arXiv subjects

Masato I. N. Kobayashi

Publications and source records attributed to Masato I. N. Kobayashi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Molecular Gas Structure and Star Formation Diversity in Stephan's Quintet Revealed by ACA CO(1-0) Mapping

We present $^{12}$CO(1-0) mapping across the entire system of Stephan's Quintet, a well-known compact galaxy group, observed by Atacama Compact Array (7\,m array + Total Power) of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. These observations provide the first large-scale ($137\,\mathrm{kpc}\times119\,\mathrm{kpc}$), spatially resolved ($\sim$5.5\,$\mathrm{kpc}$) molecular gas map of a compact group. Our CO map revealed that most of the molecular gas resides in the disk of the member galaxy NGC~7319 and in the intergalactic regions, including components along the shocked filament and the optically identified tidal tail extending from NGC~7319. Along the tidal tail and its surroundings, we found not only an extended molecular gas component but also four discrete CO clumps, with velocity dispersions of $\sim$10-30 $\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$ and molecular gas masses of order $10^7$-$10^8\,M_\odot$. Three of these clumps spatially overlap with H\,{\sc i}, whereas the remaining clump shows no associated H\,{\sc i} or counterparts at optical and infrared wavelengths. Using star formation rates derived from H$α$ luminosities of H\,{\sc ii} regions, we found that star formation efficiencies (SFEs) span $\sim$2.2\,dex ($\sim$0.02--4\,Gyr$^{-1}$) and negatively correlate with CO velocity dispersion. While regions with small velocity dispersion exhibit SFEs comparable to those of nearby disk galaxies, those with large velocity dispersion ($\sim$50-150$\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$) around the shocked filament show strongly suppressed star formation. These results suggest that turbulence plays a significant role in regulating star formation in interacting systems.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Discovery of CO Clouds Associated with the X-ray Jets of SS 433: Evidence for Shock-Cloud Interaction Enhancing Nonthermal X-ray Emission

We report the first identification of molecular clumps directly associated with the re-brightening regions of the large-scale X-ray jets of SS 433, based on $^{12}$CO ($J$ = 1--0) observations with the Nobeyama 45-m Radio Telescope. Multiple clumps are detected toward the eastern and western jet heads, showing clear spatial correlation with the X-ray emission. The X-ray emission peaks immediately downstream of the molecular clumps, while the hardness ratio is enhanced at their surfaces, indicating that the observed structures cannot be explained by absorption effects. These results provide direct evidence for shock--cloud interactions between the jets and the surrounding interstellar medium. We suggest that turbulence generated at the jet--cloud interface amplifies magnetic fields, producing the observed non-thermal X-ray emission. Our findings highlight the importance of jet--ISM interactions in shaping the X-ray properties of microquasar jets.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Head-tail molecular clouds falling onto the Milky Way disk

We report discovery of two CO clouds which are likely falling down to the Galactic plane at more than $35$ km s$^{-1}$. The clouds show head-tail distributions elongated perpendicular to the Galactic plane at $l=331.6^{\circ}$ and $b=0^{\circ}$ as revealed by an analysis of the Mopra CO $J=$1-0 survey data. We derived the distance of the clouds to be $2.46 \pm 0.18$ kpc based on the Gaia Data Release 3. The CO clouds have molecular masses of $4.8\times 10^3\ M_{\odot}$ and $3.5\times 10^3\ M_{\odot}$, respectively, and show kinetic temperature of 30-50 K as derived from the line intensities of the $^{13}$CO $J$=2-1, $^{12}$CO $J$=1-0, and $^{13}$CO $J$=1-0 emission. The temperature in the heads of the clouds is significantly higher than 10 K of the typical molecular clouds, although no radiative heat source is found inside or close to the clouds. Based on the results, we interpret that the present clouds are falling onto the Milky Way disk and are significantly heated up by the strong shock interaction with the disk HI gas. We suggest that the clouds represent part of the HI intermediate velocity clouds falling to the Galactic plane which were converted into molecular clouds by shock compression. This is the first case of falling CO clouds having direct observed signatures of the falling motion including clear directivity and shock heating. Possible implications of the CO clouds in the evolution of the Galactic interstellar medium are discussed.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Isolated Black Holes as Potential PeVatrons and Ultrahigh-energy Gamma-ray Sources

