Low-velocity large-scale shocks in the infrared dark cloud G035.39-00.33: bubble-driven cloud-cloud collisions

TL;DR

This study investigates low-velocity shocks in the IRDC G035.39-00.33, revealing evidence of cloud-cloud collisions driven by supernova remnants that may have influenced star formation.

Contribution

It provides new large-scale observations of shock tracers in an IRDC, linking filament interactions to supernova remnants and star formation triggers.

Findings

Filaments are spatially separated but connected by a bridge feature.

Spectrally narrow SiO emission indicates cloud-cloud collision signatures.

Interaction with supernova remnants likely influences cloud dynamics.

Abstract

Low-velocity large-scale shocks impacting on the ISM may efficiently shape molecular clouds and trigger star formation within them. These shocks, both driven by galactic bubbles and/or cloud-cloud collisions, leave specific signatures in the gas morphology and kinematics. Observational studies of such signatures are crucial to investigate if and how shocks affect the clouds formation process and trigger their future star formation. We have analysed the shocked and dense gas tracers SiO(2-1) and H13CO+(1-0) emission toward the IRDC G035.39-00.33, using new, larger-scale maps obtained with the 30m telescope at the Instituto de Radioastronom\`ia Millim\'etrica. We find that the dense gas is organised into a northern and a southern filament having different velocities and tilted orientation with respect to each other. The two filaments are spatially separated yet connected by a faint bridge feature also seen in a position-velocity diagram extracted across the cloud. This bridge-feature, typical of cloud-cloud collisions, also coincides with a very spectrally narrow SiO-traced emission. The northern filament is suggested to be interacting with the nearby supernova remnant G035.6-0.4. Toward the southern filament, we also report the presence of a parsec-scale, spectrally narrow SiO emission likely driven by the interaction between this filament and a nearby expanding shell. The shell is visible in the 1.3 GHz and 610 MHz continuum images and our preliminary analysis suggests it may be the relic of a supernova remnant. We conclude that the two filaments represent the densest part of two colliding clouds, pushed toward each other by nearby Supernova Remnants. We speculate that this cloud-cloud collision driven by stellar feedback may have assembled the infrared dark cloud. We also evaluate the possibility that star formation may have been triggered within G035.39-00.33 by the collision.