ATOMS-QUARKS survey: Inflow and infall in massive protocluster G318.049+00.086: Evidence of competitive accretion

TL;DR

This study investigates the gas dynamics in a massive protocluster, providing evidence for competitive accretion where gas flows from filaments to cores, supporting a model of massive star formation.

Contribution

It offers detailed kinematic analysis of inflow and infall in a protocluster, highlighting the role of filamentary structures and competitive accretion in massive star formation.

Findings

High velocity gradients suggest mass inflow onto the central hub.

Most cores show signs of gravitational collapse via blue asymmetric profiles.

Mass infall rates are higher in protostellar cores compared to filament cores.

Abstract

We present a gas kinematic study of the massive protocluster G318.049+00.086. The protocluster is reported to contain 12 prestellar core candidates and 4 protostellar cores. Filamentary structures are identified using the 1.3 mm dust continuum map, with four of them converge into a dense central region, forming a hub-filament system (HFS). High velocity gradients (10 - 20 km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{-1}$) derived from PV analysis of H$^{13}$CO$^{+}$ emission along three of those filaments are suggestive of mass inflow onto the central hub. A mass inflow rate higher than $10^{3}$ M$_{\odot}$ Myr$^{-1}$ along the filaments is indicating that the central hub is capable of forming massive star(s). Investigation of H$^{13}$CO$^{+}$ and CCH spectral profiles revealed the majority of the cores having the characteristic blue asymmetric line profiles, typical signature of gravitational collapse. The remaining few cores showed red asymmetric profiles, indicative of gas expansion. Also, the derived mass infall rates for the protostellar cores in hub-region is significantly higher in comparison to those located along the filaments. The mass-radius relationship of the cores revealed that the cores with red profiles reside in the massive star formation regime. However, the global velocity gradient along the filaments suggests that these particular cores are losing material to the hub. Our results are supporting a competitive accretion scenario of massive star formation where gas is expected to be funnelled from less gravitationally dominant cores to the cores located at the gravitationally favorable position.