From filamentary clouds to prestellar cores to the stellar IMF: Initial highlights from the Herschel Gould Belt survey

Ph. André (1) , A. Men'Shchikov (1) , Sylvain Bontemps (2, 3, 4, 5) , V. Könyves , F. Motte (1, 6) , N. Schneider (1) , P. Didelon (1) , V. Minier (1, 6) , P. Saraceno (7) , D. Ward-Thompson (8) , J. Di Francesco (9) , G. White (10) , S. Molinari (7) , L. Testi (11) , A. Abergel (12) , M. Griffin (8) , Th. Henning (13) , P. Royer (14, 15) , B. Merín , R. Vavrek , M. Attard , D. Arzoumanian , C. D. Wilson , P. Ade , H. Aussel (16) , J. -P. Baluteau (17) , M. Benedettini (18) , J. -Ph. Bernard (19) , J. A. D. L. Blommaert , L. Cambrésy , P. Cox , A. Di Giorgio , P. Hargrave , M. Hennemann (1) , M. Huang (20) , J. Kirk (8) , O. Krause , R. Launhardt (13) , S. Leeks (10) , J. Le Pennec , J. Z. Li (20) , P. Martin (21) , A. Maury (11) , G. Olofsson (22) , A. Omont (23) , N. Peretto (1) , S. Pezzuto (7) , T. Prusti , Hervé Roussel (23) , D. Russeil (17) , M. Sauvage (1) , B. Sibthorpe (24) , A. Sicilia-Aguilar , L. Spinoglio (25) , C. Waelkens , A. Woodcraft (24) , Annie Zavagno (17, 26)

1 AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
2 LAB - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac]
3 OASU - Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers
4 UB - Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1
5 L3AB - Laboratoire d'astrodynamique, d'astrophysique et d'aéronomie de bordeaux
6 IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
7 IFSI - Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario
8 School of Physics and Astronomy [Cardiff]
9 Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
10 RAL - STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
11 ESO - European Southern Observatory
12 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
13 MPIA - Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
14 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
15 LEOSPHERE France
16 AUTRES
17 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
18 LAOG - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
19 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements
20 NAOC - National Astronomical Observatories [Beijing]
21 CITA
22 Stockholm University
23 IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
24 ROE - Royal Observatory Edinburgh
25 ARENA - Antarctic Research a European Network for Astrophysics
26 OAMP - Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence

We summarize the first results from the Gould Belt survey, obtained toward the Aquila Rift and Polaris Flare regions during the 'science demonstration phase' of Herschel. Our 70-500 micron images taken in parallel mode with the SPIRE and PACS cameras reveal a wealth of filamentary structure, as well as numerous dense cores embedded in the filaments. Between ~ 350 and 500 prestellar cores and ~ 45-60 Class 0 protostars can be identified in the Aquila field, while ~ unbound starless cores and no protostars are observed in the Polaris field. The prestellar core mass function (CMF) derived for the Aquila region bears a strong resemblance to the stellar initial mass function (IMF), already confirming the close connection between the CMF and the IMF with much better statistics than earlier studies. Comparing and contrasting our Herschel results in Aquila and Polaris, we propose an observationally-driven scenario for core formation according to which complex networks of long, thin filaments form first within molecular clouds, and then the densest filaments fragment into a number of prestellar cores via gravitational instability.

Domaines: Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]; Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]

Ph. André, A. Men'Shchikov, Sylvain Bontemps, V. Könyves, F. Motte, et al.. From filamentary clouds to prestellar cores to the stellar IMF: Initial highlights from the Herschel Gould Belt survey. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2010, 518, pp.L102. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201014666⟩. ⟨hal-00523064⟩