The origin of PeV cosmic rays is a long-standing mystery, and ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray observations would play a crucial role in identifying it. Recently, LHAASO reported the discovery of ``dark'' gamma-ray sources that were detected above 100 TeV without any GeV--TeV gamma-ray counterparts. The origins of these dark gamma-ray sources are unknown. We propose isolated black holes (IBHs) wandering in molecular clouds as the origins of PeV cosmic rays and LHAASO dark sources. An IBH accretes surrounding dense gas, which forms a magnetically arrested disk (MAD) around the IBH. Magnetic reconnection in the MAD can accelerate cosmic-ray protons up to PeV energies. Cosmic-ray protons of GeV-TeV energies fall to the IBH, whereas cosmic-ray protons at sub-PeV energies can escape from the MAD, providing PeV CRs into the interstellar medium. The sub-PeV cosmic-ray protons interact with the surrounding molecular clouds, producing TeV-PeV gamma rays without emitting GeV-TeV gamma rays. This scenario can explain the dark sources detected by LHAASO. Taking into account the IBH and molecular cloud distributions in our Galaxy, we demonstrate that IBHs can provide a significant contribution to the PeV cosmic rays observed on Earth. Future gamma-ray detectors in the southern sky and neutrino detectors would provide a concrete test to our scenario.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Giant Molecular Clouds in RCW 106 (G333): Galactic Mini-starbursts and Massive Star Formation Induced by Supersonic Cloud-Cloud Collisions

To reveal the origin of the mini-starbursts in the Milky Way, we carried out large-scale CO observations toward the RCW 106 giant molecular cloud (GMC) complex using the NANTEN2 4-m radio telescope operated by Nagoya University. We also analyzed the Mopra Southern Galactic plane CO survey and Herschel infrared continuum archival data. The RCW 106 GMC complex contains the radial velocity components of $-68$ km s$^{-1}$ and $-50$ km s$^{-1}$ reported by Nguyen et al. (2015). Focusing on the RCW 106 East and West region with the massive star formation having the bright infrared dust emission, we found that these regions have three different velocity components with $\sim 10$ km s$^{-1}$ differences. The two out of three velocity components show morphological correspondence with the infrared cold dust emission and connect with the bridge feature on a position-velocity diagram. Therefore, two molecular clouds (MCs) with $\sim 10$ km s$^{-1}$ differences are likely to be physically associated with massive star-forming regions in the GMC complex. Based on these observational results, we argue that mini-starbursts and massive star/cluster formation in the RCW 106 GMC complex are induced by supersonic cloud-cloud collisions in an agglomerate of molecular gas on the Scutum-Centaurus arm.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Galactic structure dependence of cloud-cloud collisions driven star formation in the barred galaxy NGC 3627

