Clump A and C at the northern and southern side of the molecular filament might be the sites of spontaneous star formation because these clumps are located $\sim$5$-$10 pc away from the edge of the bubble., Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables, accepted for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ)

Machine learning has been successfully applied in varied field but whether it is a viable tool for determining the distance to molecular clouds in the Galaxy is an open question. In the Galaxy, the kinematic distance is commonly employed as the distance to a molecular cloud. However, there is a problem in that for the inner Galaxy, two different solutions, the ``Near'' solution, and the ``Far'' solution, can be derived simultaneously. We attempted to construct a two-class (``Near'' or ``Far'') inference model using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), a form of deep learning that can capture spatial features generally. In this study, we used the CO dataset toward the 1st quadrant of the Galactic plane obtained with the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope (l = 62-10 degree, |b| < 1 degree). In the model, we applied the three-dimensional distribution (position-position-velocity) of the 12CO (J=1-0) emissions as the main input. The dataset with ``Near'' or ``Far'' annotation was made from the HII region catalog of the infrared astronomy satellite WISE to train the model. As a result, we could construct a CNN model with a 76% accuracy rate on the training dataset. By using the model, we determined the distance to molecular clouds identified by the CLUMPFIND algorithm. We found that the mass of the molecular clouds with a distance of < 8.15 kpc identified in the 12CO data follows a power-law distribution with an index of about -2.3 in the mass range of M >10^3 Msun. Also, the detailed molecular gas distribution of the Galaxy as seen from the Galactic North pole was determined., Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures

We performed NH$_3\ (J,K)=(1,1),(2,2),$ and $(3,3)$ mapping observations toward the Galactic massive star-forming region Sh 2-255 and Sh 2-257 using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope as a part of the KAGONMA (KAgoshima Galactic Object survey with the Nobeyama 45-metre telescope by Mapping in Ammonia lines) project. NH$_3$ (1,1) has an intensity peak at the cluster S255 N, is distributed over 3 pc $\times$ 2 pc and is located between two HII regions. The kinetic temperature derived from the NH$_3 (2,2)/(1,1)$ ratio was $\sim 35$ K near the massive cluster S255 IR. These clusters also show emission with a large line width of $\sim$ 3-4 km s$^{-1}$. Based on the reported data we suggest that NH$_3$ gas in these regions is affected by stellar feedback from embedded YSO clusters in S255 IR and S255 N. We also detected NH$_3$ (1,1) emission in a region west of the main gas clump at the location of a concentration of Class II YSOs adjacent to the HII regions Sh 2-254. The presence of Class II YSOs implies $\sim$ 2 Myr of star formation, younger than Sh 2-254 ($\sim 5$ Myr), thus we suggest that star formation in the western region could be influenced by the older HII region Sh 2-254., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ)

[Abridged] The interstellar medium is observed to be organised in filamentary structures, as well as neutral (HI) and ionized (HII) bubbles. The expanding nature of these bubbles makes them shape their surroundings and possibly play a role in the formation and evolution of interstellar filaments. We present APEX $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O(2-1) observations of the NGC 6334 molecular cloud. We investigate the gas velocity structure along and across the 50 pc-long cloud and towards 75 identified velocity-coherent-filaments (VCFs). We measure a wealth of velocity gradients along the VCFs. We derive the column density and velocity power spectra of the VCFs. These power spectra are well represented with power laws showing similar slopes for both quantities (with a mean of about -2), albeit some differ by up to a factor of two. The position velocity diagrams perpendicular to three VCFs show the V-shaped velocity pattern, corresponding to a bent structure in velocity space with the filament at the tip of the V surrounded by an extended structure connected to it with a velocity gradient. This velocity structure is qualitatively similar to that resulting from numerical simulations of filament formation from large-scale compression from propagating shock fronts. In addition, the radial profiles perpendicular to these VCFs hint to small-scale internal impacts from neighbouring HII bubbles. The observed opposite curvature in velocity space towards the VCFs points to various origins of large-scale external compressions from propagating HI bubbles. This suggests the plausible importance of multiple HI compressions, separated in space and time, in the formation and evolution of molecular clouds and their star formation history. These latter atomic compressions due to past and distant star formation events are complemented by the impact of HII bubbles from present time and local star formation activity., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We have performed new large-scale $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, and C$^{18}$O $J=$1-0 observations toward the Vulpecula OB association ($l \sim 60^\circ$) as part of the Nobeyama 45 m Local Spur CO survey project. Molecular clouds are distributed over $\sim 100$ pc, with local peaks at the Sh 2-86, Sh 2-87, and Sh 2-88 high-mass star-forming regions in the Vulpecula complex. The molecular gas is associated with the Local Spur, which corresponds to the nearest inter-arm region located between the Local Arm and the Sagittarius Arm. We discovered new giant molecular filaments (GMFs) in Sh 2-86, with a length of $\sim 30$ pc, width of $\sim 5$ pc, and molecular mass of $\sim 4\times 10^4\ M_{\odot}$. We also found that Sh 2-86 contains the three velocity components at 22, 27, and 33 km s$^{-1}$. These clouds and GMFs are likely to be physically associated with Sh 2-86 because they have high $^{12}$CO $J =$ 2-1 to $J =$ 1-0 intensity ratios and coincide with the infrared dust emission. The open cluster NGC 6823 exists at the common intersection of these clouds. We argue that the multiple cloud interaction scenario, including GMFs, can explain cluster formation in the Vulpecula OB association., Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables, accepted for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ)

We present the results of analyses of the 12CO (J=1-0), 13CO (J=1-0), and 12CO (J=2-1) emission data toward Gum 31. Three molecular clouds separated in velocity were detected at -25, -20, and -10 km/s . The velocity structure of the molecular clouds in Gum 31 cannot be interpreted as expanding motion. Two of them, the -25 km/s cloud and the -20 km/s cloud, are likely associated with Gum 31, because their 12CO (J=2-1)/12CO (J=1-0) intensity ratios are high. We found that these two clouds show the observational signatures of cloud-cloud collisions (CCCs): a complementary spatial distribution and a V-shaped structure (bridge features) in the position-velocity diagram. In addition, their morphology and velocity structures are very similar to the numerical simulations conducted by the previous studies. We propose a scenario that the -25 km/s cloud and the -20 km/s cloud were collided and triggered the formation of the massive star system HD 92206 in Gum 31. This scenario can explain the offset of the stars from the center and the morphology of Gum 31 simultaneously. The timescale of the collision was estimated to be ~1 Myr by using the ratio between the path length of the collision and the assumed velocity separation. This is consistent with that of the CCCs in Carina Nebula Complex in our previous study., Comment: Accepted for publication in PASJ

