arXiv subjects

J. M. Kirk

Publications and source records attributed to J. M. Kirk.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The magnetic field in M16: new results from the JCMT BISTRO survey

We present a study of the magnetic field (B-field) in the Eagle Nebula (M16) using data from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) B-fields In STar-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey. We extend our previous study of the well-known `Pillars of Creation' region of the nebula to study two other structures in the region, the `Spire' and the bright-rimmed cloud (BRC) known as `SFO30'. These structures show similar B-field morphologies to the Pillars. We calculate B-field strengths using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi (DCF) method and thereby estimate the magnetic potential energy in each of these regions for comparison with the local gravitational, turbulent and thermal energies, as well as the pressure energy of the shocks from nearby O-type stars. We find approximate equipartition between the energies supporting the regions and those tending towards collapse, with the B-field support playing a significant role. This agrees with our earlier hypothesis that B-fields help support pillar-like structures in molecular clouds and make them longer-lived than they would otherwise have been.

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arXiv2022

Linking the dust and chemical evolution: Taurus and Perseus -- New collisional rates for HCN, HNC, and their C, N, and H isotopologues

HCN, HNC, and their isotopologues are ubiquitous molecules that can serve as chemical thermometers and evolutionary tracers to characterize star-forming regions. Despite their importance in carrying information that is vital to studies of the chemistry and evolution of star-forming regions, the collision rates of some of these molecules have not been available for rigorous studies in the past. We perform an up-to-date gas and dust chemical characterization of two different star-forming regions, TMC 1-C and NGC 1333-C7, using new collisional rates of HCN, HNC, and their isotopologues. We investigated the possible effects of the environment and stellar feedback in their chemistry and their evolution. With millimeter observations, we derived their column densities, the C and N isotopic fractions, the isomeric ratios, and the deuterium fractionation. The continuum data at 3 mm and 850 $μ$m allowed us to compute the emissivity spectral index and look for grain growth as an evolutionary tracer. The H$^{13}$CN/HN$^{13}$C ratio is anticorrelated with the deuterium fraction of HCN, thus it can readily serve as a proxy for the temperature. The spectral index $(β\sim 1.34-2.09)$ shows a tentative anticorrelation with the H$^{13}$CN/HN$^{13}$C ratio, suggesting grain growth in the evolved, hotter, and less deuterated sources. Unlike TMC 1-C, the south-to-north gradient in dust temperature and spectral index observed in NGC 1333-C7 suggests feedback from the main NGC 1333 cloud. With this up-to-date characterization of two star-forming regions, we found that the chemistry and the physical properties are tightly related. The dust temperature, deuterium fraction, and the spectral index are complementary evolutionary tracers. The large-scale environmental factors may dominate the chemistry and evolution in clustered star-forming regions.

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arXiv2021

Evolutionary view through the starless cores in Taurus: deuteration in TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP

The chemical and physical evolution of starless and pre-stellar cores are of paramount importance to understanding the process of star formation. The Taurus Molecular Cloud cores TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP share similar initial conditions and provide an excellent opportunity to understand the evolution of the pre-stellar core phase. We investigated the evolutionary stage of starless cores based on observations towards the prototypical dark cores TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP, mapping them in the CS $3\rightarrow 2$, C$^{34}$S $3\rightarrow 2$, $^{13}$CS $2\rightarrow 1$, DCN $1\rightarrow 0$, DCN $2\rightarrow 1$, DNC $1\rightarrow 0$, DNC $2\rightarrow 1$, DN$^{13}$C $1\rightarrow 0$, DN$^{13}$C $2\rightarrow 1$, N$_2$H$^+$ $1\rightarrow 0$, and N$_2$D$^+$ $1\rightarrow 0$ transitions. We performed a multi-transitional study of CS and its isotopologs, DCN, and DNC lines to characterize the physical and chemical properties of these cores. We studied their chemistry using the state-of-the-art gas-grain chemical code Nautilus and pseudo time-dependent models to determine their evolutionary stage. Observational diagnostics seem to indicate that TMC 1-C is in a later evolutionary stage than TMC 1-CP, with a chemical age $\sim$1 Myr. TMC 1-C shows signs of being an evolved core at the onset of star formation, while TMC 1-CP appears to be in an earlier evolutionary stage due to a more recent formation or, alternatively, a collapse slowed down by a magnetic support.