While cloud-cloud collisions (CCCs) have been proposed as a mechanism for triggering massive star formation, it is suggested that higher collision velocities ($v_{\rm col}$) and lower GMC mass ($M_{\rm GMC}$) or/and density ($Σ_{\rm GMC}$) tend to suppress star formation. In this study, we choose the nearby barred galaxy NGC 3627 to examine the SFR and SFE of a colliding GMC ($m^\star_{\rm CCC}$ and $ε_{\rm CCC}$) and explore the connections between $m^\star_{\rm CCC}$ and $ε_{\rm CCC}$, $M_{\rm GMC}$($Σ_{\rm GMC}$) and $v_{\rm col}$, and galactic structures (disk, bar, and bar-end). Using ALMA CO(2--1) data (60~pc resolution), we estimated $v_{\rm col}$ within 500~pc apertures, based on line-of-sight GMC velocities, assuming random motion in a two-dimensional plane. We extracted apertures where at least 0.1 collisions occur per 1 Myr, identifying them as regions dominated by CCC-driven star formation, and then calculated $m^\star_{\rm CCC}$ and $ε_{\rm CCC}$ using attenuation-corrected H$α$ data from VLT MUSE. We found that both $m^\star_{\rm CCC}$ and $ε_{\rm CCC}$ are lower in the bar (median values: $10^{3.84}~M_\odot$ and $0.18~\%$), and higher in the bar-end ($10^{4.89}~M_\odot$ and $1.10~\%$) compared to the disk ($10^{4.28}~M_\odot$ and $0.75~\%$). Furthermore, we found that structural differences within the parameter space of $v_{\rm col}$ and $M_{\rm GMC}$($Σ_{\rm GMC}$), with higher $M_{\rm GMC}$($Σ_{\rm GMC}$) in the bar-end and higher $v_{\rm col}$ in the bar compared to the disk, lead to higher star formation activity in the bar-end and lower activity in the bar. Our results support the scenario that variations in CCC properties across different galactic structures can explain the observed differences in SFE on a kpc scale within a disk galaxy.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

ALMA 0.1 pc View of Molecular Clouds Associated with High-Mass Protostellar Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Are Low-Metallicity Clouds Filamentary or Not?

Filamentary molecular clouds are an essential intermediate stage in the star formation process. To test whether these structures are universal throughout cosmic star formation history, it is crucial to study low-metallicity environments within the Local Group. We present an ALMA analysis of the ALMA archival data at the spatial resolution of $\sim$0.1 pc for 17 massive young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC; Z $\sim$0.2 $Z_{\odot}$). This sample represents approximately 30% of the YSOs confirmed by Spitzer spectroscopy. Early ALMA studies of the SMC have shown that the CO emission line traces an H$_2$ number density of $\gtrsim$10$^4$ cm$^{-3}$, an order of magnitude higher than in the typical Galactic environments. Using the CO($J$ = 3-2) data, we investigated the spatial and velocity distribution of molecular clouds. Our analysis shows that about 60% of the clouds have steep radial profiles from the spine of the elongated structures, while the remaining clouds have a smooth distribution and are characterized by lower brightness temperatures. We categorized the former as filaments and the latter as non-filaments. Some of the filamentary clouds are associated with YSOs with outflows and exhibit higher temperatures, likely reflecting their formation conditions, suggesting that these clouds are younger than non-filamentary ones. This indicates that even if filaments form during star formation, their steep structures may become less prominent and transit to a lower-temperature state. Such transitions in structure and temperature have not been reported in metal-rich regions, highlighting a key behavior for characterizing the evolution of the interstellar medium and star formation in low-metallicity environments.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

A Tale of Three: Magnetic Fields along the Orion Integral-Shaped Filament as Revealed by JCMT BISTRO survey

As part of the BISTRO survey, we present JCMT 850 $μ$m polarimetric observations towards the Orion Integral-Shaped Filament (ISF) that covers three portions known as OMC-1, OMC-2, and OMC-3. The magnetic field threading the ISF seen in the JCMT POL-2 map appears as a tale of three: pinched for OMC-1, twisted for OMC-2, and nearly uniform for OMC-3. A multi-scale analysis shows that the magnetic field structure in OMC-3 is very consistent at all the scales, whereas the field structure in OMC-2 shows no correlation across different scales. In OMC-1, the field retains its mean orientation from large to small scales, but shows some deviations at small scales. Histograms of relative orientations between the magnetic field and filaments reveal a bimodal distribution for OMC-1, a relatively random distribution for OMC-2, and a distribution with a predominant peak at 90$^\circ$ for OMC-3. Furthermore, the magnetic fields in OMC-1 and OMC-3 both appear to be aligned perpendicular to the fibers, which are denser structures within the filament, but the field in OMC-2 is aligned along with the fibers. All these suggest that gravity, turbulence, and magnetic field are each playing a leading role in OMC-1, 2, and 3, respectively. While OMC-2 and 3 have almost the same gas mass, density, and non-thermal velocity dispersion, there are on average younger and fewer young stellar objects in OMC-3, providing evidence that a stronger magnetic field will induce slower and less efficient star formation in molecular clouds.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Molecular cloud matching in CO and dust in M33 II. Physical properties of giant molecular clouds

