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Astrophysical JournalVolume 891, Issue 1, 1 March 2020, Article number 84

Velocity-coherent Filaments in NGC 1333: Evidence for Accretion Flow?(Article)(Open Access)

  • Chen, M.C.-Y.,
  • Francesco, J.D.,
  • Rosolowsky, E.,
  • Keown, J.,
  • Pineda, J.E.,
  • Friesen, R.K.,
  • Caselli, P.,
  • Chen, H.-H.,
  • Matzner, C.D.,
  • Offner, S.S.,
  • Punanova, A.,
  • Redaelli, E.,
  • Scibelli, S.,
  • Shirley, Y.
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  • aDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 1A1, Canada
  • bHerzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada, 5071 West Saanich Rd., Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada
  • cDepartment of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
  • dMax-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, Garching, D-85748, Germany
  • eDepartment of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, United States
  • fDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
  • gUral Federal University, Mira st. 19, Yekaterinburg, 620002, Russian Federation
  • hDepartment of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
  • iSteward Observatory, 933 North Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, United States

Abstract

Recent observations of global velocity gradients across and along molecular filaments have been interpreted as signs of gas accreting onto and along these filaments, potentially feeding star-forming cores and protoclusters. The behavior of velocity gradients in filaments, however, has not been studied in detail, particularly on small scales (<0.1 pc). In this paper, we present MUFASA, an efficient, robust, and automatic method to fit ammonia lines with multiple velocity components, generalizable to other molecular species. We also present CRISPy, a Python package to identify filament spines in 3D images (e.g., position-position-velocity cubes), along with a complementary technique to sort fitted velocity components into velocity-coherent filaments. In NGC 1333, we find a wealth of velocity gradient structures on a beam-resolved scale of ∼0.05 pc. Interestingly, these local velocity gradients are not randomly oriented with respect to filament spines and their perpendicular, i.e., radial, component decreases in magnitude toward the spine for many filaments. Together with remarkably constant velocity gradients on larger scales along many filaments, these results suggest a scenario in which gas falling onto filaments is progressively damped and redirected to flow along these filaments. © 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Funding details

Funding sponsor Funding number Acronym
Seventh Framework Programme320620FP7
  • ISSN: 0004637X
  • Source Type: Journal
  • Original language: English
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab7378
  • Document Type: Article
  • Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing


© Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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View details of all 28 citations
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