ALMA 0.1 pc View of Molecular Clouds Associated with High-Mass Protostellar Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Are Low-Metallicity Clouds Filamentary or Not?

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA data to analyze molecular cloud structures in the low-metallicity environment of the Small Magellanic Cloud, revealing that filamentary clouds are prevalent and evolve over time, which informs star formation theories in such environments.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of filamentary structures in low-metallicity molecular clouds, showing their prevalence and evolutionary transition in the SMC.

Findings

Approximately 60% of clouds are filamentary with steep radial profiles.

Filamentary clouds are associated with younger, higher-temperature YSOs.

Non-filamentary clouds tend to have lower brightness temperatures and are more evolved.

Abstract

Filamentary molecular clouds are an essential intermediate stage in the star formation process. To test whether these structures are universal throughout cosmic star formation history, it is crucial to study low-metallicity environments within the Local Group. We present an ALMA analysis of the ALMA archival data at the spatial resolution of $\sim$0.1 pc for 17 massive young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC; Z $\sim$0.2 $Z_{\odot}$). This sample represents approximately 30% of the YSOs confirmed by Spitzer spectroscopy. Early ALMA studies of the SMC have shown that the CO emission line traces an H$_2$ number density of $\gtrsim$10$^4$ cm$^{-3}$, an order of magnitude higher than in the typical Galactic environments. Using the CO($J$ = 3-2) data, we investigated the spatial and velocity distribution of molecular clouds. Our analysis shows that about 60% of the clouds have steep radial profiles from the spine of the elongated structures, while the remaining clouds have a smooth distribution and are characterized by lower brightness temperatures. We categorized the former as filaments and the latter as non-filaments. Some of the filamentary clouds are associated with YSOs with outflows and exhibit higher temperatures, likely reflecting their formation conditions, suggesting that these clouds are younger than non-filamentary ones. This indicates that even if filaments form during star formation, their steep structures may become less prominent and transit to a lower-temperature state. Such transitions in structure and temperature have not been reported in metal-rich regions, highlighting a key behavior for characterizing the evolution of the interstellar medium and star formation in low-metallicity environments.