Filamentary structure of Serpens Main and Serpens South seen in N2H+, HCO+, and HCN

Erin Guilfoil Cox ... [et al.].

Serie: Trabajos publicados del IAR ; no. 1387

71st International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy (2016) June 20-24, 2016 at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Talk WH12.

Resumen: We present the N2H+ (J = 1 → 0) map of the Serpens Main and Serpens South molecular cloud obtained as part of the CARMA Large Area Star Formation Survey (CLASSy). The observations cover 150 arcmin2 and 250 arcmin2, respectively, and fully sample structures from 3000 AU to 3 pc with a velocity resolution of 0.16 km s-1. They can be used to constrain the origin and evolution of molecular cloud filaments. The spatial distribution of the N2H+ emission is characterized by long filaments that resemble those observed in the dust continuum emission by Herschel. However, the gas filaments are typically narrower such that, in some cases, two or three quasi-parallel N2H+ filaments comprise a single observed dust continuum filament. Our results suggest that single filaments seen in Serpens South by Herschel may in fact be comprised of multiple narrower filaments. Some molecular filaments show velocity gradients along their major axis, and two are characterized by a steep velocity gradient in the direction perpendicular to the filament axis. The observed velocity gradient along one of these filaments was previously postulated as evidence for mass infall toward the central cluster, but these kind of gradients can be interpreted as projection of large-scale turbulence. Finally we compare the morphologies of these N2H+ filaments with those detected in HCO+ and HCN. In Serpens South we find that the N2H+ and dust maps are well correlated, whereas HCO+ and HCN do not have regularly have N2H+ counterparts. We postulate that this difference is due to large-scale shocks creating the HCO+ and HCN emission