Determining the structure of and the velocity field in prestellar cores is essential to understanding protostellar evolution.} {We have observed the dense prestellar cores L 1544 and L 183 in the $N = 1 \to 0$ rotational transition of CN and \thcn in order to test whether CN is depleted in the high--density nuclei of these cores.} {We have used the IRAM 30 m telescope to observe along the major and minor axes of these cores. We compare these observations with the 1 mm dust emission, which serves as a proxy for the hydrogen column density.}{We find that while CN\jone is optically thick, the distribution of \thcn\jone intensity follows the dust emission well, implying that the CN abundance does not vary greatly with density. We derive an abundance ratio of $\rm [CN]/[\hh]=\dix{-9}$ in L 183 and 1-3\tdix{-9} in L 1544, which, in the case of L 183, is similar to previous estimates obtained by sampling lower--density regions of the core.}{We conclude that CN is not depleted towards the high--density peaks of these cores and thus behaves like the N-containing molecules \nnhp and \nhhh. CN is, to our knowledge, the first C--containing molecule to exhibit this characteristic.
We present 2D Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations of flattened prestellar cores. We argue the importance of observing prestellar cores near the peak of their emission spectra, and we point out observable characteristic features on isophotal maps of asymmetric cores at FIR wavelengths that are indicative of the cores' density and temperature structure. These features are on scales 1/5 to 1/3 of the overall core size, and so high resolution observations are needed to observe them. Finally, we discuss the importance of determining the temperatures of prestellar cores with high accuracy.
The gravitational collapse of a spherical cloud core is investigated by numerical calculations. The initial conditions of the core lie close to the critical Bonnor-Ebert sphere with a central density of \sim 10^4 cm^{-3} in one model (alpha=1.1), while gravity overwhelms pressure in the other (alpha=4.0), where alpha is the internal gravity-to-pressure ratio. The alpha=1.1 model shows reasonable agreement with the observed velocity field in prestellar cores. Molecular distributions in cores are calculated by solving a chemical reaction network that includes both gas-phase and grain-surface rea…
Context. The high degree of deuteration observed in some prestellar cores depends on the ortho-to-para H2 ratio through the H3+ fractionation. Aims. We want to constrain the ortho/para H2 ratio across the L183 prestellar core. This is mandatory to correctly describe the deuter- ation amplification phenomenon in depleted cores such as L183 and to relate the total (ortho+para) H2D+ abundance to the sole ortho-H2D+ column density measurement. Methods. To constrain this ortho/para H2 ratio and derive its profile, we make use of the N2D+ /N2H+ ratio and of the ortho-H2D+ observations performed acro…
We estimate the dust temperatures of the clumps in the rho Oph main cloud taking into account the 3D geometry of the region, and external heating from the interstellar radiation field and from HD147879,a nearby luminous B2V star, which is believed to dominate the radiation field in the region. We find that the regions where prestellar cores are observed (i.e. at optical visual extinctions >7 mag) are colder than ~10-11K. These dust temperatures are smaller than those which previous studies of the same region have assumed. We use the new dust temperatures to estimate the masses of the prestella…
We use our Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to study non-embedded prestellar cores and cores that are embedded at the centre of a molecular cloud. Our study indicates that the temperature inside embedded cores is lower than in isolated non-embedded cores, and generally less than 12 K, even when the cores are surrounded by an ambient cloud of small visual extinction (Av~5). Our study shows that the best wavelength region to observe embedded cores is between 400 and 500 microns, where the core is quite distinct from the background. We also predict that very sensitive observations (~1-3 MJy/sr…
We have carried out calculations of ionization equilibrium and deuterium fractionation for conditions appropriate to a completely depleted, low mass pre--protostellar core, where heavy elements such as C, N, and O have vanished from the gas phase and are incorporated in ice mantles frozen on dust grain surfaces. We put particular emphasis on the interpretation of recent observations of H2D+ towards the centre of the prestellar core L1544 (Caselli et al. 2003) and also compute the ambipolar diffusion timescale. We consider explicitly the ortho and para forms of H2,H3+, and H2D+. Our results sho…
We report the detection of D2CO in a sample of starless dense cores, in which we previously measured the degree of CO depletion. The deuterium fractionation is found extremely high, [D2CO]/[H2CO] ~ 1-10 %, similar to that reported in low-mass protostars. This provides convincing evidence that D2CO is formed in the cold pre-stellar cores, and later desorbed when the gas warms up in protostars. We find that the cores with the highest CO depletions have also the largest [D2CO]/[H2CO] ratios, supporting the theoretical prediction that deuteration increases with increasing CO depletion.
