Physical Conditions of the Earliest Phases of Massive Star Formation: Single-Dish and Interferometric Observations of Ammonia and CCS in Infrared Dark Clouds

TL;DR

This study uses single-dish and interferometric observations of ammonia and CCS in Infrared Dark Clouds to analyze their physical conditions, revealing complex structures, kinematics, and chemical evolution during early massive star formation.

Contribution

It provides detailed mapping of temperature, density, and velocity structures in IRDCs, highlighting their ongoing assembly and the presence of hub-filament structures, which advances understanding of early star formation processes.

Findings

IRDCs show diverse substructures like filaments and globules.

Clumps are near gravitational and kinetic energy equipartition.

IRDCs are still assembling while star formation is underway.

Abstract

Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) harbor the earliest phases of massive star formation, and many of the compact cores in IRDCs, traced by millimeter continuum or by molecular emission in high critical density lines, host massive young stellar objects (YSOs). We used the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to map NH$_{3}$ and CCS in nine IRDCs to reveal the temperature, density, and velocity structures and explore chemical evolution in the dense ($>10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$) gas. Ammonia is an excellent molecular tracer for these cold, dense environments. The internal structure and kinematics of the IRDCs include velocity gradients, filaments, and possibly colliding clumps that elucidate the formation process of these structures and their YSOs. We find a wide variety of substructure including filaments and globules at distinct velocities, sometimes overlapping at sites of ongoing star formation. It appears that these IRDCs are still being assembled from molecular gas clumps even as star formation has already begun, and at least three of them appear consistent with the morphology of ``hub-filament structures'' discussed in the literature. Furthermore, we find that these clumps are typically near equipartition between gravitational and kinetic energies, so these structures may survive for multiple free-fall times.Keywords: molecular data -- ISM: clouds -- (ISM:) dust, extinction -- ISM: molecules -- Stars: formation -- radio lines: ISM