Modeling of molecular clouds with formation of prestellar cores

TL;DR

This paper introduces a statistical model for dense cores in molecular clouds, deriving the core mass function and comparing it with observations, to better understand star formation precursors.

Contribution

It presents a novel analytical approach to model core properties and derive the core mass function based on core mass-density relationships and density distributions.

Findings

Derived the core mass function analytically.

Compared model predictions with observational data.

Identified the slope of the high-mass core mass function.

Abstract

We develop a statistical approach for description of dense structures (cores) in molecular clouds that might be progenitors of stars. Our basic assumptions are a core mass-density relationship and a power-law density distribution of these objects as testified by numerical simulations and observations. The core mass function (CMF) was derived and its slope in the high-mass regime was obtained analytically. Comparisons with observational CMFs in several Galactic clouds are briefly presented.