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Indications of Inflow Motions in Regions Forming Massive Stars

Jingwen Wu·Neal J. Evans II
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Abstract

Observational evidence for inflowing motions in massive star forming regions has been extremely rare. We have made a spectroscopic survey of a sample of 28 massive star forming cores associated with water masers. An optically thick line of HCN (3-2) was used in combination with optically thin lines [H^{13}CN (3-2) or C^{34}S (5-4), (3-2), and (2-1)], to identify ``blue'' line profiles that can indicate inflow. Comparing intensities for 18 double-peaked line profiles yields 11 blue and 3 red profiles that are statistically significant. In the full sample of 28 sources, 12 show blue profiles and 6 show red profiles that are statistically significant based on the velocity offsets of lines that are optically thick from those that are optically thin. These results indicate that HCN (3-2) emission may trace inflow in regions forming high-mass stars.

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Jingwen Wu, Neal J. Evans II. 2003-06-25. Indications of Inflow Motions in Regions Forming Massive Stars. https://doi.org/10.1086/377679

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