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arXiv2021

ALMA $\mathrm{^{13}CO}$(J=1-0) Observations of NGC 604 in M33: Physical Properties of Molecular Clouds

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of $\mathrm{^{13}CO(J=1-0)}$ line and 104 GHz continuum emission from NGC 604, a giant HII region (GHR) in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. Our high spatial resolution images ( 3.2"$\times$ 2.4", corresponding to $13 \times 10$ pc physical scale) allow us to detect fifteen molecular clouds. We find spatial offsets between the $^{13}CO$ and 104 GHz continuum emission and also detect continuum emission near the centre of the GHR. The identified molecular clouds have sizes ranging from 5-21 pc, linewidths of 0.3-3.0 $\mathrm{kms^{-1}}$ and luminosity-derived masses of (0.4-80.5) $\times 10^3$ M$_{\bigodot}$. These molecular clouds are in near virial equilibrium, with a spearman correlation coefficient of 0.98. The linewidth-size relationship for these clouds is offset from the corresponding relations for the Milky Way and for NGC 300, although this may be an artefact of the dendrogram process.

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arXiv2020

Physical properties of the ambient medium and of dense cores in the Perseus star-forming region derived from Herschel Gould Belt Survey observations

(Abridged) In this paper, we present analyses of images taken with the Herschel ESA satellite from 70mu to 500mu. We first constructed column density and dust temperature maps. Next, we identified compact cores in the maps, and characterize the cores using modified blackbody fits to their SEDs: we identified 684 starless cores, of which 199 are bound and potential prestellar cores, and 132 protostars. We also matched the Herschel-identified young stars with GAIA sources to model distance variations across the Perseus cloud. We measure a linear gradient function with right ascension and declination for the entire cloud. From the SED fits, mass and temperature of cores were derived. The core mass function can be modelled with a log-normal distribution that peaks at 0.82~$M_\sun$ suggesting a star formation efficiency of 0.30. The high-mass tail can be modelled with a power law of slope $\sim-2.32$, close to the Salpeter's value. We also identify the filamentary structure of Perseus, confirming that stars form preferentially in filaments. We find that the majority of filaments where star formation is ongoing are transcritical against their own internal gravity because their linear masses are below the critical limit of 16~$M_\sun$pc$^{-1}$ above which we expect filaments to collapse. We find a possible explanation for this result, showing that a filament with a linear mass as low as 8~$M_\sun$pc$^{-1}$ can be already unstable. We confirm a linear relation between star formation efficiency and slope of dust probability density function and a similar relation is also seen with the core formation efficiency. We derive a lifetime for the prestellar core phase of $1.69\pm0.52$~Myr for Perseus but different regions have a wide range in prestellar core fractions, hint that star-formation has started only recently in some clumps. We also derive a free-fall time for prestellar cores of 0.16~Myr.

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arXiv2020

Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular cloudS (GEMS). II. On the quest for the sulphur reservoir in molecular clouds: the $H_{2}S$ case

Sulphur is one of the most abundant elements in the Universe. Surprisingly, sulphuretted molecules are not as abundant as expected in the interstellar medium, and the identity of the main sulphur reservoir is still an open question. Our goal is to investigate the H$_{2}$S chemistry in dark clouds, as this stable molecule is a potential sulphur reservoir. Using millimeter observations of CS, SO, H$_{2}$S, and their isotopologues, we determine the physical conditions and H$_{2}$S abundances along the cores TMC 1-C, TMC 1-CP, and Barnard 1b. The gas-grain model Nautilus is then used to model the sulphur chemistry and explore the impact of photo-desorption and chemical desorption on the H$_2$S abundance. Our model shows that chemical desorption is the main source of gas-phase H$_2$S in dark cores. The measured H$_{2}$S abundance can only be fitted if we assume that the chemical desorption rate decreases by more than a factor of 10 when $n_{\rm H}>2\times10^{4}$. This change in the desorption rate is consistent with the formation of thick H$_2$O and CO ice mantles on grain surfaces. The observed SO and H$_2$S abundances are in good agreement with our predictions adopting an undepleted value of the sulphur abundance. However, the CS abundance is overestimated by a factor of $5-10$. Along the three cores, atomic S is predicted to be the main sulphur reservoir. We conclude that the gaseous H$_2$S abundance is well reproduced, assuming undepleted sulphur abundance and chemical desorption as the main source of H$_2$S. The behavior of the observed H$_{2}$S abundance suggests a changing desorption efficiency, which would probe the snowline in these cores. Our model, however, overestimates the observed gas-phase CS abundance. Given the uncertainty in the sulphur chemistry, our data are consistent with a cosmic elemental S abundance with an uncertainty of a factor of 10.

