The Core Mass Function in the Massive Protocluster G286.21+0.17 Revealed by ALMA
Journal article, 2018

We study the core mass function (CMF) of the massive protocluster G286.21+0.17 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array via 1.3 mm continuum emission at a resolution of 1.″0 (2500 au). We have mapped a field of 5.′3 × 5.′3 centered on the protocluster clump. We measure the CMF in the central region, exploring various core detection algorithms, which give source numbers ranging from 60 to 125, depending on parameter selection. We estimate completeness corrections due to imperfect flux recovery and core identification via artificial core insertion experiments. For masses M 1 M o , the fiducial dendrogram-identified CMF can be fit with a power law of the form dN/dlog M ∝ M -α with α ≃ 1.24 ± 0.17, slightly shallower than, but still consistent with, the index of the Salpeter stellar initial mass function of 1.35. Clumpfind-identified CMFs are significantly shallower with α ≃ 0.64 ± 0.13. While raw CMFs show a peak near 1 M o , completeness-corrected CMFs are consistent with a single power law extending down to ∼0.5 M o , with only a tentative indication of a shallowing of the slope around ∼1 M o . We discuss the implications of these results for star and star cluster formation theories.

stars: formation

ISM: clouds

Author

Yu Cheng

University of Florida

Jonathan Tan

University of Florida

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

University of Virginia

Mengyao Liu

University of Virginia

University of Florida

Shuo Kong

Yale University

Wanggi Lim

University of Florida

Morten Andersen

Gemini Observatory South

Nicola Da Rio

University of Virginia

Astrophysical Journal

0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)

Vol. 853 2 160

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Mathematical Analysis

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/aaa3f1

More information

Latest update

5/7/2019 9