An inverted infall profile for the collapse of the massive star-forming IRDC SDC335.579-0.292

TL;DR

This study investigates the infall dynamics of the massive IRDC SDC335.579-0.292 using spatially-resolved molecular line data, revealing complex collapse behavior with an inverted velocity profile and implications for star formation processes.

Contribution

It provides the first spatially-resolved analysis of infall motions in this IRDC, demonstrating an inverted velocity profile and highlighting limitations of existing models.

Findings

Best-fit infall velocity constrained to -0.6 to -1.6 km/s.

Infall rate between a few 10^{-3} and 10^{-2} M_sun/yr.

Infall motions dominate line widths, not turbulence.

Abstract

There is increasing evidence for global collapse of clumps over parsec-scales in massive star formation regions. Such collapse may result in characteristic molecular line emission profiles but the spatial variation of such lines has rarely been quantitatively examined. Here we explore the infall properties using the spatially-resolved HCO$^+$ J=1--0 and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ J=1--0 maps of the massive infrared dark cloud (IRDC) SDC335.579-0.292. We compare the observations with the analytical Hill5 model and radiative transfer models. This shows that the best-fit infall velocity towards the cloud centre to be well-constrained to $-0.6$ to $-1.6$ km s$^{-1}$ and the mass infall rate between a few $\times10^{-3}$ and $10^{-2}$ M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$. The comparison also highlights some limitations of the Hill5 method. We demonstrate that the width of optically thin spectral lines, which are usually interpreted as resulting from turbulent motions, are in fact dominated by unresolved, ordered infall motions within the beam. Our results suggest a complex collapse situation where there is a minimum in the infall velocity at $\sim2\times10^{18}$ cm (0.7 pc) with the infall velocity increasing at both smaller and larger radii. The parsec-scale infall with an inverted velocity profile indicates that the accretion in this massive star-forming cloud should have intermediate scales, at which fragmentation or filament formation has to occur before material flows onto the cloud centre.