We report the current status of the NASCO (NAnten2 Super CO survey as legacy) project which aims to provide all-sky CO data cube of southern hemisphere using the NANTEN2 4-m submillimeter telescope installed at the Atacama Desert through developing a new multi-beam receiver and a new telescope control system. The receiver consists of 5 beams. The four beams, located at the four corners of a square with the beam separation of 720$''$, are installed with a 100 GHz band SIS receiver having 2-polarization sideband-separation filter. The other beam, located at the optical axis, is installed with a 200 GHz band SIS receiver having 2-polarization sideband-separation filter. The cooled component is modularized for each beam, and cooled mirrors are used. The IF bandwidths are 8 and 4 GHz for 100 and 200 GHz bands, respectively. Using XFFTS spectrometers with a bandwidth of 2 GHz, the lines of $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, and C$^{18}$O of $J$=1$-$0 or $J$=2$-$1 can be observed simultaneously for each beam. The control system is reconstructed on the ROS architecture, which is an open source framework for robot control, to enable a flexible observation mode and to handle a large amount of data. The framework is commonly used and maintained in a robotic field, and thereby reliability, flexibility, expandability, and efficiency in development are improved as compared with the system previously used. The receiver and control system are installed on the NANTEN2 telescope in December 2019, and its commissioning and science verification are on-going. We are planning to start science operation in early 2021., Comment: submitted to SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation (AS20), paper No. 11453-146

A morphological} search for molecular shells and cavities was performed around 63 Galactic supernova remnants (SNR) at $10^\circ \le l \le 50^\circ$, $|b|\le 1^\circ $using the FUGIN (FOREST Unbiased Galactic Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope) CO line data at high angular ($20''$) and velocity (1.3 km s$^{-1}$) resolutions. The results are presented as supplementary data for general purpose for investigations of the interaction between SNRs and interstellar matter in the form of an atlas of CO-line maps superposed on radio continuum maps at 20 cm along with a list of their kinematic distances determined from CO-line radial velocities. (Full atlas including all figures is available in this URL: https://nro-fugin.github.io/2020-apjs-CO-Shell-Atlas-SNR-FUGIN-IX.pdf), Comment: 49 pages, 51 figures, accepted for ApJ. Suppl

M16, the Eagle Nebula, is an outstanding \HII \ region which exhibits extensive high-mass star formation and hosts remarkable "pillars". We herein obtained new $^{12}$CO $J=$1-0 data for the region observed with NANTEN2, which were combined with the $^{12}$CO $J=$1-0 data obtained using FUGIN survey. These observations revealed that a giant molecular cloud (GMC) of $\sim 1.3 \times 10^5$ \Msun \ is associated with M16, which is elongated by over 30 pc and is perpendicular to the galactic plane, at a distance of 1.8 kpc. This GMC can be divided into the northern (N) cloud, the eastern (E) filament, the southeast (SE) cloud, the southeast (SE) filament, and the southern (S) cloud. We also found two velocity components (blue and red shifted component) in the N cloud. The blue-shifted component shows a ring-like structure, as well as the red-shifted component coincides with the intensity depression of the ring-like structure. The position-velocity diagram of the components showed a V-shaped velocity feature. The spatial and velocity structures of the cloud indicated that two different velocity components collided with each other at a relative velocity of 11.6 \kms. The timescale of the collision was estimated to be $\sim 4 \times 10^5$ yr. The collision event reasonably explains the formation of the O9V star ALS15348, as well as the shape of the Spitzer bubble N19. A similar velocity structure was found in the SE cloud, which is associated with the O7.5V star HD168504. In addition, the complementary distributions of the two velocity components found in the entire GMC suggested that the collision event occurred globally. On the basis of the above results, we herein propose a hypothesis that the collision between the two components occurred sequentially over the last several $10^{6}$ yr and triggered the formation of O-type stars in the NGC6611 cluster., Comment: Accepted for publication on PASJ

Analyzing the Galactic plane CO survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope, we compared the spectral column density (SCD) of H$_2$ calculated for $^{12}$CO line using the current conversion factor $X_{\rm CO}$ to that for $^{13}$CO line under LTE in M16 and W43 regions. Here, SCD is defined by $dN_{\rm H_2}/dv$ with $N_{\rm H_2}$ and $v$ being the column density and radial velocity, respectively. It is found that the $X_{\rm CO}$ method significantly under-estimates the H$_2$ density in a cloud or region, where SCD exceeds a critical value ($ \sim 3\times 10^{21}\ [{\rm H_2 \ cm^{-2} \ (km \ s^{-1})^{-1}}]$), but over-estimates in lower SCD regions. We point out that the actual CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor varies with the H$_2$ column density or with the CO-line intensity: It increases in the inner and opaque parts of molecular clouds, whereas it decreases in the low-density envelopes. However, in so far as the current $X_{\rm CO}$ is used combined with the integrated $^{12}$CO intensity averaged over an entire cloud, it yields a consistent value with that calculated using the $^{13}$CO intensity by LTE. Based on the analysis, we propose a new CO-to-\Htwo conversion relation, $N_{\rm H_2}^* = \int X_{\rm CO}^*(T_{\rm B}) T_{\rm B} dv$, where $X_{\rm CO}^*=(T_{\rm B}/T_{\rm B}^*)^\beta X_{\rm CO}$ is the modified spectral conversion factor as a function of the brightness temperature, $T_{\rm B}$, of the ${12}$CO ($J=1-0$) line, and $\beta\sim 1-2$ and $T_{\rm B}^*=12-16$ K are empirical constants obtained by fitting to the observed data. The formula corrects for the over/under estimation of the column density at low/high-CO line intensities, and is applicable to molecular clouds with $T_{\rm B} \ge 1$ K (rms noise in the data) from envelope to cores at sub-parsec scales (resolution). (Full resolution copy available at http://www.ioa.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~sofue/news/2020_mn_Xco12co13_fugin.pdf), Comment: Accepted for MNRAS, 11 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, Full resolution copy at http://www.ioa.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~sofue/news/2020_mn_Xco12co13_fugin.pdf

