The SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. II. High Luminosity Protostars

Review article, 2019

We present multiwavelength images observed with SOFIA-FORCAST from similar to 10 to 40 mu m of seven high luminosity massive protostars, as part of the SOFIA Massive Star Formation Survey. Source morphologies at these wavelengths appear to be influenced by outflow cavities and extinction from dense gas surrounding the protostars. Using these images, we build spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the protostars, also including archival data from Spitzer, Herschel, and other facilities. Radiative transfer (RT) models of Zhang & Tan, based on Turbulent Core Accretion theory, are then fit to the SEDs to estimate key properties of the protostars. Considering the best five models fit to each source, the protostars have masses m* similar to 12-64 M circle dot accreting at rates of m* similar to 10(-4) -10(-3) M circle dot yr(-1) inside cores of initial masses M-c similar to 100-500 M circle dot embedded in clumps with mass surface densities Sigma(cl) similar to 0.1-3 g cm(-2) and span a luminosity range of 10(4) -10(6) L circle dot. Compared with the first eight protostars in Paper I, the sources analyzed here are more luminous and, thus, likely to be more massive protostars. They are often in a clustered environment or have a companion protostar relatively nearby. From the range of parameter space of the models, we do not see any evidence that Sigma(cl) needs to be high to form these massive stars. For most sources, the RT models provide reasonable fits to the SEDs, though the cold clump material often influences the long wavelength fitting. However, for sources in very clustered environments, the model SEDs may not be such a good description of the data, indicating potential limitations of the models for these regions.