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arXiv2018

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: A First Look at the Auriga-California Molecular Cloud with SCUBA-2

We present 850 and 450 micron observations of the dense regions within the Auriga-California molecular cloud using SCUBA-2 as part of the JCMT Gould Belt Legacy Survey to identify candidate protostellar objects, measure the masses of their circumstellar material (disk and envelope), and compare the star formation to that in the Orion A molecular cloud. We identify 59 candidate protostars based on the presence of compact submillimeter emission, complementing these observations with existing Herschel/SPIRE maps. Of our candidate protostars, 24 are associated with young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Spitzer and Herschel/PACS catalogs of 166 and 60 YSOs, respectively (177 unique), confirming their protostellar nature. The remaining 35 candidate protostars are in regions, particularly around LkHalpha 101, where the background cloud emission is too bright to verify or rule out the presence of the compact 70 micron emission that is expected for a protostellar source. We keep these candidate protostars in our sample but note that they may indeed be prestellar in nature. Our observations are sensitive to the high end of the mass distribution in Auriga-Cal. We find that the disparity between the richness of infrared star forming objects in Orion A and the sparsity in Auriga-Cal extends to the submillimeter, suggesting that the relative star formation rates have not varied over the Class II lifetime and that Auriga-Cal will maintain a lower star formation efficiency.

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arXiv2018

The dense cores and filamentary structure of the molecular cloud in Corona Australis. Herschel SPIRE and PACS observations from the Herschel Gould Belt Survey

We present a catalogue of prestellar and starless cores within the Corona Australis molecular cloud using photometric data from the Herschel Space Observatory. At a distance of d~130 pc, Corona Australis is one of the closest star-forming regions. Herschel has taken multi-wavelength data of Corona Australis with both the SPIRE and PACS photometric cameras in a parallel mode with wavelengths in the range 70 μm to 500 μm. A complete sample of starless and prestellar cores and embedded protostars is identified. Other results from the Herschel Gould Belt Survey have shown spatial correlation between the distribution of dense cores and the filamentary structure within the molecular clouds. We go further and show correlations between the properties of these cores and their spatial distribution within the clouds, with a particular focus on the mass distribution of the dense cores with respect to their filamentary proximity. We find that only lower-mass starless cores form away from filaments, while all of the higher-mass prestellar cores form in close proximity to, or directly on the filamentary structure. This result supports the paradigm that prestellar cores mostly form on filaments. We analyse the mass distribution across the molecular cloud, finding evidence that the region around the Coronet appears to be at a more dynamically advanced evolutionary stage to the rest of the clumps within the cloud.

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arXiv2017

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: A First Look at IC 5146

We present 450 and 850 micron submillimetre continuum observations of the IC5146 star-forming region taken as part of the JCMT Gould Belt Survey. We investigate the location of bright submillimetre (clumped) emission with the larger-scale molecular cloud through comparison with extinction maps, and find that these denser structures correlate with higher cloud column density. Ninety-six individual submillimetre clumps are identified using FellWalker and their physical properties are examined. These clumps are found to be relatively massive, ranging from 0.5to 116 MSun with a mean mass of 8 MSun and a median mass of 3.7 MSun. A stability analysis for the clumps suggest that the majority are (thermally) Jeans stable, with M/M_J < 1. We further compare the locations of known protostars with the observed submillimetre emission, finding that younger protostars, i.e., Class 0 and I sources, are strongly correlated with submillimetre peaks and that the clumps with protostars are among the most Jeans unstable. Finally, we contrast the evolutionary conditions in the two major star-forming regions within IC5146: the young cluster associated with the Cocoon Nebula and the more distributed star formation associated with the Northern Streamer filaments. The Cocoon Nebula appears to have converted a higher fraction of its mass into dense clumps and protostars, the clumps are more likely to be Jeans unstable, and a larger fraction of these remaining clumps contain embedded protostars. The Northern Streamer, however, has a larger number of clumps in total and a larger fraction of the known protostars are still embedded within these clumps.