We report on a study of the high-mass star formation in the the HII region W28A2 by investigating the molecular clouds extended over ~5-10 pc from the exciting stars using the 12CO and 13CO (J=1-0) and 12CO (J=2-1) data taken by the NANTEN2 and Mopra observations. These molecular clouds consist of three velocity components with the CO intensity peaks at V_LSR ~ -4 km s$^{-1}$, 9 km s$^{-1}$ and 16 km s$^{-1}$. The highest CO intensity is detected at V_LSR ~ 9 km s$^{-1}$, where the high-mass stars with the spectral types of O6.5-B0.5 are embedded. We found bridging features connecting these clouds toward the directions of the exciting sources. Comparisons of the gas distributions with the radio continuum emission and 8 um infrared emission show spatial coincidence/anti-coincidence, suggesting physical associations between the gas and the exciting sources. The 12CO J=2-1 to 1-0 intensity ratio shows a high value (> 0.8) toward the exciting sources for the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +9 km s$^{-1}$ clouds, possibly due to heating by the high-mass stars, whereas the intensity ratio at the CO intensity peak (V_LSR ~ 9 km s$^{-1}$) lowers down to ~0.6, suggesting self absorption by the dense gas in the near side of the +9 km s$^{-1}$ cloud. We found partly complementary gas distributions between the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +9 km s$^{-1}$ clouds, and the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +16 km s$^{-1}$ clouds. The exciting sources are located toward the overlapping region in the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +9 km s$^{-1}$ clouds. Similar gas properties are found in the Galactic massive star clusters, RCW 38 and NGC 6334, where an early stage of cloud collision to trigger the star formation is suggested. Based on these results, we discuss a possibility of the formation of high-mass stars in the W28A2 region triggered by the cloud-cloud collision., Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in PASJ

Herein, we present results from observations of the 12CO (J=1-0), 13CO (J=1-0), and 12CO (J=2-1) emission lines toward the Carina nebula complex (CNC) obtained with the Mopra and NANTEN2 telescopes. We focused on massive-star-forming regions associated with the CNC including the three star clusters Tr14, Tr15, and Tr16, and the isolated WR-star HD92740. We found that the molecular clouds in the CNC are separated into mainly four clouds at velocities -27, -20, -14, and -8 km/s. Their masses are 0.7x10^4Msun, 5.0x10^4 Msun, 1.6x10^4 Msun, and 0.7x10^4 Msun, respectively. Most are likely associated with the star clusters, because of their high 12CO (J=2-1)/12CO (J=1-0) intensity ratios and their correspondence to the Spitzer 8 micron distributions. In addition, these clouds show the observational signatures of cloud--cloud collisions. In particular, there is a V-shaped structure in the position--velocity diagram and a complementary spatial distribution between the -20 km/s cloud and the -14 km/s cloud. Based on these observational signatures, we propose a scenario wherein the formation of massive stars in the clusters was triggered by a collision between the two clouds. By using the path length of the collision and the assumed velocity separation, we estimate the timescale of the collision to be ~1 Myr. This is comparable to the ages of the clusters estimated in previous studies.

We performed new large-scale $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, and C$^{18}$O $J=$1--0 observations of the W43 giant molecular cloud complex in the tangential direction of the Scutum arm ($l\sim {30^\circ}$) as a part of the FUGIN project. The low-density gas traced by $^{12}$CO is distributed over 150 pc $\times$ 100 pc ($l \times b$), and has a large velocity dispersion (20-30 km s$^{-1}$). However, the dense gas traced by C$^{18}$O is localized in the W43 Main, G30.5, and W43 South (G29.96-0.02) high-mass star-forming regions in the W43 GMC complex, which have clumpy structures. We found at least two clouds with a velocity difference of $\sim$ 10-20 km s$^{-1}$, both of which are likely to be physically associated with these high-mass star-forming regions based on the results of high $^{13}$CO $J=$ 3-2 to $J =$ 1-0 intensity ratio and morphological correspondence with the infrared dust emission. The velocity separation of these clouds in W43 Main, G30.5, and W43 South is too large for each cloud to be gravitationally bound. We also revealed that the dense gas in the W43 GMC has a high local column density, while "the current SFE" of entire the GMC is low ($\sim 4\%$) compared with the W51 and M17 GMC. We argue that the supersonic cloud-cloud collision hypothesis can explain the origin of the local mini-starbursts and dense gas formation in the W43 GMC complex., Comment: 51 pages, 34 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

[DBS2003]179 is a super star cluster in the Galaxy discovered by deep near infrared observations. We carried out CO J=1-0 and J=3-2 observations of the region of [DBS2003]179 with NANTEN2, ASTE and the Mopra 22m telescope. We identified and mapped two molecular clouds which are likely associated with the cluster. The association is evidenced by the spatial correlation with the 8 micron Spitzer image, and a high ratio of the two transitions of 12CO (J=3-2 to J=1-0). The two clouds show complementary distribution in space and bridge features connecting them in velocity. We frame a hypothesis that the two clouds collided with each other 1-2 Myr ago, and the collision compressed the interface layer, triggering the formation of the cluster. This offers an additional piece of evidence for a super star cluster formed by cloud--cloud collision alongside of the four super star clusters including Wd2, NGC3603, RCW38 and R136. The findings indicate that the known super star clusters having closely associated dust emission are formed by cloud-cloud collision, lending support for the important role of cloud--cloud collision in high-mass star formation., Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures

Galactic infrared (IR) bubbles, which can be seen as shell-like structures at mid-IR wavelengths, are known to possess massive stars within their shell boundaries. In our previous study, Hanaoka et al. (2019) expanded the research area to the whole Galactic plane ($0^{\circ} \leq l \leq 360^{\circ}$, $|b| \leq 5^{\circ}$) and studied systematic differences in the shell morphology and the IR luminosity of the IR bubbles between inner and outer Galactic regions. In this study, utilizing high spatial-resolution data of AKARI and WISE in the mid-IR and Herschel in the far-IR, we investigate the spatial distributions of dust components around each IR bubble to discuss the relation between the star-formation activity and the dust properties of the IR bubbles. For the 247 IR bubbles studied in Hanaoka et al. (2019), 165 IR bubbles are investigated in this study, which have the Herschel data ($|b| \leq 1^{\circ}$) and known distances. We created their spectral energy distributions on a pixel-by-pixel basis around each IR bubble, and decomposed them with a dust model consisting of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), hot dust, warm dust and cold dust. As a result, we find that the offsets of dust heating sources from the shell centers in inner Galactic regions are systematically larger than those in outer Galactic regions. Many of the broken bubbles in inner Galactic regions show large angles between the offset and the broken shell directions from the center. Moreover, the spatial variations of the PAH intensity and cold dust emissivity around the IR bubbles in inner Galactic regions are larger than those in outer Galactic regions. We discuss these results in light of the interstellar environments and the formation mechanism of the massive stars associated with the IR bubbles., Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

We report the first evidence for high-mass star formation triggered by collisions of molecular clouds in M33. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, we spatially resolved filamentary structures of giant molecular cloud 37 in M33 using $^{12}$CO($J$ = 2-1), $^{13}$CO($J$ = 2-1), and C$^{18}$O($J$ = 2-1) line emission at a spatial resolution of $\sim$2 pc. There are two individual molecular clouds with a systematic velocity difference of $\sim$6 km s$^{-1}$. Three continuum sources representing up to $\sim$10 high-mass stars with the spectral types of B0V-O7.5V are embedded within the densest parts of molecular clouds bright in the C$^{18}$O($J$ = 2-1) line emission. The two molecular clouds show a complementary spatial distribution with a spatial displacement of $\sim$6.2 pc, and show a V-shaped structure in the position-velocity diagram. These observational features traced by CO and its isotopes are consistent with those in high-mass star-forming regions created by cloud-cloud collisions in the Galactic and Magellanic Cloud HII regions. Our new finding in M33 indicates that the cloud-cloud collision is a promising process to trigger high-mass star formation in the Local Group., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in PASJ

Star formation is thought to be driven by two groups of mechanisms; spontaneous collapse and triggered collapse. Triggered star formation mechanisms further diverge into cloud-cloud collision (CCC), "collect and collapse" (C\&C) and shock induced collapse of pre-existing, gravitationally stable cores, or 'radiation driven implosion' (RDI). To evaluate the contributions of these mechanisms and establish whether these processes can occur together within the same star forming region we performed mapping observations of radio frequency ammonia, and water maser emission lines in the S235 massive star forming region. Via spectral analyses of main, hyperfine and multi-transitional ammonia lines we explored the distribution of temperature and column density in the dense gas in the S235 and S235AB star forming region. The most remarkable result of the mapping observations is the discovery of high density gas in inter-core bridges which physically link dense molecular cores that house young proto-stellar clusters. The presence of dense gas implies the potential for future star formation within the system of cores and gas bridges. Cluster formation implies collapse and the continuous physical links, also seen in re-imaged archival CS and $^{13}$CO maps, suggests a common origin to the molecular cores housing these clusters, i.e the structure condensed from a single, larger parent cloud, brought about by the influence of a local expanding H${\rm II}$ region. An ammonia absorption feature co-locating with the center of the extended H${\rm II}$ region may be attributed to an older gas component left over from the period prior to formation of the H${\rm II}$ region. Our observations also detail known and new sites of water maser emission, highlighting regions of active ongoing star formation., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

Galactic infrared (IR) bubbles, which have shell-like structures in the mid-IR wavelengths, are known to contain massive stars near their centers. IR bubbles in inner Galactic regions ($|$l$|\leq$ 65$^{\circ}$, $|$b$|\leq$ 1$^{\circ}$) have so far been studied well to understand the massive star formation mechanisms. In this study, we expand the research area to the whole Galactic plane (0$^{\circ}\leq$ l $<$360$^{\circ}$, $|$b$|\leq$ 5$^{\circ}$), using the AKARI all-sky survey data. We limit our study on large bubbles with angular radii of $>1'$ to reliably identify and characterize them. For the 247 IR bubbles in total, we derived the radii and the covering fractions of the shells, based on the method developed in \citet{Hattori2016}. We also created their spectral energy distributions, using the AKARI and Herschel photometric data, and decomposed them with a dust model, to obtain the total IR luminosity and the luminosity of each dust component, i.e., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), warm dust and cold dust. As a result, we find that there are systematic differences in the IR properties of the bubbles between inner and outer Galactic regions. The total IR luminosities are lower in outer Galactic regions, while there is no systematic difference in the range of the shell radii between inner and outer Galactic regions. More IR bubbles tend to be observed as broken bubbles rather than closed ones and the fractional luminosities of the PAH emission are significantly higher in outer Galactic regions. We discuss the implications of these results for the massive stars and the interstellar environments associated with the Galactic IR bubbles., Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

Recent observations of the nearby Galactic molecular clouds indicate that the dense gas in molecular clouds have quasi-universal properties on star formation, and observational studies of extra galaxies have shown a galactic-scale correlation between the star formation rate (SFR) and surface density of molecular gas. To reach a comprehensive understanding of both properties, it is important to quantify the fractional mass of the dense gas in molecular clouds f_DG. In particular, for the Milky Way (MW), there are no previous studies resolving the f_DG disk over a scale of several kpc. In this study, the f_DG was measured over 5kpc in the first quadrant of the MW, based on the CO J=1-0 data in l=10-50 deg obtained as part of the FOREST Unbiased Galactic Plane Imaging Survey with the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope (FUGIN) project. The total molecular mass was measured using 12CO, and the dense gas mass was estimated using C18O. The fractional masses including f_DG in the region within ~30% of the distances to the tangential points of the Galactic rotation (e.g., the Galactic Bar, Far-3kpc Arm, Norma Arm, Scutum Arm, Sagittarius Arm, and inter-arm regions) were measured. As a result, an averaged f_DG of 2.9^{+2.6}_{-2.6} % was obtained for the entirety of the target region. This low value suggests that dense gas formation is the primary factor of inefficient star formation in galaxies. It was also found that the f_DG shows large variations depending on the structures in the MW disk. The f_DG in the Galactic arms were estimated to be ~4-5%, while those in the bar and inter-arm regions were as small as ~0.1-0.4%. These results indicate that the formation/destruction processes of the dense gas and their timescales are different for different regions in the MW, leading to the differences in SFRs., Comment: 36 pages, 22 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in PASJ