Understanding mass, size, and surface mass density of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in galaxies is key to insights into star formation processes. We analyze these in M33 using Herschel dust and archival IRAM 30m telescope data, compared to Milky Way CO data. A Dendrogram algorithm on a 2D dust map and a Xco factor map are used for M33 instead of a constant value. Dust and CO-derived values are similar, with mean radii of $\sim\,$$58\,$pc for the dust and $\sim\,$$68\,$pc for CO. Largest GMAs are about $150\,$pc in radius, similar to the Milky Way, suggesting a size-limiting process. M33 contains less massive, lower-density GMCs compared to the Milky Way. The highest mass GMCs observed in the Milky Way are mostly absent in M33. M33's mean surface mass density is much lower, due to the Milky Way's higher column densities despite similar GMC areas. No systematic gradients in M33's physical properties were found with galactocentric radius, but higher densities and masses near the center suggest increased star formation. In both galaxies, 30% of molecular mass is central. The GMC mass power-law spectrum index is $α=2.3\pm0.1$ and $α=1.9\pm0.1$ for dust and CO in M33, respectively. We conclude that M33 and Milky Way GMCs are mostly similar, though M33 lacks high-mass GMCs, with no clear explanation. GMC properties weakly depend on galactic environment, with stellar feedback as a factor needing further study.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Whole-disk sampling of molecular clouds in M83

We present a catalog of clouds identified from the $^{12}$CO (1--0) data of M83, which was observed using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) with a spatial resolution of $\sim$46 pc and a mass sensitivity of $\sim$10$^4$ $M_{\odot}$ (3 $σ$). The almost full-disk coverage and high sensitivity of the data allowed us to sample 5724 molecular clouds with a median mass of $\sim1.9$ $\times$ $10^5$ $M_{\odot}$, which is comparable to the most frequently sampled mass of Giant Molecular Clouds by surveys in the Milky Way. About 60 percent of the total CO luminosity in M83's disk arises from clouds more massive than 10$^6$ $M_{\odot}$. Such massive clouds comprise 16 percent of the total clouds in number and tend to concentrate toward the arm, bar, and center, while smaller clouds are more prevalent in inter-arm regions. Most $>10^6$ $M_{\odot}$ clouds have peak brightness temperatures $T_{\mathrm{peak}}$ above 2 K with the current resolution. Comparing the observed cloud properties with the scaling relations determined by Solomon et al. 1987 (S87), $T_{\mathrm{peak}}$$>2$ K clouds follow the relations, but $T_{\mathrm{peak}}$$<2$ K clouds, which are dominant in number, deviate significantly. Without considering the effect of beam dilution, the deviations would suggest modestly high virial parameters and low surface mass densities for the entire cloud samples, which are similar to values found for the Milky Way clouds by Rice et al. (2016) and Miville-Desch{ê}nes et al. (2017). However, once beam dilution is taken into account, the observed $α_{\mathrm{vir}}$ and $Σ$ for a majority of the clouds (mostly $T_{\mathrm{peak}}$ $<2$ K) can be potentially explained with intrinsic $Σ$ of $\sim$100 $M_{\mathrm{\odot}}\ \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$ and $α_{\mathrm{vir}}$ of $\sim$1, which are similar to the clouds of S87.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

ACA CO(J=2-1) Mapping of the Nearest Spiral Galaxy M33. II. Exploring the Evolution of Giant Molecular Clouds

The evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), the main sites of high-mass star formation, is an essential process to unravel the galaxy evolution. Using a GMC catalogue of M33 from ALMA-ACA survey, we classified 848 GMCs into three types based on the association with HII regions and their H$α$ luminosities $\textit{L}$(H$α$): Type I is associated with no HII regions; Type II with HII regions of $\textit{L}$(H$α$) $<$ 10$^{37.5}$ erg s$^{-1}$; and Type III with HII regions of $\textit{L}$(H$α$) $\geqq$ 10$^{37.5}$ erg s$^{-1}$. These criteria yield 224 Type I GMCs, 473 Type II GMCs, and 151 Type III GMCs. GMCs show changes in their physical properties according to the types; mass, radius, velocity dispersion, and $^{13}$CO detection rate of GMCs systematically increase from Type I to Type III, and additionally, Type III GMCs are closest to virial equilibrium. Type III GMCs show the highest spatial correlation with clusters younger than 10 Myr, Type II GMCs moderate correlation, and Type I GMCs are almost uncorrelated. We interpret that these types indicate an evolutionary sequence from Type I to Type II, and then to Type III with timescales of 4 Myr, 13 Myr, and 5 Myr, respectively, indicating the GMC lifetime of 22 Myr by assuming that Type II GMC has the same timescale as the Large Magellanic Cloud. The evolved GMCs concentrate on the spiral arms, while the younger GMCs are apart from the arm both to the leading and trailing sides. This indicated that GMCs collide with each other by the spiral potential, leading to the compression of GMCs and the triggering of high-mass star formation, which may support the dynamic spiral model. Overall, we suggest that the GMC evolution concept helps illuminate the galaxy evolution, including the spiral arm formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Filamentary Network and Magnetic Field Structures Revealed with BISTRO in the High-Mass Star-Forming Region NGC2264 : Global Properties and Local Magnetogravitational Configurations

We report 850 $μ$m continuum polarization observations toward the filamentary high-mass star-forming region NGC 2264, taken as part of the B-fields In STar forming Regions Observations (BISTRO) large program on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). These data reveal a well-structured non-uniform magnetic field in the NGC 2264C and 2264D regions with a prevailing orientation around 30 deg from north to east. Field strengths estimates and a virial analysis for the major clumps indicate that NGC 2264C is globally dominated by gravity while in 2264D magnetic, gravitational, and kinetic energies are roughly balanced. We present an analysis scheme that utilizes the locally resolved magnetic field structures, together with the locally measured gravitational vector field and the extracted filamentary network. From this, we infer statistical trends showing that this network consists of two main groups of filaments oriented approximately perpendicular to one another. Additionally, gravity shows one dominating converging direction that is roughly perpendicular to one of the filament orientations, which is suggestive of mass accretion along this direction. Beyond these statistical trends, we identify two types of filaments. The type-I filament is perpendicular to the magnetic field with local gravity transitioning from parallel to perpendicular to the magnetic field from the outside to the filament ridge. The type-II filament is parallel to the magnetic field and local gravity. We interpret these two types of filaments as originating from the competition between radial collapsing, driven by filament self-gravity, and the longitudinal collapsing, driven by the region's global gravity.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2023

Metallicity Dependence of Molecular Cloud Hierarchical Structure at Early Evolutionary Stages

The formation of molecular clouds out of HI gas is the first step toward star formation. Its metallicity dependence plays a key role to determine star formation through the cosmic history. Previous theoretical studies with detailed chemical networks calculate thermal equilibrium states and/or thermal evolution under one-zone collapsing background. The molecular cloud formation in reality, however, involves supersonic flows, and thus resolving the cloud internal turbulence/density structure in three dimension is still essential. We here perform magnetohydrodynamics simulations of 20 km s^-1 converging flows of Warm Neutral Medium (WNM) with 1 micro Gauss mean magnetic field in the metallicity range from the Solar (1.0 Zsun) to 0.2 Zsun environment. The Cold Neutral Medium (CNM) clumps form faster with higher metallicity due to more efficient cooling. Meanwhile, their mass functions commonly follow dn/dm proportional to m^-1.7 at three cooling times regardless of the metallicity. Their total turbulence power also commonly shows the Kolmogorov spectrum with its 80 percent in the solenoidal mode, while the CNM volume alone indicates the transition towards the Larson's law. These similarities measured at the same time in the unit of the cooling time suggest that the molecular cloud formation directly from the WNM alone requires a longer physical time in a lower metallicity environment in the 1.0--0.2 Zsun range. To explain the rapid formation of molecular clouds and subsequent massive star formation possibly within less than 10 Myr as observed in the Large/Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), the HI gas already contains CNM volume instead of pure WNM.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

