Linear filament and nested cluster evolution tomography (LANCET) I. Capture the evolution of dense gas in 14-parsec filament G316.8

TL;DR

This study uses multi-scale observations of the G316.8 filament to analyze its structural evolution and dense gas formation, providing insights into massive star and cluster formation processes.

Contribution

The paper presents high-resolution, multi-instrument mapping of a 14-parsec filament, revealing detailed structural evolution and dense gas assembly in different evolutionary stages.

Findings

Maximum fragment mass increases from 8 to 490 solar masses.

Dense-gas mass fraction rises from 0.4% to 9.6%.

N-PDF develops a secondary power-law tail.

Abstract

A dynamic view of mass assembly is essential for understanding the formation of massive stars and clusters. Interpreting evolutionary diagnostics from Galactic-wide surveys, however, requires careful control of distance and environmental variations. The G316.8 filament provides an ideal laboratory: a 14-pc nearly linear structure composed of three contiguous subregions with comparable molecular gas reservoirs (~10,000 $M_\odot$ each) but spanning a clear evolutionary sequence from an infrared dark cloud (young) through a massive young stellar object (intermediate) to an HII region (evolved). As part of the Linear filament and nested cluster evolution tomography (LANCET) project, we mapped the full filament with the Atacama Compact Array at 1.3 mm, achieving 0.08 pc resolution over 17.1 pc$^2$. Combined with Herschel and APEX/ArT\'eMiS data, we derived high-resolution temperature and column-density maps. We quantify structural evolution using dense-fragment statistics, column-density PDFs, and $\Delta$-variance analysis. From young to evolved regions, the maximum fragment mass increases from 8 to 490 $M_\odot$, while the dense-gas mass fraction ($>0.5$ g cm$^{-2}$) rises from 0.4% to 9.6%. The N-PDF develops a secondary power-law tail and the $\Delta$-variance slope becomes progressively shallower, indicating ongoing assembly of dense sub-parsec structures. Our further ALMA 12m continuum and spectral line data will extend this dynamic scenarios down to 800 AU scale.