We have performed a multi-wavelength study of the mid-infrared bubble S44 to investigate the origin of isolated high-mass star(s) and the star-formation process around the bubble formed by the HII region. In this paper, we report the results of new CO observations ($^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO $J=$1-0, and $^{12}$CO $J=$3-2) toward the isolated bubble S44 using the NANTEN2, Mopra, and ASTE radio telescopes. We found two velocity components in the direction of the bubble, at $-84$ km s$^{-1}$ and $-79$ km s$^{-1}$. These two clouds are likely to be physically associated with the bubble,both because of the enhanced $^{12}$CO $J=$3-2/1-0 intensity ratio from a ring-like structure affected by ultraviolet radiation from embedded high-mass star(s) and from the morphological correspondence between the 8 $\mu$m emission and the CO distribution. Assuming a single object, we estimate the spectral type of the embedded star inside the bubble to be O8.5-9 ($\sim 20 M_{\odot}$) from the radio-continuum free-free emission. We hypothesize that the two clouds collided with each other 3 Myr ago, triggering the formation of the isolated high-mass star in S44, as also occurred with RCW 120 and RCW 79. We argue that this scenario can explain the origin of the isolated O-star inside the bubble., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, and 3 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

Herein, we present the 12CO (J=1-0) and 13CO (J=1-0) emission line observations via the FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope (FUGIN) toward a Spitzer bubble N4. We observed clouds of three discrete velocities: 16, 19, and 25 km/s. Their masses were 0.1x10^4 Msun, 0.3x10^4 Msun, and 1.4x10^4 Msun, respectively. The distribution of the 25-km/s cloud likely traces the ring-like structure observed at mid-infrared wavelength. We could not find clear expanding motion of the molecular gas in N4. On the contrary, we found a bridge feature and a complementary distribution, which are discussed as observational signatures of a cloud-cloud collision, between the 16- and 25-km/s clouds. We proposed a possible scenario wherein the formation of a massive star in N4 was triggered by a collision between the two clouds; however whereas the 19-km/s cloud is possibly not a part of the interaction with N4. The time scale of collision is estimated to be 0.2-0.3 Myr, which is comparable to the estimated dynamical age of the HII region of ~0.4 Myr. In N4W, a star-forming clump located west of N4, we observed molecular outflows from young stellar objects and the observational signature of a cloud-cloud collision. Thus, we also proposed a possible scenario in which massive- or intermediate-mass star formation was triggered via a cloud-cloud collision in N4W.

W51A is one of the most active star-forming region in our Galaxy, which contains giant molecular clouds with a total mass of 10^6 Msun. The molecular clouds have multiple velocity components over ~20 km/s, and interactions between these components have been discussed as the mechanism which triggered the massive star formation in W51A. In this paper, we report an observational study of the molecular clouds in W51A using the new 12CO, 13CO, and C18O (J=1-0) data covering a 1.4x1.0 degree region of W51A obtained with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope at 20" resolution. Our CO data resolved the four discrete velocity clouds at 50, 56, 60, and 68 km/s with sizes and masses of ~30 pc and 1.0-1.9x10^5 Msun. Toward the central part of the HII region complex G49.5-0.4, we identified four C18O clumps having sizes of ~1 pc and column densities of higher than 10^23 cm^-3, which are each embedded within the four velocity clouds. These four clumps are distributed close to each others within a small distance of 5 pc, showing a complementary distribution on the sky. In the position-velocity diagram, these clumps are connected with each others by bridge features with intermediate intensities. The high intensity ratios of 13CO (J=3-2/J=1-0) also indicates that these four clouds are associated with the HII regions. We also found these features in other HII regions in W51A. The timescales of the collisions are estimated to be several 0.1 Myrs as a crossing time of the clouds, which are consistent with the ages of the HII regions measured from the size of the HII regions in the 21 cm continuum emissions. We discuss the cloud-cloud collision scenario and massive star formation in W51A by comparing with the recent observational and theoretical studies of cloud-cloud collision., Comment: 53 pages, 23 figures

We report an observational study of the giant molecular cloud (GMC) associated with the Galactic infrared ring-like structure N35 and two nearby HII regions G024.392+00.072 (HII region A) and G024.510-00.060 (HII region B), using the new CO J=1-0 data obtained as a part of the FOREST Unbiased Galactic Plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope (FUGIN) project at a spatial resolution of 21". Our CO data revealed that the GMC, with a total molecular mass of 2.1x10^6Mo, has two velocity components over ~10-15km/s. The majority of molecular gas in the GMC is included in the lower-velocity component (LVC) at ~110-114km/s, while the higher-velocity components (HVCs) at ~118-126km/s consist of three smaller molecular clouds which are located near the three HII regions. The LVC and HVCs show spatially complementary distributions along the line-of-sight, despite large velocity separations of ~5-15km/s, and are connected in velocity by the CO emission with intermediate intensities. By comparing the observations with simulations, we discuss a scenario where collisions of the three HVCs with LVC at velocities of ~10-15km/s can provide an interpretation of these two observational signatures. The intermediate velocity features between the LVC and HVCs can be understood as broad bridge features, which indicate the turbulent motion of the gas at the collision interfaces, while the spatially complementary distributions represent the cavities created in the LVC by the HVCs through the collisions. Our model indicates that the three HII regions were formed after the onset of the collisions, and it is therefore suggested that the high-mass star formation in the GMC was triggered by the collisions., Comment: 30 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

