Abstract
We searched for potential "birthmarks"left from the formation of filamentary molecular clouds in the Ophiuchus complex. We used high dynamic range column density and temperature maps derived from Herschel, Planck, and 2MASS/NICEST extinction data. We found two distinct types of filaments based on their orientation relative to nearby massive stars: radial (R-type) and tangential (T-type). R-type filaments exhibit decreasing mass profiles away from massive stars, while T-type filaments show flat but structured profiles. We propose a scenario where the two filament types originate from the dynamic interplay of compression and stretching forces exerted by a fast outflow emanating from the OB association. The two formation mechanisms leave distinct observable birthmarks (namely, filament orientation, mass distribution, and star formation location) on each filament type. Our results illustrate a complex phase in molecular cloud evolution with two simultaneous yet contrasting processes: the formation of filaments and stars via the dispersal of residual gas from a previous massive star formation event. Our approach highlights the importance of taking into account the wider context of a star-forming complex rather than concentrating exclusively on particular subregions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | A208 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| Volume | 697 |
| Issue number | A208 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 May 2025 |
Funding
It is a pleasure to acknowledge insightful discussions with Andreas Burkert, Catherine Zucker, Steve Shore, Phil Myers, Alyssa Goodman, Hope Chen, and Juan Soler. Discussions with Julia, Matteo, and Rocco Alves helped in the construction of some of the points made in the paper. J.A. acknowl- edges A. Burkert for the organization of “Filaments in Molecular Clouds” in Munich in 2015, and J. Steinacker and A. Bacmann for organizing the EPoS series of meetings where the ideas behind this work were first presented and developed. Co-funded by the European Union (ERC, ISM-FLOW, 101055318). Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The results in this paper were based on observations obtained with Planck (http://www.esa.int/Planck), an ESA science mis- sion with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States, NASA, and Canada. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System, the SIMBAD database and the VizieR catalog access tool operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. This research used Astropy, a community-developed core Python package for Astronomy (Robitaille et al. 2013) and TOPCAT, an interactive graphical viewer and editor for tabular data (Taylor 2005).
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103004 Astrophysics
Keywords
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- ISM: individual objects: Pipe Nebula
- ISM: individual objects: Ophiuchus
- Evolution
- ISM: clouds
- ISM: structure
- ISM: individual objects: Lupus
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