We present an unbiased census of starless cores in Perseus, Serpens, and Ophiuchus, assembled by comparing large-scale Bolocam 1.1 mm continuum emission maps with Spitzer c2d surveys. We use the c2d catalogs to separate 108 starless from 92 protostellar cores in the 1.1 mm core samples from Enoch et al. (2006), Young et al. (2006), and Enoch et al. (2007). A comparison of these populations reveals the initial conditions of the starless cores. Starless cores in Perseus have similar masses but larger sizes and lower densities on average than protostellar cores, with sizes that suggest density pr…
Molecular line observations of starless (prestellar) cores combined with a chemical evolution modeling and radiative transfer calculations are a powerful tool to study the earliest stages of star formation. However, conclusions drawn from such a modeling may noticeably depend on the assumed thermal structure of the cores. The assumption of isothermality, which may work well in chemo-dynamical studies, becomes a critical factor in molecular line formation simulations. We argue that even small temperature variations, which are likely to exist in starless cores, can have a non-negligible effect o…
We have investigated the evolution and distribution of molecules in collapsing prestellar cores via numerical chemical models, adopting the Larson-Penston solution and its delayed analogues to study collapse. Molecular abundances and distributions in a collapsing core are determined by the balance among the dynamical, chemical and adsorption time scales. When the central density n_H of a prestellar core with the Larson-Penston flow rises to 3 10^6 cm^{-3}, the CCS and CO column densities are calculated to show central holes of radius 7000 AU and 4000 AU, respectively, while the column density …
In their survey paper of prestellar cores with SCUBA, Kirk et al. (2005) have discarded two of our papers on L183 (Pagani et al. 2003, 2004). However these papers bring two important pieces of information that they cannot ignore. Namely, the real structure of L183 and the very poor correlation between submillimeter and far infrared (FIR) dust emission beyond \Avb $\approx$ 15 mag. Making the erroneous assumption that it is the same dust that we are seeing in emission at both 200 and 850 $μ$m, they derive constant temperatures which are only approximate, and column densities which are too low. …
Aims. The purpose of this study is to examine the prediction that the deuterated H3+ ion, H2D+, can be found exclusively in the coldest regions of molecular cloud cores. This is also a feasibility study for the detection of the ground-state line of ortho-H2D+ at 372 GHz with APEX. Methods. The 1(10)-1(11) transition of H2D+ at 372 GHz was searched towards selected positions in the massive star forming cloud OriB9, in the dark cloud L183, and in the low- to intermediate mass star-forming cloud R CrA. Results. The line was detected in cold, prestellar cores in the regions of OriB9 and L183, but …
We have mapped linearly polarized dust emission from the prestellar cores L1498 and L1517B with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) using the Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) and its polarimeter SCUBAPOL at a wavelength of 850um. We use these measurements to determine the plane-of-sky magnetic field orientation in the cores. In L1498 we see a magnetic field across the peak of the core that lies at an offset of 19 degrees to the short axis of the core. This is similar to the offsets seen in previous observations of prestellar cores. To the southeast of the peak, in the fil…
Observations have been carried out with SCUBA at the JCMT of 52 molecular cloud cores that do not contain any sign of protostellar activity. These are all therefore candidate prestellar cores, which are believed to represent the stage of star formation that precedes the formation of a protostar. 29 of the 52 cores were detected at 850 microns at varying levels of signal-to-noise ratio greater than 3 sigma at peak. The detected cores were split into 'bright' cores and `intermediate' cores, depending on their peak flux density at 850 microns. Cores with peak 850 microns flux densities greater th…
Prestellar cores are unique laboratories for studies of the chemical and physical conditions preceding star formation. We observed the prestellar core L1544 in the fundamental transition of ortho-H2D+ (1_1,0-1_1,1) at different positions over 100", and found a strong correlation between its abundance and the CO depletion factor. We also present a tentative detection of the fundamental transition of para-D2H+ (1_1,0-1_0,1) at the dust emission peak. Maps in N2H+, N2D+, HCO+ and DCO+ are used, and interpreted with the aid of a spherically symmetric chemical model that predicts the column densiti…
We investigate general aspects of molecular line formation under conditions which are typical of prestellar cores. Focusing on simple linear molecules, we study formation of their rotational lines by radiative transfer simulations. We present a thermalization diagram to show the effects of collisions and radiation on the level excitation. We construct a detailed scheme (contribution chart) to illustrate the formation of emission line profiles. This chart can be used as an efficient tool to identify which parts of the cloud contribute to a specific line profile. We show how molecular line chara…
Improving our understanding of the initial conditions and earliest stages of protostellar collapse is crucial to gain insight into the origin of stellar masses, multiple systems, and protoplanetary disks. Observationally, there are two complementary approaches to this problem: (1) studying the structure and kinematics of prestellar cores observed prior to protostar formation, and (2) studying the structure of young (e.g. Class 0) accreting protostars observed soon after point mass formation. We discuss recent advances made in this area thanks to (sub)millimeter mapping observations with large …