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arXiv2016

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: A First Look at Southern Orion A with SCUBA-2

We present the JCMT Gould Belt Survey's first look results of the southern extent of the Orion A Molecular Cloud ($δ\leq -5\mathrm{:}31\mathrm{:}27.5$). Employing a two-step structure identification process, we construct individual catalogues for large-scale regions of significant emission labelled as islands and smaller-scale subregions called fragments using the 850 $μ$m continuum maps obtained using SCUBA-2. We calculate object masses, sizes, column densities, and concentrations. We discuss fragmentation in terms of a Jeans instability analysis and highlight interesting structures as candidates for follow-up studies. Furthermore, we associate the detected emission with young stellar objects (YSOs) identified by Spitzer and Herschel. We find that although the population of active star-forming regions contains a wide variety of sizes and morphologies, there is a strong positive correlation between the concentration of an emission region and its calculated Jeans instability. There are, however, a number of highly unstable subregions in dense areas of the map that show no evidence of star formation. We find that only $\sim$72\% of the YSOs defined as Class 0+I and flat-spectrum protostars coincide with dense 850 $μ$m emission structures (column densities $>3.7\times10^{21}\mathrm{\:cm}^{-2}$). The remaining 28\% of these objects, which are expected to be embedded in dust and gas, may be misclassified. Finally, we suggest that there is an evolution in the velocity dispersion of young stellar objects such that sources which are more evolved are associated with higher velocities.

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arXiv2016

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: Evidence for Dust Grain Evolution in Perseus Star-forming Clumps

The dust emissivity spectral index, $β$, is a critical parameter for deriving the mass and temperature of star-forming structures, and consequently their gravitational stability. The $β$ value is dependent on various dust grain properties, such as size, porosity, and surface composition, and is expected to vary as dust grains evolve. Here we present $β$, dust temperature, and optical depth maps of the star-forming clumps in the Perseus Molecular Cloud determined from fitting SEDs to combined Herschel and JCMT observations in the 160 $μ$m, 250 $μ$m, 350 $μ$m, 500 $μ$m, and 850 $μ$m bands. Most of the derived $β$, and dust temperature values fall within the ranges of 1.0 - 2.7 and 8 - 20 K, respectively. In Perseus, we find the $β$ distribution differs significantly from clump to clump, indicative of grain growth. Furthermore, we also see significant, localized $β$ variations within individual clumps and find low $β$ regions correlate with local temperature peaks, hinting at the possible origins of low $β$ grains. Throughout Perseus, we also see indications of heating from B stars and embedded protostars, as well evidence of outflows shaping the local landscape.

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arXiv2016

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: Evidence for radiative heating and contamination in the W40 complex

We present SCUBA-2 450μm and 850μm observations of the W40 complex in the Serpens-Aquila region as part of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) Gould Belt Survey (GBS) of nearby star-forming regions. We investigate radiative heating by constructing temperature maps from the ratio of SCUBA-2 fluxes using a fixed dust opacity spectral index, β = 1.8, and a beam convolution kernel to achieve a common 14.8" resolution. We identify 82 clumps ranging between 10 and 36K with a mean temperature of 20{\pm}3K. Clump temperature is strongly correlated with proximity to the external OB association and there is no evidence that the embedded protostars significantly heat the dust. We identify 31 clumps that have cores with densities greater than 105cm{^{-3}}. Thirteen of these cores contain embedded Class 0/I protostars. Many cores are associated with bright-rimmed clouds seen in Herschel 70 μm images. From JCMT HARP observations of the 12CO 3-2 line, we find contamination of the 850μm band of up to 20 per cent. We investigate the free-free contribution to SCUBA-2 bands from large-scale and ultracompact H ii regions using archival VLA data and find the contribution is limited to individual stars, accounting for 9 per cent of flux per beam at 450 μm or 12 per cent at 850 μm in these cases. We conclude that radiative heating has potentially influenced the formation of stars in the Dust Arc sub-region, favouring Jeans stable clouds in the warm east and fragmentation in the cool west.

