Dynamics and Depletion in Thermally Supercritical Starless Cores

TL;DR

This paper models the evolution of thermally supercritical starless cores using hydrodynamic simulations, radiative transfer, and molecular chemistry, comparing predictions with observations of the L1544 core.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical simulation approach to study the dynamics and chemistry of supercritical starless cores, linking theory with observations.

Findings

Predicted CO and N2H+ line spectra match observed features.

Identified dynamical behaviors distinguishing supercritical cores.

Provided insights into core contraction and chemical evolution.

Abstract

In previous studies we identified two classes of starless cores, thermally subcritical and supercritical, distinguished by different dynamical behavior and internal structure. Here we study the evolution of the dynamically-unstable, thermally-supercritical cores by means of a numerical hydrodynamic simulation that includes radiative equilibrium and simple molecular chemistry. We use our non-LTE radiative transfer code MOLLIE to predict observable CO and N2H+ line spectra, including the non-LTE hyperfine ratios of N2H+, during the contraction. These are compared against observations of the starless core L1544.