Deuterium enhancement of monodeuterated species has been recognized for more than 30 years as a result of the chemical fractionation that results from the difference in zero point energies of deuterated and hydrogenated molecules. The key reaction is the deuteron exchange in the reaction between HD, the reservoir of deuterium in dark interstellar clouds, and the H3+ molecular ion, leading to the production of the H2D+ molecule, and the low temperature in dark interstellar clouds favors this production. Furthermore, the presence of multiply deuterated species have incited our group to proceed f…
Stars form from dense molecular cores, and the mass function of these cores (the CMF) is often found to be similar to the form of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). This suggests that the form of the IMF is the result of the form of the CMF. However, most stars are thought to form in binary and multiple systems, therefore the relationship between the IMF and the CMF cannot be trivial. We test two star formation scenarios - one in which all stars form as binary or triple systems, and one in which low-mass stars form in a predominantly single mode. We show that from a log-normal CMF, simil…
In our SCUBA survey of Perseus, we find that the fraction of protostellar cores increases towards higher masses and the most massive cores are all protostellar. In this paper we consider the possible explanations of this apparent mass dependence in the evolutionary status of these cores, and the implications for protostellar evolution and the mapping of the embedded core mass function (CMF) onto the stellar IMF. We consider the following potential causes: dust temperature; selection effects in the submillimetre and in the mid-infrared observations used for pre/protostellar classification; conf…
Following an approach initially outlined by McKee & Holliman, we investigate the structure and stability of dense, starless molecular cloud cores. We model those as spherical clouds in hydrostatic equilibrium and supported against gravity by thermal, turbulent, and magnetic pressure. We determine the gas pressure by solving for thermal equilibrium between heating and cooling, while the turbulent and magnetic pressures are assumed to obey polytropic equations of state. In comparing the models to observed cloud cores we find that the observed peak column densities often exceed the limit for stab…
We present a detailed theoretical study of the isolated Bok globule CB17 (L1389) based on spectral maps of CS, HCO$^+$, C$^{18}$O, C$^{34}$S, and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ lines. A phenomenological model of prestellar core evolution, a time-dependent chemical model, and a radiative transfer simulation for molecular lines are combined to reconstruct the chemical and kinematical structure of this core. We developed a general criterion that allows to quantify the difference between observed and simulated spectral maps. By minimizing this difference, we find that very high and very low values of the effectiv…
We review the properties of low mass dense molecular cloud cores, including starless, prestellar, and Class 0 protostellar cores, as derived from observations. In particular we discuss them in the context of the current debate surrounding the formation and evolution of cores. There exist several families of model scenarios to explain this evolution (with many variations of each) that can be thought of as a continuum of models lying between two extreme paradigms for the star and core formation process. At one extreme there is the dynamic, turbulent picture, while at the other extreme there is a…
Observations of dark cloud cores have been carried out in the mid-infrared using ISOCAM and in the far-infrared using ISOPHOT, both aboard the Infrared Space Observatory. The cores are in most cases detected in emission at 200 and 170 micron, remain undetected at 90 micron and are seen in absorption against the diffuse mid-infrared background at 7 micron. The observations are consistent with the cores being pre-stellar and not having a central heating source, and yield core temperatures of ~ 11-13 K. We were able to determine the density structure of the cores up to radii that extend beyond th…
We present 2D Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations of prestellar cores. We consider two types of asymmetry: disk-like asymmetry, in which the core is denser towards the equatorial plane than towards the poles; and axial asymmetry, in which the core is denser towards the south pole than the north pole. We limit our treatment to cores with mild asymmetries, which are exposed directly to the interstellar radiation field or are embedded inside molecular clouds. The isophotal maps of a core depend strongly on the viewing angle. Maps at wavelengths longer than the peak of the SED (e.g. 850 mic…
Improving our understanding of the initial conditions and earliest stages of star formation is crucial to gain insight into the origin of stellar masses, multiple systems, and protoplanetary disks. We review the properties of low-mass dense cores as derived from recent millimeter/submillimeter observations of nearby molecular clouds and discuss them in the context of various contemporary scenarios for cloud core formation and evolution. None of the extreme scenarios can explain all observations. Pure laminar ambipolar diffusion has relatively long growth times for typical ionization levels and…
We re-analyse all of the archive observations of the Ophiuchus dark cloud L1688 that were carried out with the submillimetre common-user bolometer array (SCUBA) at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). For the first time we put together all of the data that were taken of this cloud at different times to make a deeper map at 850 microns than has ever previously been published. Using this new, deeper map we extract the pre-stellar cores from the data. We use updated values for the distance to the cloud complex, and also for the internal temperatures of the pre-stellar cores to generate an up…
