The physical state of selected cold clumps

TL;DR

This study investigates the physical properties of 21 cold clumps detected by Herschel, comparing dust and molecular line data to assess their potential as prestellar cores and examining their chemical abundances.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of dust and molecular line analyses for cold clumps, highlighting uncertainties and the non-prestellar nature of many such objects.

Findings

Column densities from molecular lines and dust are comparable when excitation temperatures are estimated.

Most cold clumps are not necessarily prestellar despite low dust temperatures.

Molecular abundances, such as $^{13}$CO, are close to typical values, but uncertainties remain.

Abstract

Context. he study of prestellar cores is essential to understanding the initial stages of star formation. With $Herschel$ more cold clumps have been detected than ever before. For this study we have selected 21 cold clumps from 20 $Herschel$ fields observed as a follow-up on original $Planck$ detections. We have observed these clumps in $^{13}$CO (1-0), C$^{18}$O (1-0), and N$_2$H$^+$ (1-0) lines. Aims. Our aim is to find out if these cold clumps are prestellar. We have examined to what extent independent analysis of the dust and the molecular lines lead to similar conclusions about the masses of these objects. Methods. We calculate the clump masses and densities from the dust continuum and molecular line observations and compare these to each other and to the virial and Bonnor-Ebert masses calculated for each clump. Finally we examine two of the fields with radiative transfer models to estimate CO abundances. Results. When excitation temperatures could be estimated, the column densities derived from molecular line observations were comparable to those from dust continuum data. The median column density estimates are 4.2$\times 10^{21}$cm$^{-2}$ and 5.5$\times 10^{21}$cm$^{-2}$ for the line and dust emission data, respectively. The calculated abundances, column densities, volume densities, and masses all have large uncertainties and one must be careful when drawing conclusions. Abundance of $^{13}$CO was found in modeling the two clumps in the field G131.65$+$9.75 to be close to the usual value of 10$^{-6}$. The abundance ratio of $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O was $\sim$10. Molecular abundances could only be estimated with modeling, relying on dust column density data. Conclusions. The results indicate that most cold clumps, even those with dust color temperatures close to 11 K, are not necessarily prestellar.