arXiv subjects

Shu-ichiro Inutsuka

Publications and source records attributed to Shu-ichiro Inutsuka.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Revealing the diverse magnetic field morphologies in Taurus dense cores with sensitive sub-millimeter polarimetry

We have obtained sensitive dust continuum polarization observations at 850 $μ$m in the B213 region of Taurus using POL-2 on SCUBA-2 at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), as part of the BISTRO (B-fields in STar-forming Region Observations) survey. These observations allow us to probe magnetic field (B-field) at high spatial resolution ($\sim$2000 au or $\sim$0.01 pc at 140 pc) in two protostellar cores (K04166 and K04169) and one prestellar core (Miz-8b) that lie within the B213 filament. Using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, we estimate the B-field strengths in K04166, K04169, and Miz-8b to be 38$\pm$14 $μ$G, 44$\pm$16 $μ$G, and 12$\pm$5 $μ$G, respectively. These cores show distinct mean B-field orientations. B-field in K04166 is well ordered and aligned parallel to the orientations of the core minor axis, outflows, core rotation axis, and large-scale uniform B-field, in accordance with magnetically regulated star formation via ambipolar diffusion taking place in K04166. B-field in K04169 is found to be ordered but oriented nearly perpendicular to the core minor axis and large-scale B-field, and not well-correlated with other axes. In contrast, Miz-8b exhibits disordered B-field which show no preferred alignment with the core minor axis or large-scale field. We found that only one core, K04166, retains a memory of the large-scale uniform B-field. The other two cores, K04169 and Miz-8b, are decoupled from the large-scale field. Such a complex B-field configuration could be caused by gas inflow onto the filament, even in the presence of a substantial magnetic flux.

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arXiv2021

OMC-1 dust polarisation in ALMA Band 7: Diagnosing grain alignment mechanisms in the vicinity of Orion Source I

We present ALMA Band 7 polarisation observations of the OMC-1 region of the Orion molecular cloud. We find that the polarisation pattern observed in the region is likely to have been significantly altered by the radiation field of the $>10^{4}$ L$_{\odot}$ high-mass protostar Orion Source I. In the protostar's optically thick disc, polarisation is likely to arise from dust self-scattering. In material to the south of Source I - previously identified as a region of 'anomalous' polarisation emission - we observe a polarisation geometry concentric around Source I. We demonstrate that Source I's extreme luminosity may be sufficient to make the radiative precession timescale shorter than the Larmor timescale for moderately large grains ($> 0.005-0.1\,μ$m), causing them to precess around the radiation anisotropy vector (k-RATs) rather than the magnetic field direction (B-RATs). This requires relatively unobscured emission from Source I, supporting the hypothesis that emission in this region arises from the cavity wall of the Source I outflow. This is one of the first times that evidence for k-RAT alignment has been found outside of a protostellar disc or AGB star envelope. Alternatively, the grains may remain aligned by B-RATs and trace gas infall onto the Main Ridge. Elsewhere, we largely find the magnetic field geometry to be radial around the BN/KL explosion centre, consistent with previous observations. However, in the Main Ridge, the magnetic field geometry appears to remain consistent with the larger-scale magnetic field, perhaps indicative of the ability of the dense Ridge to resist disruption by the BN/KL explosion.

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arXiv2021

ALMA Observations of Massive Clouds in the Central Molecular Zone: Ubiquitous Protostellar Outflows

We observe 1.3~mm spectral lines at 2000~AU resolution toward four massive molecular clouds in the Central Molecular Zone of the Galaxy to investigate their star formation activities. We focus on several potential shock tracers that are usually abundant in protostellar outflows, including SiO, SO, CH$_3$OH, H$_2$CO, HC$_3$N, and HNCO. We identify 43 protostellar outflows, including 37 highly likely ones and 6 candidates. The outflows are found toward both known high-mass star forming cores and less massive, seemingly quiescent cores, while 791 out of the 834 cores identified based on the continuum do not have detected outflows. The outflow masses range from less than 1~$M_\odot$ to a few tens of $M_\odot$, with typical uncertainties of a factor of 70. We do not find evidence of disagreement between relative molecular abundances in these outflows and in nearby analogs such as the well-studied L1157 and NGC7538S outflows. The results suggest that i) protostellar accretion disks driving outflows ubiquitously exist in the CMZ environment, ii) the large fraction of candidate starless cores is expected if these clouds are at very early evolutionary phases, with a caveat on the potential incompleteness of the outflows, iii) high-mass and low-mass star formation is ongoing simultaneously in these clouds, and iv) current data do not show evidence of difference between the shock chemistry in the outflows that determines the molecular abundances in the CMZ environment and in nearby clouds.