ACA CO($J=2-1$) Mapping of the Nearest Spiral Galaxy M33. I. Initial Results and Identification of Molecular Clouds

We present the results of ALMA-ACA 7 m-array observations in $^{12}$CO($J=2-1$), $^{13}$CO($J=2-1$), and C$^{18}$O($J=2-1$) line emission toward the molecular-gas disk in the Local Group spiral galaxy M33 at an angular resolution of 7".31 $\times$ 6".50 (30 pc $\times$ 26 pc). We combined the ACA 7 m-array $^{12}$CO($J=2-1$) data with the IRAM 30 m data to compensate for emission from diffuse molecular-gas components. The ACA+IRAM combined $^{12}$CO($J=2-1$) map clearly depicts the cloud-scale molecular-gas structure over the M33 disk. Based on the ACA+IRAM $^{12}$CO($J=2-1$) cube data, we cataloged 848 molecular clouds with a mass range from $10^3$ $M_{\odot}$ to $10^6$ $M_{\odot}$. We found that high-mass clouds ($\geq 10^5 M_{\odot}$) tend to associate with the $8 μ$m-bright sources in the spiral arm region, while low-mass clouds ($< 10^5 M_{\odot}$) tend to be apart from such $8 μ$m-bright sources and to exist in the inter-arm region. We compared the cataloged clouds with GMCs observed by the IRAM 30 m telescope at 49 pc resolution (IRAM GMC: Corbelli et al. 2017), and found that a small IRAM GMC is likely to be identified as a single molecular cloud even in ACA+IRAM CO data, while a large IRAM GMC can be resolved into multiple ACA+IRAM clouds. The velocity dispersion of a large IRAM GMC is mainly dominated by the line-of-sight velocity difference between small clouds inside the GMC rather than the internal cloud velocity broadening.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Studying the Complex Magnetic Field of L43

We present observations of polarized dust emission at 850 $μ$m from the L43 molecular cloud which sits in the Ophiuchus cloud complex. The data were taken using SCUBA-2/POL-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as a part of the BISTRO large program. L43 is a dense ($N_{\rm H_2}\sim 10^{22}$-10$^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$) complex molecular cloud with a submillimetre-bright starless core and two protostellar sources. There appears to be an evolutionary gradient along the isolated filament that L43 is embedded within, with the most evolved source closest to the Sco OB2 association. One of the protostars drives a CO outflow that has created a cavity to the southeast. We see a magnetic field that appears to be aligned with the cavity walls of the outflow, suggesting interaction with the outflow. We also find a magnetic field strength of up to $\sim$160$\pm$30 $μ$G in the main starless core and up to $\sim$90$\pm$40 $μ$G in the more diffuse, extended region. These field strengths give magnetically super- and sub-critical values respectively and both are found to be roughly trans-Alfvénic. We also present a new method of data reduction for these denser but fainter objects like starless cores.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

CO Multi-line Imaging of Nearby Galaxies (COMING). XII. CO-to-H$_{2}$ Conversion Factor and Dust-to-Gas Ratio

