APEX/SABOCA observations of small-scale structure of infrared-dark clouds I. Early evolutionary stages of star-forming cores

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution submillimeter observations to analyze the small-scale structure and early star formation stages within infrared-dark clouds, revealing hierarchical morphologies and a new population of cold, early-phase cores.

Contribution

It provides detailed characterization of IRDC substructure at 0.1pc scales and identifies a new population of colder, early-stage cores using SABOCA data.

Findings

IRDCs show hierarchical filamentary and clumpy structures.

Approximately 14% of IRDC mass is in small-scale core-like structures.

Discovery of a new population of cold, low-mass cores without 70 micron emission.

Abstract

Infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs) harbor the early phases of cluster and high-mass star formation and are comprised of cold (~20 K), dense (n > 10$^4$ cm$^{-3}$) gas. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of IRDCs is dominated by the far-infrared and millimeter wavelength regime, and our initial Herschel study examined IRDCs at the peak of the SED with high angular resolution. Here we present a follow-up study using the SABOCA instrument on APEX which delivers 7.8" angular resolution at 350 micron, matching the resolution we achieved with Herschel/PACS, and allowing us to characterize substructure on ~0.1pc scales. Our sample of 11 nearby IRDCs are a mix of filamentary and clumpy morphologies, and the filamentary clouds show significant hierarchical structure, while the clumpy IRDCs exhibit little hierarchical structure. All IRDCs, regardless of morphology, have about 14% of their total mass in small scale core-like structures which roughly follow a trend of constant volume density over all size scales. Out of the 89 protostellar cores we identified in this sample with Herschel, we recover 40 of the brightest and re-fit their SEDs and find their properties agree fairly well with our previous estimates (<T> ~ 19K). We detect a new population of "cold cores" which have no 70 micron counterpart, but are 100 and 160 micron-bright, with colder temperatures (<T> ~ 16K). This latter population, along with SABOCA-only detections, are predominantly low-mass objects, but their evolutionary diagnostics are consistent with the earliest starless or prestellar phase of cores in IRDCs.