SCUBA Mapping of Outer Galaxy Protostellar Candidates

TL;DR

This study uses SCUBA observations to analyze dust properties and density profiles of six outer Galaxy protostellar candidates, revealing typical temperatures, emissivity indices, and density distributions consistent with star formation models.

Contribution

It provides new submillimeter observations and detailed dust and density profile analysis of outer Galaxy protostellar candidates, expanding understanding of star formation in this region.

Findings

Dust temperatures around 32 K with emissivity indices 0.9 to 2.5.

Density profiles follow a power law with index approximately -1.5.

Most cores show no mid-infrared emission, indicating early star formation stages.

Abstract

We aim to study dust properties of massive star forming regions in the outer Galaxy, in a direction opposite to the Galactic center. We present observations of six outer Galaxy point sources IRAS 01045+6505, 01420+6401, 05271+3059, 05345+3556, 20222+3541 and 20406+4555, taken with the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) at 450 and 850 micron. Single temperature greybody models are fitted to the Spectral Energy Distribution of the detected sub-mm cores to derive dust temperature, dust emissivity index and optical depth at 250 micron. The observed radial intensity profiles of the sub-mm cores were fitted with power laws to derive the indices describing the density distribution. At a resolution of 15" all six IRAS point sources show multiple emission peaks. Only four out of fourteen detected sub-mm cores show associated mid-infrared emission. For the sub-mm cores we derive dust temperatures of 32+-5 K and dust emissivity indices between 0.9 and 2.5. The density profiles of the sub-mm cores can be fitted by a single power law distribution with indices -1.5+-0.3, with most cores showing an index of -1.5. This is consistent with most observations of massive star forming regions and supports predictions of models of star formation which consider non-thermal support against gravitational collapse.