Understanding the mechanism of O star formation is one of the most important issues in current astrophysics. It is also an issue of keen interest how O stars affect their surroundings and trigger secondary star formation. An H\,\emissiontype{II} region RCW79 is one of the typical Spitzer bubbles alongside of RCW120. New observations of CO $J=$ 1--0 emission with Mopra and NANTEN2 revealed that molecular clouds are associated with RCW79 in four velocity components over a velocity range of 20 km s$^{-1}$. We hypothesize that two of the clouds collided with each other and the collision triggered the formation of 12 O stars inside of the bubble and the formation of 54 low mass young stellar objects along the bubble wall. The collision is supported by observational signatures of bridges connecting different velocity components in the colliding clouds. The whole collision process happened in a timescale of $\sim$1 Myr. RCW79 has a larger size by a factor of 30 in the projected area than RCW120 with a single O star, and the large size favored formation of the 12 O stars due to the larger accumulated gas in the collisional shock compression., Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures

NGC 2359 is an HII region located in the outer Galaxy that contains the isolated Wolf-Rayet (WR) star HD 56925. We present millimeter/submillimeter observations of $^{12}$CO($J$ = 1-0, 3-2) line emission toward the entire nebula. We identified that there are three molecular clouds at VLSR $\sim$37, $\sim$54, and $\sim$67 km s$^{-1}$, and three HI clouds: two of them are at VLSR $\sim$54 km s$^{-1}$ and the other is at $\sim$63 km s$^{-1}$. These clouds except for the CO cloud at 67 km s$^{-1}$ are limb-brightened in the radio continuum, suggesting part of each cloud has been ionized. We newly found an expanding gas motion of CO/HI, whose center and expansion velocities are $\sim$51 and $\sim$4.5 km s$^{-1}$, respectively. This is consistent with large line widths of the CO and HI clouds at 54 km s$^{-1}$. The kinematic temperature of CO clouds at 37 and 54 km s$^{-1}$ are derived to be 17 and 61 K, respectively, whereas that of the CO cloud at 67 km s$^{-1}$ is only 6 K, indicating that the former two clouds have been heated by strong UV radiation. We concluded that the 37 and 54 km s$^{-1}$ CO clouds and three HI clouds are associated with NGC 2359, even if these clouds have different velocities. Although the velocity difference including the expanding motion are typical signatures of the stellar feedback from the exciting star, our analysis revealed that the observed large momentum for the 37 km s$^{-1}$ CO cloud cannot be explained only by the total wind momentum of the WR star and its progenitor. We therefore propose an alternative scenario that the isolated high-mass progenitor of HD 56925 was formed by a collision between the CO clouds at 37 and 54 km s$^{-1}$. If we apply the collision scenario, NGC 2359 corresponds to the final phase of the cloud-cloud collision., Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, submitted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ)

The FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope (FUGIN) project is one of the legacy projects using the new multi-beam FOREST receiver installed on the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. This project aims to investigate the distribution, kinematics, and physical properties of both diffuse and dense molecular gas in the Galaxy at once by observing 12CO, 13CO, and C18O J=1-0 lines simultaneously. The mapping regions are a part of the 1st quadrant (10d < l < 50d, |b| < 1d) and the 3rd quadrant (198d < l <236d, |b| < 1d) of the Galaxy, where spiral arms, bar structure, and the molecular gas ring are included. This survey achieves the highest angular resolution to date (~20") for the Galactic plane survey in the CO J=1-0 lines, which makes it possible to find dense clumps located farther away than the previous surveys. FUGIN will provide us with an invaluable dataset for investigating the physics of the galactic interstellar medium (ISM), particularly the evolution of interstellar gas covering galactic scale structures to the internal structures of giant molecular clouds, such as small filament/clump/core. We present an overview of the FUGIN project, observation plan, and initial results, which reveal wide-field and detailed structures of molecular clouds, such as entangled filaments that have not been obvious in previous surveys, and large-scale kinematics of molecular gas such as spiral arms., Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

We carried out a molecular line study toward the three Spitzer bubbles S116, S117 and S118 which show active formation of high-mass stars. We found molecular gas consisting of two components with velocity difference of {$\sim 5$ \kms}. One of them, the small cloud, has typical velocity of {$-63$ \kms} \ and the other, the large cloud, has that of $-58$ \kms. The large cloud has a nearly circular intensity depression whose size is similar to the small cloud. We present an interpretation that the cavity was created by a collision between the two clouds and the collision compressed the gas into a dense layer elongated along the western rim of the small cloud. In this scenario, the O stars including those in the three Spitzer bubbles were formed in the interface layer compressed by the collision. By assuming that the relative motion of the clouds has a tilt of \timeform{45D} to the line of sight, we estimate that the collision continued over the last 1 Myr at relative velocity of $\sim$10 \kms. In the S116--117--118 system the \HII \ regions are located outside of the cavity. This morphology is ascribed to the density-bound distribution of the large cloud which made the \HII \ regions more easily expand toward the outer part of the large cloud than inside of the cavity. The present case proves that a cloud-cloud collision creates a cavity without an action of O star feedback, and suggests that the collision-compressed layer is highly filamentary., Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures

We observed molecular clouds in the W33 high-mass star-forming region associated with compact and extended HII regions using the NANTEN2 telescope as well as the Nobeyama 45-m telescope in the $J=$1-0 transitions of $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, and C$^{18}$O as a part of the FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope (FUGIN) legacy survey. We detected three velocity components at 35 km s$^{-1}$, 45 km s$^{-1}$, and 58 km s$^{-1}$. The 35 km s$^{-1}$ and 58 km s$^{-1}$ clouds are likely to be physically associated with W33 because of the enhanced $^{12}$CO $J=$ 3-2 to $J=$1-0 intensity ratio as $R_{\rm 3-2/1-0} > 1.0$ due to the ultraviolet irradiation by OB stars, and morphological correspondence between the distributions of molecular gas and the infrared and radio continuum emissions excited by high-mass stars. The two clouds show complementary distributions around W33. The velocity separation is too large to be gravitationally bound, and yet not explained by expanding motion by stellar feedback. Therefore, we discuss that a cloud-cloud collision scenario likely explains the high-mass star formation in W33., Comment: 29 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

