Kinetic temperature of massive star-forming molecular clumps measured with formaldehyde: IV. The ALMA view of N113 and N159W in the LMC
Journal article, 2021
We mapped the kinetic temperature structure of two massive star-forming regions, N113 and N159W, in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We have used 1.6 (0.4 pc) resolution measurements of the para-H2CO JKaKc = 303-202, 322-221, and 321-220 transitions near 218.5 GHz to constrain RADEX non local thermodynamic equilibrium models of the physical conditions. The gas kinetic temperatures derived from the para-H2CO line ratios 322-221/303-202 and 321-220/303-202 range from 28 to 105 K in N113 and 29 to 68 K in N159W. Distributions of the dense gas traced by para-H2CO agree with those of the 1.3 mm dust and Spitzer 8.0 μm emission, but they do not significantly correlate with the Hα emission. The high kinetic temperatures (Tkin50 K) of the dense gas traced by para-H2CO appear to be correlated with the embedded infrared sources inside the clouds and/or young stellar objects in the N113 and N159W regions. The lower temperatures (Tkin < 50 K) were measured at the outskirts of the H2CO-bearing distributions of both N113 and N159W. It seems that the kinetic temperatures of the dense gas traced by para-H2CO are weakly affected by the external sources of the Hα emission. The non thermal velocity dispersions of para-H2CO are well correlated with the gas kinetic temperatures in the N113 region, implying that the higher kinetic temperature traced by para-H2CO is related to turbulence on a 0.4 pc scale. The dense gas heating appears to be dominated by internal star formation activity, radiation, and/or turbulence. It seems that the mechanism heating the dense gas of the star-forming regions in the LMC is consistent with that in Galactic massive star-forming regions located in the Galactic plane.
ISM: clouds
Stars: formation
ISM: molecules
Radio lines: ISM
Author
X. D. Tang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Max Planck Society
C. Henkel
King Abdulaziz University
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Max Planck Society
K. Menten
Max Planck Society
Y. Gong
Max Planck Society
C. H.R. Chen
Max Planck Society
D. Li
Chinese Academy of Sciences
M. Y. Lee
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Max Planck Society
J. G. Mangum
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Y. Ao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
S. Muhle
University of Bonn
Susanne Aalto
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
S. G. Burillo
Spanish National Observatory (OAN)
S. Martin
Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA)
European Southern Observatory Santiago
Serena Viti
Leiden University
University College London (UCL)
Sebastien Muller
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Francesco Costagliola
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
H. Asiri
King Abdulaziz University
S. A. Levshakov
Russian Academy of Sciences
M. Spaans
University of Groningen
J. Ott
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro
C. M. V. Impellizzeri
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA)
Yasuo Fukui
Nagoya University
Y. X. He
Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. Esimbek
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jianjun Zhou
Chinese Academy of Sciences
X. W. Zheng
Nanjing University
X. Zhao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. S. Li
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 655 A12Subject Categories
Energy Engineering
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202141804