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arXiv2016

A census of dense cores in the Taurus L1495 cloud from the Herschel Gould Belt Survey

We present a catalogue of dense cores in a $\sim 4^\circ\times2^\circ$ field of the Taurus star-forming region, inclusive of the L1495 cloud, derived from Herschel SPIRE and PACS observations in the 70 $μ$m, 160 $μ$m, 250 $μ$m, 350 $μ$m, and 500 $μ$m continuum bands. Estimates of mean dust temperature and total mass are derived using modified blackbody fits to the spectral energy distributions. We detect 525 starless cores of which $\sim10$-20% are gravitationally bound and therefore presumably prestellar. Our census of unbound objects is $\sim85$% complete for $M>0.015\,M_\odot$ in low density regions ($A_V\stackrel{<}{_\sim}5$ mag), while the bound (prestellar) subset is $\sim85$% complete for $M>0.1\,M_\odot$ overall. The prestellar core mass function (CMF) is consistent with lognormal form, resembling the stellar system initial mass function, as has been reported previously. All of the inferred prestellar cores lie on filamentary structures whose column densities exceed the expected threshold for filamentary collapse, in agreement with previous reports. Unlike the prestellar CMF, the unbound starless CMF is not lognormal, but instead is consistent with a power-law form below $0.3\,M_\odot$ and shows no evidence for a low-mass turnover. It resembles previously reported mass distributions for CO clumps at low masses ($M\stackrel{<}{_\sim}0.3\,M_\odot$). The volume density PDF, however, is accurately lognormal except at high densities. It is consistent with the effects of self-gravity on magnetized supersonic turbulence. The only significant deviation from lognormality is a high-density tail which can be attributed unambiguously to prestellar cores.

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arXiv2015

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: A First Look at Dense Cores in Orion B

We present a first look at the SCUBA-2 observations of three sub-regions of the Orion B molecular cloud: LDN 1622, NGC 2023/2024, and NGC 2068/2071, from the JCMT Gould Belt Legacy Survey. We identify 29, 564, and 322 dense cores in L1622, NGC 2023/2024, and NGC 2068/2071 respectively, using the SCUBA-2 850 micron map, and present their basic properties, including their peak fluxes, total fluxes, and sizes, and an estimate of the corresponding 450 micron peak fluxes and total fluxes, using the FellWalker source extraction algorithm. Assuming a constant temperature of 20 K, the starless dense cores have a mass function similar to that found in previous dense core analyses, with a Salpeter-like slope at the high-mass end. The majority of cores appear stable to gravitational collapse when considering only thermal pressure; indeed, most of the cores which have masses above the thermal Jeans mass are already associated with at least one protostar. At higher cloud column densities, above 1-2 x 10^23 cm^-2, most of the mass is found within dense cores, while at lower cloud column densities, below 1 x 10^23 cm^-2, this fraction drops to 10% or lower. Overall, the fraction of dense cores associated with a protostar is quite small (<8%), but becomes larger for the densest and most centrally concentrated cores. NGC 2023 / 2024 and NGC 2068/2071 appear to be on the path to forming a significant number of stars in the future, while L1622 has little additional mass in dense cores to form many new stars.

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arXiv2015

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: SCUBA-2 observations of circumstellar disks in L 1495

We present 850$μ$m and 450$μ$m data from the JCMT Gould Belt Survey obtained with SCUBA-2 and characterise the dust attributes of Class I, Class II and Class III disk sources in L1495. We detect 23% of the sample at both wavelengths, with the detection rate decreasing through the Classes from I--III. The median disk mask is 1.6$\times 10^{-3}$M$_{\odot}$, and only 7% of Class II sources have disk masses larger than 20 Jupiter masses. We detect a higher proportion of disks towards sources with stellar hosts of spectral type K than spectral type M. Class II disks with single stellar hosts of spectral type K have higher masses than those of spectral type M, supporting the hypothesis that higher mass stars have more massive disks. Variations in disk masses calculated at the two wavelengths suggests there may be differences in dust opacity and/or dust temperature between disks with hosts of spectral types K to those with spectral type M.