We investigate molecular evolution in a star-forming core that is initially a hydrostatic starless core and collapses to form a low-mass protostar. The results of a one-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics calculation are adopted as a physical model of the core. We first derive radii at which CO and large organic species sublimate. CO sublimation in the central region starts shortly before the formation of the first hydrostatic core. When the protostar is born, the CO sublimation radius extends to 100 AU, and the region inside $\lesssim 10$ AU is hotter than 100 K, at which some large organic s…
Context. The study of pre-stellar cores (PSCs) suffers from a lack of undepleted species to trace the gas physical properties in their very dense inner parts. Aims. We want to carry out detailed modelling of N2H+ and N2D+ cuts across the L183 main core to evaluate the depletion of these species and their usefulness as a probe of physical conditions in PSCs. Methods. We have developed a non-LTE (NLTE) Monte-Carlo code treating the 1D radiative transfer of both N2H+ and N2D+, making use of recently published collisional coefficients with He between individual hyperfine levels. The code includes …
We have mapped linearly polarized dust emission from L183 with the JCMT SCUBA polarimeter and have analyzed these and our previously published data for the prestellar cores L183, L1544, and L43 in order to estimate magnetic field strengths in the plane of the sky, $B_{pos}$. The analysis used the Chandrasekhar-Fermi technique, which relates the dispersion in polarization position angles to $B_{pos}$. We have used these estimates of the field strengths (neglecting the unmeasured line-of-sight component) to find the mass-to-magnetic flux ratios $λ$ (in units of the critical ratio for magnetic su…
We implement a Monte Carlo radiative transfer method, that uses a large number of monochromatic luminosity packets to represent the radiation transported through a system. These packets are injected into the system and interact stochastically with it. We test our code against various benchmark calculations and determine the number of packets required to obtain accurate results under different circumstances. We then use this method to study cores that are directly exposed to the interstellar radiation field (non-embedded cores) and find similar results with previous studies. We also explore a l…
The molecular evolution that occurs in collapsing prestellar cores is investigated. To model the dynamics, we adopt the Larson-Penston (L-P) solution and analogues with slower rates of collapse. For the chemistry, we utilize the new standard model (NSM) with the addition of deuterium fractionation and grain-surface reactions treated via the modified rate approach. The use of surface reactions distinguishes the present work from our previous model. We find that these reactions efficiently produce H2O, H2CO, CH3OH, N2, and NH3 ices. In addition, the surface chemistry influences the gas-phase abu…
We derive an analytical theory of the prestellar core initial mass function based on an extension of the Press-Schechter statistical formalism. With the same formalism, we also obtain the mass spectrum for the non self-gravitating clumps produced in supersonic flows. The mass spectrum of the self-gravitating cores reproduces very well the observed initial mass function and identifies the different mechanisms responsible for its behaviour. The theory predicts that the shape of the IMF results from two competing contributions, namely a power-law at large scales and an exponential cut-off (lognor…
We explore the possibility that, in the vicinity of an OB star, a prestellar core which would otherwise have formed an intermediate or low-mass star may form a free-floating brown dwarf or planetary-mass object, because the outer layers of the core are eroded by the ionizing radiation from the OB star before they can accrete onto the protostar at the centre of the core. The masses of objects formed in this way are given approximately by $\sim 0.010 M_\odot (a_{\rm I} / 0.3 {\rm km} {\rm s}^{-1})^6 (\dot{\cal N}_{\rm Lyc} / 10^{50} {\rm s}^{-1})^{-1/3} (n_{\rm 0} / 10^3 {\rm cm}^{-3})^{-1/3} $,…
We have computed the dust temperature distribution to be expected in a pre-protostellar core in the phase prior to the onset of gravitational instability. We have done this in the approximation that the heating of the dust grains is solely due to the attenuated external radiation field and that the core is optically thin to its own radiation. This permits us to consider non spherically symmetric geometries. We predict the intensity distributions of our model cores at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths and compare with observations of the well studied object L1544. We have also developed…
Observations of molecular clouds show the existence of starless, dense cores, threaded by magnetic fields. Observed line widths indicate these dense condensates to be embedded in a supersonically turbulent environment. Under these conditions, the generation of magnetic waves is inevitable. In this paper, we study the structure and support of a 1D plane-parallel, self-gravitating slab, as a monochromatic, circularly polarized Alfven wave is injected in its central plane. Dimensional analysis shows that the solution must depend on three dimensionless parameters. To study the nonlinear, turbulent…
We investigate the star formation process in primordial environment in the presence of radiative feedback by other population III stars formed earlier. In this paper, we focus our attention on the effects by photodissociative radiation toward the full understanding of the radiative feedback effects. We perform three dimensional radiation hydrodynamics simulations on this issue as well as analytic estimates, paying special attention on the self-shielding effect and dynamics of the star-forming cloud. As a result, we find that the ignition timing of the source star is crucial. If the ignition is…