Sh2-48 is a Galactic HII region located at 3.8 kpc with an O9.5-type star identified at its center. As a part of the FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope (FUGIN) project, we obtained the CO J=1-0 dataset for a large area of Sh2-48 at a spatial resolution of 21"(~0.4 pc), which we used to find a molecular cloud with a total molecular mass of ~3.8x10^4 Mo associated with Sh2-48. The molecular cloud has a systematic velocity shift within a velocity range ~42-47 km/s . On the lower velocity side the CO emission spatially corresponds with the bright 8 {\mu}m filament at the western rim of Sh2-48, while the CO emission at higher velocities is separated at the eastern and western sides of the 8{\mu}m filament. This velocity change forms V-shaped, east-west-oriented feature on the position-velocity diagram. We found that these lower and higher-velocity components are, unlike the infrared and radio continuum data, physically associated with Sh2-48. To interpret the observed V-shaped velocity distribution, we assessed a cloud-cloud collision scenario and found from a comparison between the observations and simulations that the velocity distribution is an expected outcome of a collision between a cylindrical cloud and a spherical cloud, with the cylindrical cloud corresponding to the lower-velocity component, and the two separated components in the higher-velocity part interpretable as the collision-broken remnants of the spherical cloud. Based on the consistency of the ~1.3Myr estimated formation timescale of the HII region with that of the collision, we concluded that the high-mass star formation in Sh2-48 was triggered by the collision., Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for publications in the PASJ

We present $^{12}$CO $J=$1--0, $^{13}$CO $J=$1--0 and C$^{18}$O $J=$1--0 images of the M17 giant molecular clouds obtained as part of FUGIN (FOREST Ultra-wide Galactic Plane Survey InNobeyama) project. The observations cover the entire area of M17 SW and M17 N clouds at the highest angular resolution ($\sim$19$"$) to date which corresponds to $\sim$ 0.15 pc at the distance of 2.0 kpc. We find that the region consists of four different velocity components: very low velocity (VLV) clump, low velocity component (LVC), main velocity component (MVC), and high velocity component (HVC). The LVC and the HVC have cavities. UV photons radiated from NGC 6618 cluster penetrate into the N cloud up to $\sim$ 5 pc through the cavities and interact with molecular gas. This interaction is correlated with the distribution of YSOs in the N cloud. The LVC and the HVC are distributed complementary after that the HVC is displaced by 0.8 pc toward the east-southeast direction, suggesting that collision of the LVC and the HVC create the cavities in both clouds. The collision velocity and timescale are estimated to be 9.9 km s$^{-1}$ and $1.1 \times 10^{5}$ yr, respectively. The high collision velocity can provide the mass accretion rate up to 10$^{-3}$ $M_{\solar}$ yr$^{-1}$, and the high column density ($4 \times 10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$) might result in massive cluster formation. The scenario of cloud-cloud collision likely well explains the stellar population and its formation history of NGC 6618 cluster proposed by Hoffmeister et al. (2008)., Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, submitted to PASJ

M16, the Eagle Nebula, is an outstanding HII region where extensive high-mass star formation is taking place in the Sagittarius Arm, and hosts the remarkable "pillars" observed with HST. We made new CO observations of the region in the 12CO J=1--0 and J=2--1 transitions with NANTEN2. These observations revealed for the first time that a giant molecular cloud of $\sim 1.3 \times 10^5$ \Msun \ is associated with M16, which is elongated vertically to the Galactic plane over 35 pc at a distance of 1.8 kpc. We found a cavity of the molecular gas of $\sim 10$ pc diameter toward the heart of M16 at \lbeq (16.95\degree, 0.85\degree), where more than 10 O-type stars and $\sim 400$ stars are associated, in addition to a close-by molecular cavity toward a Spitzer bubble N19 at \lbeq (17.06\degree, 1.0\degree). We found three velocity components which show spatially complementary distribution in the entire M16 giant molecular cloud (GMC) including NGC6611 and N19, suggesting collisional interaction between them. Based on the above results we frame a hypothesis that collision between the red-shifted and blue-shifted components at a relative of $\sim 10$ \kms \ triggered formation of the O-type stars in the M16 GMC in the last 1-2 Myr. The collision is two fold in the sense that one of the collisional interactions is major toward the M16 cluster and the other toward N19 with a RCW120 type, the former triggered most of the O star formation with almost full ionization of the parent gas, and the latter an O star formation in N19., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PASJ

We report a possibility that the high-mass star located in the HII region RCW 34 was formed by a triggering induced by a collision of molecular clouds. Molecular gas distributions of the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO $J=$2-1, and $^{12}$CO $J=$3-2 lines toward RCW 34 were measured by using the NANTEN2 and ASTE telescopes. We found two clouds with the velocity ranges of 0-10 km s$^{-1}$ and 10-14 km s$^{-1}$. Whereas the former cloud as massive as ~2.7 x 10$^{4}$ Msun has a morphology similar to the ring-like structure observed in the infrared wavelengths, the latter cloud with the mass of ~10$^{3}$ Msun, which has not been recognized by previous observations, distributes just likely to cover the bubble enclosed by the other cloud. The high-mass star with the spectral types of O8.5V is located near the boundary of the two clouds. The line intensity ratio of $^{12}$CO $J=$3-2 / $J=$2-1 yields high values (~1.5) in the neighborhood of the high-mass star, suggesting that these clouds are associated with the massive star. We also confirmed that the obtained position-velocity diagram shows a similar distribution with that derived by a numerical simulation of the supersonic collision of two clouds. Using the relative velocity between the two clouds (~5 km s$^{-1}$), the collisional time scale is estimated to be $\sim$0.2 Myr with the assumption of the distance of 2.5 kpc. These results suggest that the high-mass star in RCW 34 was formed rapidly within a time scale of ~0.2 Myr via a triggering of cloud-cloud collision., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, accepted for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ)