We simultaneously measured the spatially-resolved CO-to-H$_{2}$ conversion factor ($α_\mathrm{CO}$) and dust-to-gas ratio (DGR) in nearby galaxies on a kiloparsec scale. In this study, we used $^{12}$CO($J=1-0$) data obtained by the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope with HI and dust mass surface densities. We obtained the values of global $α_\mathrm{CO}$ and DGR in 22 nearby spiral galaxies, with averages of $2.66 \pm 1.36\ M_\odot\ \mathrm{pc}^{-2}\ (\mathrm{K\ km\ s^{-1}})^{-1}$ and $0.0052 \pm 0.0026$, respectively. Furthermore, the radial variations of $α_\mathrm{CO}$ and DGR in four barred spiral galaxies (IC 342, NGC 3627, NGC 5236, and NGC 6946) were obtained by dividing them into the inner and outer regions with a boundary of $0.2R_{25}$, where $R_{25}$ is the isophotal radius at 25 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in the $B$ band. The averages of $α_\mathrm{CO}$ and DGR in the inner region ($\leq 0.2R_{25}$) are $0.36 \pm 0.08\ M_\odot\ \mathrm{pc}^{-2}\ (\mathrm{K\ km\ s^{-1}})^{-1}$ and $0.0199 \pm 0.0058$, while those in the outer region ($> 0.2R_{25}$) are $1.49 \pm 0.76\ M_\odot\ \mathrm{pc}^{-2}\ (\mathrm{K\ km\ s^{-1}})^{-1}$ and $0.0084 \pm 0.0037$, respectively. The value of $α_\mathrm{CO}$ in the outer region is 2.3 to 5.3 times larger than that of the inner region. When separated into the inner and outer regions, we find that $α_\mathrm{CO}$ and DGR correlate with the metallicity and the star formation rate surface density. The value of $α_\mathrm{CO}$ derived in this study tends to be smaller than those obtained in previous studies for the Milky Way and nearby star-forming galaxies. This fact can be attributed to our measurements being biased toward the inner region; we measured $α_\mathrm{CO}$ at 0.85 and 0.76 times smaller in radius than the previous works for nearby star-forming galaxies and the Milky Way, respectively.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Multi log-normal density structure in Cygnus-X molecular clouds: A fitting for N-PDF without power-law

We studied the H$_2$ column density probability distribution function (N-PDF) based on molecular emission lines using the Nobeyama 45-m Cygnus X CO survey data. Using the DENDROGRAM and SCIMES algorithms, we identified 124 molecular clouds in the $^{13}$CO data. From these identified molecular clouds, an N-PDF was constructed for 11 molecular clouds with an extent of more than 0.4 deg$^2$. From the fitting of the N-PDF, we found that the N-PDF could be well-fitted with one or two log-normal distributions. These fitting results provided an alternative density structure for molecular clouds from a conventional picture. We investigated the column density, dense molecular cloud cores, and radio continuum source distributions in each cloud and found that the N-PDF shape was less correlated with the star-forming activity over a whole cloud. Furthermore, we found that the log-normal N-PDF parameters obtained from the fitting showed two impressive features. First, the log-normal distribution at the low-density part had the same mean column density ($\sim$ 10$^{21.5}$ cm$^{-2}$) for almost all the molecular clouds. Second, the width of the log-normal distribution tended to decrease with an increasing mean density of the structures. These correlations suggest that the shape of the N-PDF reflects the relationship between the density and turbulent structure of the whole molecular cloud but is less affected by star-forming activities.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Insights on the Sun birth environment in the context of star-cluster formation in hub-filament systems

Cylindrical molecular filaments are observed to be the main sites of Sun-like star formation, while massive stars form in dense hubs, at the junction of multiple filaments. The role of hub-filament configurations has not been discussed yet in relation to the birth environment of the solar system and to infer the origin of isotopic ratios of Short-Lived Radionuclides (SLR, such as $^{26}$Al) of Calcium-Aluminum-rich Inclusions (CAIs) observed in meteorites. In this work, we present simple analytical estimates of the impact of stellar feedback on the young solar system forming along a filament of a hub-filament system. We find that the host filament can shield the young solar system from the stellar feedback, both during the formation and evolution of stars (stellar outflow, wind, and radiation) and at the end of their life (supernovae). We show that the young solar system formed along a dense filament can be enriched with supernova ejecta (e.g., $^{26}$Al) during the formation timescale of CAIs. We also propose that the streamers recently observed around protostars may be channeling the SLR-rich material onto the young solar system. We conclude that considering hub-filament configurations as the birth environment of the Sun is important when deriving theoretical models explaining the observed properties of the solar system.

astro-ph.GA↗