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arXiv2021

FAUST II. Discovery of a Secondary Outflow in IRAS 15398-3359: Variability in Outflow Direction during the Earliest Stage of Star Formation?

We have observed the very low-mass Class 0 protostar IRAS 15398-3359 at scales ranging from 50 au to 1800 au, as part of the ALMA Large Program FAUST. We uncover a linear feature, visible in H2CO, SO, and C18O line emission, which extends from the source along a direction almost perpendicular to the known active outflow. Molecular line emission from H2CO, SO, SiO, and CH3OH further reveals an arc-like structure connected to the outer end of the linear feature and separated from the protostar, IRAS 15398-3359, by 1200 au. The arc-like structure is blue-shifted with respect to the systemic velocity. A velocity gradient of 1.2 km/s over 1200 au along the linear feature seen in the H2CO emission connects the protostar and the arc-like structure kinematically. SO, SiO, and CH3OH are known to trace shocks, and we interpret the arc-like structure as a relic shock region produced by an outflow previously launched by IRAS 15398-3359. The velocity gradient along the linear structure can be explained as relic outflow motion. The origins of the newly observed arc-like structure and extended linear feature are discussed in relation to turbulent motions within the protostellar core and episodic accretion events during the earliest stage of protostellar evolution.

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arXiv2020

Observations of magnetic fields surrounding LkH$α$ 101 taken by the BISTRO survey with JCMT-POL-2

We report the first high spatial resolution measurement of magnetic fields surrounding LkH$α$ 101, a part of the Auriga-California molecular cloud. The observations were taken with the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope within the framework of the B-fields In Star-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey. Observed polarization of thermal dust emission at 850 $μ$m is found to be mostly associated with the red-shifted gas component of the cloud. The magnetic field displays a relatively complex morphology. Two variants of the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, unsharp masking and structure function, are used to calculate the strength of magnetic fields in the plane of the sky, yielding a similar result of $B_{\rm POS}\sim 115$ $\mathrmμ$G. The mass-to-magnetic-flux ratio in critical value units, $λ\sim0.3$, is the smallest among the values obtained for other regions surveyed by POL-2. This implies that the LkH$α$ 101 region is sub-critical and the magnetic field is strong enough to prevent gravitational collapse. The inferred $δB/B_0\sim 0.3$ implies that the large scale component of the magnetic field dominates the turbulent one. The variation of the polarization fraction with total emission intensity can be fitted by a power-law with an index of $α=0.82\pm0.03$, which lies in the range previously reported for molecular clouds. We find that the polarization fraction decreases rapidly with proximity to the only early B star (LkH$α$ 101) in the region. The magnetic field tangling and the joint effect of grain alignment and rotational disruption by radiative torques are potential of explaining such a decreasing trend.

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arXiv2020

The JCMT BISTRO survey: alignment between outflows and magnetic fields in dense cores/clumps

We compare the directions of molecular outflows of 62 low-mass Class 0 and I protostars in nearby (<450 pc) star-forming regions with the mean orientations of the magnetic fields on 0.05-0.5 pc scales in the dense cores/clumps where they are embedded. The magnetic field orientations were measured using the JCMT POL-2 data taken by the BISTRO-1 survey and from the archive. The outflow directions were observed with interferometers in the literature. The observed distribution of the angles between the outflows and the magnetic fields peaks between 15 and 35 degrees. After considering projection effects, our results could suggest that the outflows tend to be misaligned with the magnetic fields by 50+/-15 degrees in three-dimensional space and are less likely (but not ruled out) randomly oriented with respect to the magnetic fields. There is no correlation between the misalignment and the bolometric temperatures in our sample. In several sources, the small-scale (1000-3000 au) magnetic fields is more misaligned with the outflows than their large-scale magnetic fields, suggesting that the small-scale magnetic field has been twisted by the dynamics. In comparison with turbulent MHD simulations of core formation, our observational results are more consistent with models in which the energy densities in the magnetic field and the turbulence of the gas are comparable. Our results also suggest that the misalignment alone cannot sufficiently reduce the efficiency of magnetic braking to enable formation of the observed number of large Keplerian disks with sizes larger than 30-50 au.

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arXiv2020

Formation and evolution of the local interstellar environment: combined constraints from nucleosynthetic and X-ray data

Several observations suggest that the Solar system has been located in a region affected by massive stellar feedback for at least a few Myr; these include detection of live $^{60}\text{Fe}$ in deep-sea archives and Antarctic snow, the broad angular distribution of $^{26}\text{Al}$ around the Galactic plane seen in all-sky $γ$-ray maps, and the all-sky soft X-ray background. However, our position inside the Galactic disc makes it difficult to fully characterise this environment, and our limited time baseline provides no information about its formation history or relation to large-scale Galactic dynamics. We explore these questions by using an $N$-body+hydrodynamics simulation of a Milky-Way-like galaxy to identify stars on Sun-like orbits whose environments would produce conditions consistent with those we observe. We find that such stars are uncommon but not exceptionally rare. These stars are found predominantly near the edges of spiral arms, and lie inside kpc-scale bubbles that are created by multiple generations of star formation in the arm. We investigate the stars' trajectories and find that the duration of the stay in the bubble ranges from 20 Myr to 90 Myr. The duration is governed by the crossing time of stars across the spiral arm. This is generally shorter than the bubble lifetime, which is $\sim 100$ Myr as a result of the continuous gas supply provided by the arm environment.

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arXiv2020

Secular Gravitational Instability of Drifting Dust in Protoplanetary Disks: Formation of Dusty Rings without Significant Gas Substructures

Secular gravitational instability (GI) is one of the promising mechanisms for creating annular substructures and planetesimals in protoplanetary disks. We perform numerical simulations of the secular GI in a radially extended disk with inward drifting dust grains. The results show that, even in the presence of the dust diffusion, the dust rings form via the secular GI while the dust grains are moving inward, and the dust surface density increases by a factor of ten. Once the secular GI develops into a nonlinear regime, the total mass of the resultant rings can be a significant fraction of the dust disk mass. In this way, a large amount of drifting dust grains can be collected in the dusty rings and stored for planetesimal formation. In contrast to the emergence of remarkable dust substructures, the secular GI does not create significant gas substructures. This result indicates that observations of a gas density profile near the disk midplane enable us to distinguish the mechanisms for creating the annular substructures in the observed disks. The resultant rings start decaying once they enter the inner region stable to the secular GI. Since the ring-gap contrast smoothly decreases, it seems possible that the rings are observed even in the stable region. We also discuss the likely outcome of the non-linear growth and indicate the possibility that a significantly developed region of the secular GI may appear as a gap-like substructure in dust continuum emission since dust growth into larger solid bodies and planetesimal formation reduce the total emissivity.

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arXiv2020

FRagmentation and Evolution of dense cores Judged by ALMA (FREJA). I (Overview). Inner $\sim$1000 au structures of prestellar/protostellar cores in Taurus

We have performed survey-type observations in 1 mm continuum and molecular lines toward dense cores (32 prestellar + 7 protostellar) with an average density of $\gtrsim$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ in the Taurus molecular clouds using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array-Atacama Compact Array (ALMA-ACA) stand-alone mode with an angular resolution of 6.$''$5 ($\sim$900 au). The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the innermost part of dense cores toward understanding the initial condition of star formation. In the protostellar cores, contributions from protostellar disks dominate the observed continuum flux with a range of 35-90% except for the very low-luminosity object. For the prestellar cores, we have successfully confirmed continuum emission from dense gas with a density of $\gtrsim$3 $\times$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ toward approximately one-third of the targets. Thanks to the lower spatial frequency coverage with the ACA-7 m array, the detection rate is significantly higher than that of the previous surveys, which have 0 or 1 continuum detected sources among large number of starless samples using the ALMA Main array. The statistical counting method tells us that the lifetime of the prestellar cores until protostar formation therein approaches the free-fall time as the density increases. Among the prestellar cores, at least two targets have possible internal substructures, which are detected in continuum emission with the size scale of $\sim$1000 au if we consider the molecular line (C$^{18}$O and N$_2$D$^{+}$) distributions. These results suggest that small-scale fragmentation/coalescence processes occur in a region smaller than 0.1 pc, which may determine the final core mass associated with individual protostar formation before starting the dynamical collapse of the core with central density of $\sim$(0.3-1) $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$.

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arXiv2020

The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Magnetic Fields Associated with a Network of Filaments in NGC 1333

We present new observations of the active star-formation region NGC 1333 in the Perseus molecular cloud complex from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope B-Fields In Star-forming Region Observations (BISTRO) survey with the POL-2 instrument. The BISTRO data cover the entire NGC 1333 complex (~1.5 pc x 2 pc) at 0.02 pc resolution and spatially resolve the polarized emission from individual filamentary structures for the first time. The inferred magnetic field structure is complex as a whole, with each individual filament aligned at different position angles relative to the local field orientation. We combine the BISTRO data with low- and high- resolution data derived from Planck and interferometers to study the multiscale magnetic field structure in this region. The magnetic field morphology drastically changes below a scale of ~1 pc and remains continuous from the scales of filaments (~0.1 pc) to that of protostellar envelopes (~0.005 pc or ~1000 au). Finally, we construct simple models in which we assume that the magnetic field is always perpendicular to the long axis of the filaments. We demonstrate that the observed variation of the relative orientation between the filament axes and the magnetic field angles are well reproduced by this model, taking into account the projection effects of the magnetic field and filaments relative to the plane of the sky. These projection effects may explain the apparent complexity of the magnetic field structure observed at the resolution of BISTRO data toward the filament network.

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arXiv2020

A low-velocity bipolar outflow from a deeply embedded object in Taurus revealed by the Atacama Compact Array

The first hydrostatic core, the first quasi-hydrostatic object formed during the star formation process, is still the observational missing link between the prestellar and protostellar phases, mainly due to its short lifetime. Although we have not established a clear method to identify this rare object, recent theoretical studies predict that the first core has millimeter continuum emission and low-velocity outflow with a wide opening angle. An extensive continuum/outflow survey toward a large number of $"$starless$"$ cores in nearby star-forming regions works as a pathfinder. We observed 32 prestellar cores in Taurus with an average density of $\gtrsim$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ in 1.3 mm continuum and molecular lines using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array$-$Atacama Compact Array (ALMA$-$ACA) stand-alone mode. Among the targets, MC35-mm centered at one of the densest $"$starless$"$ cores in Taurus has blueshifted/redshifted wings in the $^{12}$CO (2-1) line, indicating that there is deeply embedded object driving molecular outflow. The observed velocities and sizes of the possible outflow lobes are 2-4 km s$^{-1}$, and $\sim$2 $\times$10$^3$ au, respectively, and the dynamical time is calculated to be $\sim$10$^3$ yr. In addition to this, the core is one of the strongest N$_2$D$^{+}$ (3-2) emitters in our sample. All of the observed signatures do not conflict with any of the theoretical predictions about the first hydrostatic core so far, and thus MC35-mm is unique as the only first-core candidate in the Taurus molecular cloud.

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arXiv2020

Distribution and kinematics of 26Al in the Galactic disc

26Al is a short-lived radioactive isotope thought to be injected into the interstellar medium (ISM) by massive stellar winds and supernovae. However, all-sky maps of 26Al emission show a distribution with a much larger scale height and faster rotation speed than either massive stars or the cold ISM. We investigate the origin of this discrepancy using an N-body+hydrodynamics simulation of a Milky-Way-like galaxy, self-consistently including self-gravity, star formation, stellar feedback, and 26Al production. We find no evidence that the Milky Way's spiral structure explains the 26Al anomaly. Stars and the 26Al bubbles they produce form along spiral arms, but, because our simulation produces material arms that arise spontaneously rather than propagating arms forced by an external potential, star formation occurs at arm centres rather than leading edges. As a result, we find a scale height and rotation speed for 26Al similar to that of the cold ISM. However, we also show that a synthetic 26Al emission map produced for a possible Solar position at the edge of a large 26Al bubble recovers many of the major qualitative features of the observed 26Al sky. This suggests that the observed anomalous 26Al distribution is the product of foreground emission from the 26Al produced by a nearby, recent supernova.

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arXiv2020

The Origin of the Stellar Mass Distribution and Multiplicity

In this chapter, we review some historical understanding and recent advances on the Initial Mass Function (IMF) and the Core Mass Function (CMF), both in terms of observations and theories. We focus mostly on star formation in clustered environment since this is suggested by observations to be the dominant mode of star formation. The statistical properties and the fragmentation behaviour of turbulent gas is discussed, and we also discuss the formation of binaries and small multiple systems.

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arXiv2020

From diffuse gas to dense molecular cloud cores

Molecular clouds are a fundamental ingredient of galaxies: they are the channels that transform the diffuse gas into stars. The detailed process of how they do it is not completely understood. We review the current knowledge of molecular clouds and their substructure from scales $\sim~$1~kpc down to the filament and core scale. We first review the mechanisms of cloud formation from the warm diffuse interstellar medium down to the cold and dense molecular clouds, the process of molecule formation and the role of the thermal and gravitational instabilities. We also discuss the main physical mechanisms through which clouds gather their mass, and note that all of them may have a role at various stages of the process. In order to understand the dynamics of clouds we then give a critical review of the widely used virial theorem, and its relation to the measurable properties of molecular clouds. Since these properties are the tools we have for understanding the dynamical state of clouds, we critically analyse them. We finally discuss the ubiquitous filamentary structure of molecular clouds and its connection to prestellar cores and star formation.

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arXiv2020

The molecular cloud lifecycle

Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and their stellar offspring are the building blocks of galaxies. The physical characteristics of GMCs and their evolution are tightly connected to galaxy evolution. The macroscopic properties of the interstellar medium propagate into the properties of GMCs condensing out of it, with correlations between e.g. the galactic and GMC scale gas pressures, surface densities and volume densities. That way, the galactic environment sets the initial conditions for star formation within GMCs. After the onset of massive star formation, stellar feedback from e.g. photoionisation, stellar winds, and supernovae eventually contributes to dispersing the parent cloud, depositing energy, momentum and metals into the surrounding medium, thereby changing the properties of galaxies. This cycling of matter between gas and stars, governed by star formation and feedback, is therefore a major driver of galaxy evolution. Much of the recent debate has focused on the durations of the various evolutionary phases that constitute this cycle in galaxies, and what these can teach us about the physical mechanisms driving the cycle. We review results from observational, theoretical, and numerical work to build a dynamical picture of the evolutionary lifecycle of GMC evolution, star formation, and feedback in galaxies.

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arXiv2019

High-Resolution Simulations of Catastrophic Disruptions: Resultant Shape Distributions

The members of asteroid families have various shapes. We investigate the origin of their shapes by high-resolution impact simulations for catastrophic disruptions using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics code. Collisional remnants produced through our simulations of the catastrophic disruptions mainly have spherical or bilobed shapes. However, no flat remnants with the ratio of minor to major axis lengths c/a < 0.5 are formed. The results of the simulations provide various shapes of asteroids and explain most of the shapes in asteroid families that are supposed to be produced through catastrophic disruptions. However, the present simulations do not explain significantly flat asteroids. We suggest that these flat asteroids may be interlopers or formed through low-velocity collisions between member asteroids.

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arXiv2019

Revised description of dust diffusion and a new instability creating multiple rings in protoplanetary disks

Various instabilities have been proposed as a promising mechanism to accumulate dust. Moreover, some of them are expected to lead to the multiple-ring structure formation and the planetesimal formation in protoplanetary disks. In a turbulent gaseous disk, the growth of the instabilities and the dust accumulation are quenched by turbulent diffusion of dust grains. The diffusion process has been often modeled by a diffusion term in the continuity equation for the dust density. The dust diffusion model, however, does not guarantee the angular momentum conservation in a disk. In this study, we first formulate equations that describe the dust diffusion and also conserve the total angular momentum of a disk. Second, we perform the linear perturbation analysis on the secular gravitational instability (GI) using the equations. The results show that the secular GI is a monotonically growing mode, contrary to the result of previous analyses that found it overstable. We find that the overstability is caused by the non-conservation of the angular momentum. Third, we find a new axisymmetric instability due to the combination of the dust-gas friction and the turbulent gas viscosity, which we refer to as two-component viscous gravitational instability (TVGI). The most unstable wavelength of TVGI is comparable to or smaller than the gas scale height. TVGI accumulates dust grains efficiently, which indicates that TVGI is a promising mechanism for the formation of multiple-ring-like structures and planetesimals. Finally, we examine the validity of the ring formation via the secular GI and TVGI in the HL Tau disk and find both instabilities can create multiple rings whose width is about 10 au at orbital radii larger than 50 au.

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arXiv2019

An Origin for the Angular Momentum of Molecular Cloud Cores: a Prediction from Filament Fragmentation

The angular momentum of a molecular cloud core plays a key role in star formation, since it is directly related to the outflow and the jet emanating from the new-born star and it eventually results in the formation of the protoplanetary disk. However, the origin of the core rotation and its time evolution are not well understood. Recent observations reveal that molecular clouds exhibit a ubiquity of filamentary structures and that star forming cores are associated with the densest filaments. Since these results suggest that dense cores form primarily in filaments, the mechanism of core formation from filament fragmentation should explain the distribution of the angular momentum of these cores. In this paper we analyze the relation between velocity fluctuations along the filament close to equilibrium and the angular momentum of the cores formed along its crest. We first find that an isotropic velocity fluctuation that follows the three-dimensional Kolmogorov spectrum does not reproduce the observed angular momentum of molecular cloud cores. We then identify the need for a large power at small scales and study the effect of three power spectrum models. We show that the one-dimensional Kolmogorov power spectrum with a slope -5/3 and an anisotropic model with reasonable parameters are compatible with the observations. Our results stress the importance of more detailed and systematic observations of both the velocity structure along filaments and the angular momentum distribution of molecular cloud cores to determine the validity of the mechanism of core formation from filamentary molecular clouds.

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