Evidence of high-mass star formation through multiscale mass accretion in hub-filament-system clouds
Abstract
We present a statistical study of a sample of 17 hub-filament-system (HFS) clouds of high-mass star formation using high-angular resolution (~1-2 arcsec) ALMA 1.3 and 3 mm continuum data. The sample includes eight infrared (IR)-dark and nine IR-bright types, which correspond to an evolutionary sequence from the IR-dark to IR-bright stage. The central massive clumps and their associated most massive cores are observed to follow a trend of increasing mass (M) and mass surface density (Σ) with evolution from the IR-dark to IR-bright stage. In addition, a mass-segregated cluster of young stellar objects (YSOs) are revealed in both IR-dark and IR-bright HFSs with massive YSOs located in the hub and the population of low-mass YSOs distributed over larger areas. Moreover, outflow feedback in all HFSs are found to escape preferentially through the inter-filamentary diffuse cavities, suggesting that outflows would render a limited effect on the disruption of the HFSs and ongoing high-mass star formation therein. From the above observations, we suggest that high-mass star formation in the HFSs can be described by a multiscale mass accretion/transfer scenario, from hub-composing filaments through clumps down to cores, which can naturally lead to a mass-segregated cluster of stars.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- July 2023
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stad047
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2301.03144
- Bibcode:
- 2023MNRAS.522.3719L
- Keywords:
-
- stars: formation;
- stars: massive;
- ISM: individual objects: hub filament system;
- ISM: clouds;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in MNRAS