Unveiling Fiber Networks and Core Formation in the DR21 South Filament

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution millimeter observations to analyze the internal structure, fragmentation, and star-forming activities within the DR21 South Filament, revealing a hierarchical network of fibers and dense cores.

Contribution

It provides detailed characterization of the filament's internal fragmentation, fiber structures, and core properties using high-resolution data, which advances understanding of star formation processes in filaments.

Findings

Most dense cores are gravitationally bound.

H$^{13}$CO$^+$ fibers are more associated with cold cores.

The filament exhibits hierarchical, fiber-based structure.

Abstract

We present high-resolution ($\sim$1000 AU) 3 mm observations with the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array toward the DR21 South Filament, aiming to reveal its internal fragmentation and search for deeply embedded star-forming activities. Both the continuum and molecular line emissions align well with the filament axis traced by the low-resolution ($\sim$18$^{\prime\prime}$) column density map. The 3 mm continuum, CS (2$-$1), and HCO$^+$ (1$-$0) emissions reveal continuous and diffuse structures with measured FWHM widths of 0.054, 0.029, and 0.030 pc, respectively. In contrast, the H$^{13}$CO$^+$ (1$-$0) emission appears more clumpy and localized. The non-thermal motion in the filament is predominantly subsonic to transonic. We detect 13 dense cores in NH$_2$D (1$_{11}-1_{01}$), three of which coincide with continuum peaks; virial analysis suggests most are gravitationally bound. Using a friend-of-friend algorithm, we identify 32, 34, and 22 velocity-coherent fibers from the CS, HCO$^+$, and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ data, respectively. Compared to fibers traced by CS and HCO$^+$, H$^{13}$CO$^+$ fibers are more frequently associated with NH$_2$D cold cores and exhibit higher average mass-per-unit-length values. Differences among CS, HCO$^+$, and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ emissions likely arise from variations in effective critical densities. These results are consistent with a hierarchical structure, in which the 3.6-pc DR21SF contains velocity-coherent fibers and gravitationally bound dense cores.