ALMA-IMF XVI: Mass-averaged temperature of cores and protostellar luminosities in the ALMA-IMF protoclusters

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA data and radiative transfer modeling to estimate the temperature and luminosity of star-forming cores in massive protoclusters, revealing new insights into their physical properties and evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first data-informed estimates of dust temperatures and luminosities for a large sample of cores at high resolution, advancing understanding of high-mass star formation.

Findings

Estimated dust temperatures for 883 cores, ranging from 17-31 K in prestellar and 28-79 K in protostellar cores.

Measured protostellar luminosities between 20 and 80,000 Lsun.

Established a mass-luminosity evolutionary diagram for high-mass protostellar cores.

Abstract

ALMA-IMF imaged 15 massive protoclusters down to a resolution of of 2 kau scales, identifying about 1000 star-forming cores. The mass and luminosity of these cores, which are fundamental physical characteristics, are difficult to determine, a problem greatly exacerbated at the distances >2 kpc of ALMA-IMF protoclusters. We combined new datasets and radiative transfer modeling to characterize these cores. We estimated their mass-averaged temperature and the masses these estimates imply. For 1/6 of the sample, we measured the bolometric luminosities, implementing deblending corrections when necessary. We used spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis obtained with the PPMAP Bayesian procedure, which aims to preserve the best angular resolution of the input data. We extrapolated the luminosity and dust temperature images provided by PPMAP at 2.5" resolution to estimate those of individual cores, which were identified at higher angular resolution. To do this, we applied approximate radiative transfer relationships between the luminosity of a protostar and the temperature of its surrounding envelope and between the external heating of prestellar cores and their temperatures. For the first time, we provide data-informed estimates of dust temperatures for 883 cores identified with ALMA-IMF: 17-31 K and 28-79 K (5th and 95th percentiles, up to 127 K) for the 617 prestellar and 266 protostellar cores, respectively. We also measured protostellar luminosities spanning 20-80 000 Lsun. For hot cores, we estimated systematically lower temperatures than studies based on complex organic molecules. We established a mass-luminosity evolutionary diagram, for the first time at the core spatial resolution and for a large sample of high-mass protostellar cores. The ALMA-IMF data favor a scenario in which protostars accrete their mass from a larger mass reservoir than their host cores.