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arXiv2015

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: First results from the SCUBA-2 observations of the Ophiuchus molecular cloud and a virial analysis of its prestellar core population

In this paper we present the first observations of the Ophiuchus molecular cloud performed as part of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) Gould Belt Survey (GBS) with the SCUBA-2 instrument. We demonstrate methods for combining these data with previous HARP CO, Herschel, and IRAM N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ observations in order to accurately quantify the properties of the SCUBA-2 sources in Ophiuchus. We produce a catalogue of all of the sources found by SCUBA-2. We separate these into protostars and starless cores. We list all of the starless cores and perform a full virial analysis, including external pressure. This is the first time that external pressure has been included in this level of detail. We find that the majority of our cores are either bound or virialised. Gravitational energy and external pressure are on average of a similar order of magnitude, but with some variation from region to region. We find that cores in the Oph A region are gravitationally bound prestellar cores, while cores in the Oph C and E regions are pressure-confined. We determine that N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ is a good tracer of the bound material of prestellar cores, although we find some evidence for N$_{2}$H$^{+}$ freeze-out at the very highest core densities. We find that non-thermal linewidths decrease substantially between the gas traced by C$^{18}$O and that traced by N$_{2}$H$^{+}$, indicating the dissipation of turbulence at higher densities. We find that the critical Bonnor-Ebert stability criterion is not a good indicator of the boundedness of our cores. We detect the pre-brown dwarf candidate Oph B-11 and find a flux density and mass consistent with previous work. We discuss regional variations in the nature of the cores and find further support for our previous hypothesis of a global evolutionary gradient across the cloud from southwest to northeast, indicating sequential star formation across the region.

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arXiv2014

The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: Evidence for radiative heating in Serpens MWC 297 and its influence on local star formation

We present SCUBA-2 450micron and 850micron observations of the Serpens MWC 297 region, part of the JCMT Gould Belt Survey of nearby star-forming regions. Simulations suggest that radiative feedback influences the star-formation process and we investigate observational evidence for this by constructing temperature maps. Maps are derived from the ratio of SCUBA-2 fluxes and a two component model of the JCMT beam for a fixed dust opacity spectral index of beta = 1.8. Within 40 of the B1.5Ve Herbig star MWC 297, the submillimetre fluxes are contaminated by free-free emission with a spectral index of 1.03+-0.02, consistent with an ultra-compact HII region and polar winds/jets. Contamination accounts for 73+-5 per cent and 82+-4 per cent of peak flux at 450micron and 850micron respectively. The residual thermal disk of the star is almost undetectable at these wavelengths. Young Stellar Objects are confirmed where SCUBA-2 850micron clumps identified by the fellwalker algorithm coincide with Spitzer Gould Belt Survey detections. We identify 23 objects and use Tbol to classify nine YSOs with masses 0.09 to 5.1 Msun. We find two Class 0, one Class 0/I, three Class I and three Class II sources. The mean temperature is 15+-2K for the nine YSOs and 32+-4K for the 14 starless clumps. We observe a starless clump with an abnormally high mean temperature of 46+-2K and conclude that it is radiatively heated by the star MWC 297. Jeans stability provides evidence that radiative heating by the star MWC 297 may be suppressing clump collapse.

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arXiv2013

First results from the Herschel Gould Belt Survey in Taurus

The whole of the Taurus region (a total area of 52 sq. deg.) has been observed by the Herschel SPIRE and PACS instruments at wavelengths of 70, 160, 250, 350 and 500 μm as part of the Herschel Gould Belt Survey. In this paper we present the first results from the part of the Taurus region that includes the Barnard 18 and L1536 clouds. A new source-finding routine, the Cardiff Source-finding AlgoRithm (CSAR), is introduced, which is loosely based on CLUMPFIND, but that also generates a structure tree, or dendrogram, which can be used to interpret hierarchical clump structure in a complex region. Sources were extracted from the data using the hierarchical version of CSAR and plotted on a mass-size diagram. We found a hierarchy of objects with sizes in the range 0.024-2.7 pc. Previous studies showed that gravitationally bound prestellar cores and unbound starless clumps appeared in different places on the mass-size diagram. However, it was unclear whether this was due to a lack of instrumental dynamic range or whether they were actually two distinct populations. The excellent sensitivity of Herschel shows that our sources fill the gap in the mass-size plane between starless and pre-stellar cores, and gives the first clear supporting observational evidence for the theory that unbound clumps and (gravitationally bound) prestellar cores are all part of the same population, and hence presumably part of the same evolutionary sequence (c.f. Simpson et al. 2011).

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