Using the NANTEN2 Observatory, we carried out a molecular line study of high-mass star forming regions with reflection nebulae, NGC 2068 and NGC 2071, in Orion in the 13CO(J=2-1) transition. The 13CO distribution shows that there are two velocity components at 9.0 and 10.5 km/s . The blue-shifted component is in the northeast associated with NGC 2071, whereas the red-shifted component is in the southwest associated with NGC 2068. The total intensity distribution of the two clouds shows a gap of ~1 pc, suggesting that they are detached at present. A detailed spatial comparison indicates that the two show complementary distributions. The blue-shifted component lies toward an intensity depression to the northwest of the red-shifted component, where we find that a displacement of 0.8 pc makes the two clouds fit well with each other. Furthermore, a new simulation of non-frontal collisions shows that observations from 60 degrees off the collisional axis agreed well with the velocity structure in this region. On the basis of these results, we hypothesize that the two components collided with each other at a projected relative velocity 3.0 km/s estimated to be 0.3 Myr for an assumed axis of the relative motion 60 degrees off the line of sight. We assume that the two most massive early B-type stars in the cloud, illuminating stars of the two reflection nebulae, were formed by collisional triggering at the interfaces between the two clouds. Given the other young high-mass star forming regions, namely, M42, M43, and NGC 2024 (Fukui et al. 2018b; Ohama et al. 2017a), it seems possible that collisional triggering has been independently working to form O-type and early B-type stars in Orion in the last Myr over a projected distance of ~80 pc., Comment: 20 peges, 7 figures

We carried out new CO ($J=$1-0, 2-1 and 3-2) observations with NANTEN2 and ASTE in the region of the twin Galactic mini-starbursts NGC 6334 and NGC 6357. We detected two velocity molecular components of 12 km s$^{-1}$ velocity separation, which is continuous over 3 degrees along the plane. In NGC 6334 the two components show similar two-peaked intensity distributions toward the young HII regions and are linked by a bridge feature. In NGC 6357 we found spatially complementary distribution between the two velocity components as well as a bridge feature in velocity. Based on these results we hypothesize that the two clouds in the two regions collided with each other in the past few Myr and triggered formation of the starbursts over $\sim$ 100 pc. We suggest that the formation of the starbursts happened toward the collisional region of $\sim$ 10-pc extents with initial high molecular column densities. For NGC 6334 we present a scenario which includes spatial variation of the colliding epoch due to non-uniform cloud separation. The scenario possibly explains the apparent age difference among the young O stars in NGC 6334 raging from $10^4$ yrs to $10^6$ yrs; the latest collision happened within $10^5$ yrs toward the youngest stars in NGC 6334 I(N) and I which exhibit molecular outflows without HII regions. For NGC 6357 the O stars were formed a few Myrs ago, and the cloud dispersal by the O stars is significant. We conclude that cloud-cloud collision offers a possible explanation of the min-starburst over a 100-pc scale., Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

A collision between two molecular clouds is one possible candidate for high-mass star formation. The HII region RCW 36, located in the Vela molecular ridge, contains a young star cluster with two O-type stars. We present new CO observations of RCW 36 with NANTEN2, Mopra, and ASTE using $^{12}$CO($J$ = 1-0, 2-1, 3-2) and $^{13}$CO($J$ = 2-1) line emissions. We have discovered two molecular clouds lying at the velocities $V_\mathrm{LSR} \sim$5.5 and 9 km s$^{-1}$. Both clouds are likely to be physically associated with the star cluster, as verified by the good spatial correspondence among the two clouds, infrared filaments, and the star cluster. We also found a high intensity ratio of $\sim$0.6-1.2 for CO $J$ = 3-2 / 1-0 toward both clouds, indicating that the gas temperature has been increased due to heating by the O-type stars. We propose that the O-type stars in RCW 36 were formed by a collision between the two clouds, with a relative velocity separation of 5 km s$^{-1}$. The complementary spatial distributions and the velocity separation of the two clouds are in good agreement with observational signatures expected for O-type star formation triggered by a cloud-cloud collision. We also found a displacement between the complementary spatial distributions of the two clouds, which we estimate to be 0.3 pc assuming the collision angle to be 45$^{\circ}$ relative to the line-of-sight. We estimate the collision timescale to be $\sim$10$^5$ yr. It is probable that the cluster age by Ellerbroek et al. (2013b) is dominated by the low-mass members which were not formed under the triggering by cloud-cloud collision, and that the O-type stars in the center of the cluster are explained by the collisional triggering independently from the low-mass star formation., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, and 2 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

High-mass star formation is an important step which controls galactic evolution. GM 24 is a heavily obscured star cluster including a single O9 star with more than $\sim$100 lower mass stars within a 0.3 pc radius toward $(l,b)\sim$ (350.$^{\circ}$5, 0.$^{\circ}$96), close to the Galactic min-starburst NGC 6334. We found two velocity components associated with the cluster by new observations of $^{12}$CO $J=$ 2-1 emission, whereas the cloud was previously considered to be single. We found the distribution of the two components of $5$ km s$^{-1}$ separation shows complementary distribution which fits well with each other, if a relative displacement of 3 pc is applied along the Galactic plane. A position-velocity diagram of the GM 24 cloud is explained by a model based on the numerical simulations of two colliding clouds, where an intermediate velocity component created by collision is taken into account. We estimate the collision time scale to be $\sim$Myr in projection of a relative motion titled to the line of sight by 45 degrees. The results lend further support for cloud-cloud collision as a major mechanism of high-mass star formation in the Carina-Sagittarius Arm., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

The Orion Nebula Cluster toward the HII region M42 is the most outstanding young cluster at the smallest distance 410pc among the rich high-mass stellar clusters. By newly analyzing the archival molecular data of the 12CO(J=1-0) emission at 21" resolution, we identified at least three pairs of complementary distributions between two velocity components at 8km/s and 13km/s. We present a hypothesis that the two clouds collided with each other and triggered formation of the high-mass stars, mainly toward two regions including the nearly ten O stars, theta1 Ori and theta2 Ori, in M42 and the B star, NU Ori, in M43. The timescale of the collision is estimated to be ~0.1Myr by a ratio of the cloud size and velocity corrected for projection, which is consistent with the age of the youngest cluster members less than 0.1Myr. The majority of the low-mass cluster members were formed prior to the collision in the last one Myr. We discuss implications of the present hypothesis and the scenario of high-mass star formation by comparing with the other eight cases of triggered O star formation via cloud-cloud collision., Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal