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Yuefang Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Yuefang Wu.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Planck cold clumps in the $λ$ Orionis complex: I. Discovery of an extremely young Class 0 protostellar object and a proto-brown dwarf candidate in a bright rimmed clump PGCC G192.32-11.88

We are performing a series of observations with ground-based telescopes toward Planck Galactic cold clumps (PGCCs) in the $λ$ Orionis complex in order to systematically investigate the effects of stellar feedback. In the particular case of PGCC G192.32-11.88, we discovered an extremely young Class 0 protostellar object (G192N) and a proto-brown dwarf candidate (G192S). G192N and G192S are located in a gravitationally bound bright-rimmed clump. The velocity and temperature gradients seen in line emission of CO isotopologues indicate that PGCC G192.32-11.88 is externally heated and compressed. G192N probably has the lowest bolometric luminosity ($\sim0.8$ L$_{\sun}$) and accretion rate (6.3$\times10^{-7}$ M$_{\sun}$~yr$^{-1}$) when compared with other young Class 0 sources (e.g. PACS Bright Red sources (PBRs)) in the Orion complex. It has slightly larger internal luminosity ($0.21\pm0.01$ L$_{\sun}$) and outflow velocity ($\sim$14 km~s$^{-1}$) than the predictions of first hydrostatic cores (FHSCs). G192N might be among the youngest Class 0 sources, which are slightly more evolved than a FHSC. Considering its low internal luminosity ($0.08\pm0.01$ L$_{\odot}$) and accretion rate (2.8$\times10^{-8}$ M$_{\sun}$~yr$^{-1}$), G192S is an ideal proto-brown dwarf candidate. The star formation efficiency ($\sim$0.3\%-0.4\%) and core formation efficiency ($\sim$1\%) in PGCC G192.32-11.88 are significantly smaller than in other giant molecular clouds or filaments, indicating that the star formation therein is greatly suppressed due to stellar feedback.

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SMA observations of the W3(OH) complex: Dynamical differentiation between W3(H$_2$O) and W3(OH)

We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of the HCN\,(3--2) and HCO$^+$\,(3--2) molecular lines toward the W3(H$_2$O) and W3(OH) star-forming complexes. Infall and outflow motions in the W3(H$_2$O) have been characterized by observing HCN and HCO$^+$ transitions. High-velocity blue/red-shifted emission, tracing the outflow, show multiple knots, which might originate in episodic and precessing outflows. `Blue-peaked' line profiles indicate that gas is infalling onto the W3(H$_2$O) dust core. The measured large mass accretion rate, 2.3$\times$10$^{-3}$~M$_{\odot}$~yr$^{-1}$, together with the small free-fall time scale, 5$\times$10$^{3}$~yr, suggest W3(H$_2$O) is in an early evolutionary stage of the process of formation of high-mass stars. For the W3(OH), a two-layer model fit to the HCN and HCO$^+$ spectral lines and Spizter/IRAC images support that the W3(OH) H{\sc ii} region is expanding and interacting with the ambient gas, with the shocked neutral gas being expanding with an expansion timescale of 6.4$\times$10$^{3}$~yr. The observations suggest different kinematical timescales and dynamical states for the W3(H$_2$O) and W3(OH).

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Complex molecules in W51 North region

We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) molecular line observations in two 2 GHz-wide bands centered at 217.5 and 227.5 GHz, toward the massive star forming region W51 North. We identified 84 molecular line transitions from 17 species and their isotopologues. The molecular gas distribution of these lines mainly peaks in the continuum position of W51 North, and has a small tail extending to the west, probably associated with W51 d2. In addition to the commonly detected nitrogen and oxygen-bearing species, we detected a large amount of transitions of the Acetone (CH$_3$COCH$_3$) and Methyl Formate (CH$_3$OCHO), which may suggest that these molecules are present in an early evolutionary stage of the massive stars. We also found that W51 North is an ethanol-rich source. There is no obvious difference in the molecular gas distributions between the oxygen-bearing and nitrogen-bearing molecules. Under the assumption of Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE), with the XCLASS tool, the molecular column densities, and rotation temperatures are estimated. We found that the oxygen-bearing molecules have considerable higher column densities and fractional abundances than the nitrogen-bearing molecules. The rotation temperatures range from 100 to 200 K, suggesting that the molecular emission could be originated from a warm environment. Finally, based on the gas distributions, fractional abundances and the rotation temperatures, we conclude that CH$_3$OH, C$_2$H$_5$OH, CH$_3$COCH$_3$ and CH$_3$CH$_2$CN might be synthesized on the grain surface, while gas phase chemistry is responsible for the production of CH$_3$OCH$_3$, CH$_3$OCHO and CH$_2$CHCN.

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Drama of HII regions: Clustered and Triggered Star Formation

In order to understand the star formation process under the influence of HII regions, we have carried out extensive investigations to well selected star-forming regions which all have been profoundly affected by existing massive O type stars. On the basis of multi-wavelength data from mid-infrared to millimeter collected using $Spitzer$, $Herschel$, and ground based radio telescopes, the physical status of interstellar medium and star formation in these regions have been revealed. In a relatively large infrared dust bubble, active star formation is undergoing and the shell is still expanding. Signs of compressed gas and triggered star formation have been tentatively detected in a relatively small bubble. The dense cores in the Rosette Molecular Complex detected at 1.1 mm using SMA have been speculated to have a likely triggered origin according to their spatial distribution. Although some observational results have been obtained, more efforts are necessary to reach trustworthy conclusions.

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Outflows and Bubbles in Taurus: Star-formation Feedback Sufficient to Maintain Turbulence

We have identified outflows and bubbles in the Taurus molecular cloud based on the $\sim 100$ deg$^2$ Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory $^{12}$CO(1-0) and $^{13}$CO(1-0) maps and the Spitzer young stellar object catalogs. In the main 44 deg$^2$ area of Taurus we found 55 outflows, of which 31 were previously unknown. We also found 37 bubbles in the entire 100 deg$^2$ area of Taurus, all of which had not been found before. The total kinetic energy of the identified outflows is estimated to be $\bf \sim 3.9 \times 10^{45}$ erg, which is \textbf{1\%} of the cloud turbulent energy. The total kinetic energy of the detected bubbles is estimated to be $\sim 9.2 \times 10^{46}$ erg, which is 29\% of the turbulent energy of Taurus. The energy injection rate from outflows is $\bf \sim 1.3 \times 10^{33}~\rm erg\ s^{-1}$, \textbf{0.4 - 2 times} the dissipation rate of the cloud turbulence. The energy injection rate from bubbles is $\sim 6.4 \times 10^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$, \textbf{2 - 10 times} the turbulent dissipation rate of the cloud. The gravitational binding energy of the cloud is $\bf \sim 1.5 \times 10^{48}$ {\bf erg}, \textbf{385} and 16 times the energy of outflows and bubbles, respectively. We conclude that neither outflows nor bubbles can \textbf{provide enough energy to balance the overall gravitational binding energy and the turbulent energy of Taurus. However,} in the current epoch, stellar feedback is sufficient to maintain the observed turbulence in Taurus.

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Extremely Energetic Outflow and Decelerated Expansion in W49N

W49N is a mini-starburst in the Milky Way and thus an ideal laboratory for high-mass star formation studies. Due to its large distance (11.1$_{-0.7}^{+0.9}$ kpc), the kinematics inside and between the dense molecular clumps in W49N are far from well understood. The SMA observations resolved the continuum emission into two clumps. The molecular line observation of SO$_{2}$ (28$_{4,24}$-28$_{3,25}$) suggests that the two clumps have a velocity difference of $\sim$7 km~s$^{-1}$. The eastern clump is very close to two radio sources "G1" and "G2", and the western clump coincides with a radio source "B". The HCN (3-2) line reveals an extremely energetic outflow, which is among the most energetic molecular outflows in the Milky Way. This is the first report of high-velocity molecular outflow detection in W49N. The outflow jet might be in precession, which could account for the distribution, velocity and rotation of water maser spots. Three absorption systems are identified in HCO$^{+}$ (3-2) spectra. The absorption features are blueshifted with respect to the emission of SO$_{2}$ (28$_{4,24}$-28$_{3,25}$) lines, indicating that a cold layer is expanding in front of the warm gas. Further analysis indicates that the expansion is decelerated from the geometric expansion centers.

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HII region G46.5-0.2: the interplay between ionizing radiation, molecular gas and star formation

HII regions are particularly interesting because they can generate dense layers of gas and dust, elongated columns or pillars of gas pointing towards the ionizing sources, and cometary globules of dense gas, where triggered star formation can occur. Understanding the interplay between the ionizing radiation and the dense surrounding gas is very important to explain the origin of these peculiar structures, and hence to characterize triggered star formation. G46.5-0.2 (G46), a poorly studied galactic HII region located at about 4 kpc, is an excellent target to perform this kind of studies. Using public molecular data extracted from the Galactic Ring Survey (13CO J=1-0) and from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope data archive (12CO, 13CO, C18O J=3-2, HCO+ and HCN J=4-3), and infrared data from the GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL surveys, we perform a complete study of G46, its molecular environment and the young stellar objects placed around it. We found that G46, probably excited by an O7V star, is located close to the edge of the GRSMC G046.34-00.21 molecular cloud. It presents a horse-shoe morphology opening in direction of the cloud. We observed a filamentary structure in the molecular gas likely related to G46 and not considerable molecular emission towards its open border. We found that about 10' towards the southwest of G46 there are some pillar-like features, shining at 8 um and pointing towards the HII region open border. We propose that the pillar-like features were carved and sculpted by the ionizing flux from G46. We found several young stellar objects likely embedded in the molecular cloud grouped in two main concentrations: one, closer to the G46 open border consisting of Class II type sources, and other one mostly composed by Class I type YSOs located just ahead the pillars-like features, strongly suggesting an age gradient in the YSOs distribution.

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SMA Observations of W3(OH) Complex: Physical and Chemical Differentiation between W3(H$_2$O) and W3(OH)

We report on the Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of molecular lines at 270 GHz toward W3(OH) and W3(H$_2$O) complex. Although previous observations already resolved the W3(H$_2$O) into two or three sub-components, the physical and chemical properties of the two sources are not well constrained. Our SMA observations clearly resolved W3(OH) and W3(H$_2$O) continuum cores. Taking the advantage of the line fitting tool XCLASS, we identified and modeled a rich molecular spectrum in this complex, including multiple CH$_3$CN and CH$_3$OH transitions in both cores. HDO, C$_2$H$_5$CN, O$^{13}$CS, and vibrationally excited lines of HCN, CH$_3$CN, and CH$_3$OCHO were only detected in W3(H$_2$O). We calculate gas temperatures and column densities for both cores. The results show that W3(H$_{2}$O) has higher gas temperatures, and larger column densities than W3(OH) as previously observed, suggesting physical and chemical differences between the two cores. We compare the molecular abundances in W3(H$_2$O) to those in the Sgr B2(N) hot core, the Orion KL hot core and the Orion Compact Ridge, and discuss the chemical origin of specific species. An east-west velocity gradient is seen in W3(H$_2$O), and the extension is consistent with the bipolar outflow orientation traced by water masers and radio jets. A north-south velocity gradient across W3(OH) is also observed. However, with current observations we can not assure if the velocity gradients are caused by rotation, outflow or radial velocity differences of the sub-components in W3(OH).

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A feedback-driven bubble G24.136+00.436: a possible site of triggered star formation

We present a multi-wavelength study of the IR bubble G24.136+00.436. The J=1-0 observations of $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O were carried out with the Purple Mountain Observatory 13.7 m telescope. Molecular gas with a velocity of 94.8 km s$^{-1}$ is found prominently in the southeast of the bubble, shaping as a shell with a total mass of $\sim2\times10^{4}$ $M_{\odot}$. It is likely assembled during the expansion of the bubble. The expanding shell consists of six dense cores. Their dense (a few of $10^{3}$ cm$^{-3}$) and massive (a few of $10^{3}$ $M_{\odot}$) characteristics coupled with the broad linewidths ($>$ 2.5 km s$^{-1}$) suggest they are promising sites of forming high-mass stars or clusters. This could be further consolidated by the detection of compact HII regions in Cores A and E. We tentatively identified and classified 63 candidate YSOs based on the \emph{Spitzer} and UKIDSS data. They are found to be dominantly distributed in regions with strong emission of molecular gas, indicative of active star formation especially in the shell. The HII region inside the bubble is mainly ionized by a $\sim$O8V star(s), of the dynamical age $\sim$1.6 Myr. The enhanced number of candidate YSOs and secondary star formation in the shell as well as time scales involved, indicate a possible scenario of triggering star formation, signified by the "collect and collapse" process.

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Expanding Shell and Star Formation in the Infrared Dust Bubble N6

We have carried out a multi-wavelength study of the infrared dust bubble N6 to extensively investigate the molecular environs and star-forming activities therein. Mapping observations in 12CO J=1-0 and 13CO J=1-0 performed with the Purple Mountain Observatory 13.7-m telescope have revealed four velocity components. Comparison between distributions of each component and the infrared emission suggests that three components are correlated with N6. There are ten molecular clumps detected. Among them, five have reliable detection in both 12CO and 13CO and have similar LTE and non-LTE masses ranging from 200 to higher than 5,000 M_sun. With larger gas masses than virial masses, these five clumps are gravitationally unstable and have potential to collapse to form new stars. The other five clumps are only reliably detected in 12CO and have relatively small masses. Five clumps are located on the border of the ring structure and four of them are elongated along the shell. This is well in agreement with the collect and collapse scenario. The detected velocity gradient reveals that the ring structure is still under expansion due to stellar winds from the exciting star(s). Furthermore, 99 young stellar objects have been identified based on their infrared colors. A group of YSOs reside inside the ring, indicating active star formation in N6. Although no confirmative features of triggered star formation detected, the bubble and the enclosed HII region have profoundly reconstructed the natal could and altered the dynamics therein.

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Inflows in massive star formation regions

How high-mass stars form remains unclear currently. Calculation suggests that the radiation pressure of a forming star can halt spherical infall, preventing its further growth when it reaches 10 M$_{\odot}$. Two major theoretical models on the further growth of stellar mass were proposed. One model suggests the mergence of less massive stellar objects, and the other is still through accretion but with the help of disk. Inflow motions are the key evidence of how forming stars further gain mass to build up massive stars. Recent development in technology has boosted the search of inflow motion. A number of high-mass collapse candidates were obtained with single dish observations, mostly showed blue profile. The infalling signatures seem to be more common in regions with developed radiation pressure than in younger cores, which opposes the theoretical prediction and is also very different from that of low mass star formation. Interferometer studies so far confirm such tendency with more obvious blue profile or inverse P Cygni profile. Results seem to favor the accretion model. However, the evolution tendency of the infall motion in massive star forming cores needs to be further explored. Direct evidence for monolithic or competitive collapse processes is still lack. ALMA will enable us to probe more detail of gravity process.

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Follow-up observations toward Planck cold clumps with ground-based radio telescopes

The physical and chemical properties of prestellar cores, especially massive ones, are still far from being well understood due to the lack of a large sample. The low dust temperature ($<$14 K) of Planck cold clumps makes them promising candidates for prestellar objects or for sources at the very initial stages of protostellar collapse. We have been conducting a series of observations toward Planck cold clumps (PCCs) with ground-based radio telescopes. In general, when compared with other star forming samples (e.g. infrared dark clouds), PCCs are more quiescent, suggesting that most of them may be in the earliest phase of star formation. However, some PCCs are associated with protostars and molecular outflows, indicating that not all PCCs are in a prestellar phase. We have identified hundreds of starless dense clumps from the mapping survey with the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7-m telescope. Follow-up observations suggest that these dense clumps are ideal targets to search for prestellar objects.

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A study of dynamical processes in the Orion KL region using ALMA-- Probing molecular outflow and inflow

This work reports a high spatial resolution observations toward Orion KL region with high critical density lines of CH$_{3}$CN (12$_{4}$-11$_{4}$) and CH$_{3}$OH (8$_{-1, 8}$-7$_{0, 7}$) as well as continuum at $\sim$1.3 mm band. The observations were made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array with a spatial resolution of $\sim$1.5$^{\prime\prime}$ and sensitives about 0.07 K and $\sim$0.18 K for continuum and line, respectively. The observational results showed that the gas in the Orion KL region consists of jet-propelled cores at the ridge and dense cores at east and south of the region, shaped like a wedge ring. The outflow has multiple lobes, which may originate from an explosive ejection and is not driven by young stellar objects. Four infrared bubbles were found in the Spitzer/IRAC emissions. These bubbles, the distributions of the previously found H$_2$ jets, the young stellar objects and molecular gas suggested that BN is the explosive center. The burst time was estimated to be $\leq$ 1300 years. In the mean time, signatures of gravitational collapse toward Source I and hot core were detected with material infall velocities of 1.5 km~s$^{-1}$ and $\sim$ 0.6 km~s$^{-1}$, corresponding to mass accretion rates of 1.2$\times$10$^{-3}$M$_{\sun}$/Yr and 8.0$\times$10$^{-5}$M$_{\sun}$/Yr, respectively. These observations may support that high-mass stars form via accretion model, like their low-mass counterparts.

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A CO observation of the galactic methanol masers

Context: We investigated the molecular gas associated with 6.7 GHz methanol masers throughout the Galaxy using a J=1-0 transition of the CO isotopologues. Methods:Using the 13.7-meter telescope at the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO), we have obtained ^{12}CO and ^{13}CO (1-0) lines for 160 methanol masers sources from the first to the third Galactic quadrants. We made efforts to resolve the distance ambiguity by careful comparison with the radio continuum and HI 21 cm observations. Results: First, the maser sources show increased ^{13}CO line widths toward the Galactic center, suggesting that the molecular gas are more turbulent toward the Galactic center. This trend can be noticeably traced by the ^{13}CO line width. Second, the ^{12}CO excitation temperature shows a noticeable correlation with the H_2 column density. A possible explanation consistent with the collapse model is that the higher surface-density gas is more efficient to the stellar heating and/or has a higher formation rate of high-mass stars. Third, comparing the IRDCs, the maser sources on average have significantly lower H_2 column densities, moderately higher temperatures, and similar line widths. Fourth, in the mapped regions, 51 ^{13}CO cores have been revealed. Only 17 coincide with the radio continuum emission (F_{cm}>6 mJy), while a larger fraction (30 cores) coincide with the infrared emissions. The IR-bright and radio-bright sources exhibit significantly higher $^{12}$CO excitation temperatures than the IR-faint and radio-faint sources, respectively. Conclusions: The 6.7 GHz masers show a moderately low ionization rate but have a common-existing stellar heating that generates the IR emissions. The relevant properties can be characterized by the ^{12}CO and ^{13}CO (1-0) emissions in several aspects as described above.

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Hierarchical fragmentation and differential star formation in the Galactic "Snake": infrared dark cloud G11.11-0.12

We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) $λ=$ 0.88 and 1.3 mm broad band observations, and the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations in $\rm{NH_3}$ $(J,K) = (1,1)$ up to $(5,5)$, $\rm{H_2O}$ and $\rm{CH_3OH}$ maser lines toward the two most massive molecular clumps in infrared dark cloud (IRDC) G11.11-0.12. Sensitive high-resolution images reveal hierarchical fragmentation in dense molecular gas from the $\sim 1$ pc clump scale down to $\sim 0.01$ pc condensation scale. At each scale, the mass of the fragments is orders of magnitude larger than the Jeans mass. This is common to all four IRDC clumps we studied, suggesting that turbulence plays an important role in the early stages of clustered star formation. Masers, shock heated $\rm{NH_3}$ gas, and outflows indicate intense ongoing star formation in some cores while no such signatures are found in others. Furthermore, chemical differentiation may reflect the difference in evolutionary stages among these star formation seeds. We find $\rm{NH_3}$ ortho/para ratios of $1.1\pm0.4$, $2.0\pm0.4$, and $3.0\pm0.7$ associated with three outflows, and the ratio tends to increase along the outflows downstream. Our combined SMA and VLA observations of several IRDC clumps present the most in depth view so far of the early stages prior to the hot core phase, revealing snapshots of physical and chemical properties at various stages along an apparent evolutionary sequence.

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Uniform Infall toward the Cometary H II Region in the G34.26+0.15 Complex?

Gas accretion is a key process in star formation. However, the gas infall detections in high-mass star forming regions with high-spatial resolution observations are rare. Here we report the detection of gas infall towards a cometary ultracompact H{\sc ii} region "C" in G34.26+0.15 complex. The hot core associated with "C" has a mass of $\sim$76 M$_{\sun}$ and a volume density of 1.1$\times10^{8}$ cm$^{-3}$. The HCN (3--2), HCO$^{+}$ (1--0) lines observed by single-dishes and the CN (2--1) lines observed by the SMA show redshifted absorption features, indicating gas infall. We found a linear relationship between the line width and optical depth of the CN (2--1) lines. Those transitions with larger optical depth and line width have larger absorption area. However, the infall velocities measured from different lines seem to be constant, indicating the gas infall is uniform. We also investigated the evolution of gas infall in high-mass star forming regions. At stages prior to hot core phase, the typical infall velocity and mass infall rate are $\sim$ 1 km s$^{-1}$ and $\sim10^{-4}$ M$_{\sun}\cdot$yr$^{-1}$, respectively. While in more evolved regions, the infall velocity and mass infall rates can reach as high as serval km s$^{-1}$ and $\sim10^{-3}-10^{-2}$ M$_{\sun}\cdot$yr$^{-1}$, respectively. Accelerated infall has been detected towards some hypercompact H{\sc ii} and ultracompact H{\sc ii} regions. However, the acceleration phenomenon becomes inapparent in more evolved ultracompact H{\sc ii} regions (e.g. G34.26+0.15).

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Gaseous CO Abundance---An Evolutionary Tracer for Molecular Clouds

Planck cold clumps are among the most promising objects to investigate the initial conditions of the evolution of molecular clouds. In this work, by combing the dust emission data from the survey of Planck satellite with the molecular data of $^{12}$CO/$^{13}$CO (1-0) lines from observations with the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7 m telescope, we investigate the CO abundance, CO depletion and CO-to-H$_{2}$ conversion factor of 674 clumps in the early cold cores (ECC) sample. The median and mean values of the CO abundance are 0.89$\times10^{-4}$ and 1.28$\times10^{-4}$, respectively. The mean and median of CO depletion factor are 1.7 and 0.9, respectively. The median value of $X_{CO-to-H_{2}}$ for the whole sample is $2.8\times10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$K$^{-1}$km$^{-1}$ s. The CO abundance, CO depletion factor and CO-to-H$_{2}$ conversion factor are strongly (anti-)correlated to other physical parameters (e.g. dust temperature, dust emissivity spectral index, column density, volume density and luminosity-to-mass ratio). To conclude, the gaseous CO abundance can be used as an evolutionary tracer for molecular clouds.

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Competitive accretion in the protocluster G10.6-0.4?

We present the results of high spatial resolution observations at 1.1 mm waveband, with the Submillimetre Array (SMA), towards the protocluster G10.6-0.4. The 1.1 mm continuum emission reveals seven dense cores, towards which infall motions are all detected with the red-shifted absorption dips in HCN (3--2) line. This is the first time that infall is seen towards multiple sources in a protocluster. We also identified four infrared point sources in this region, which are most likely Class 0/I protostars. Two jet-like structures are also identified from Spitzer/IRAC image. The dense core located in the centre has much larger mass than the off-centre cores. The clump is in overall collapse and the infall motion is supersonic. The standard deviation of core velocities and the velocity differences between the cores and the cloud/clump are all larger than the thermal velocity dispersion. The picture of G10.6-0.4 seems to favor the "competitive accretion" model but needs to be tested by further observations.

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