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research
Molecular Cloud Evolution VI. Measuring cloud ages
Authors
Ansdell
Audit
+83 more
Ballesteros-Paredes
Ballesteros-Paredes
Bally
Banerjee
Bigiel
Blitz
Burkert
Burkhart
Carroll-Nellenback
Clark
Colín
Currie
Da Rio
Da Rio
Enrique Vázquez-Semadeni
Evans
Federrath
Federrath
Ferrière
Field
Franco
Gao
Getman
Girichidis
Hartmann
Heiles
Heitsch
Heitsch
Heitsch
Heitsch
Hennebelle
Hennebelle
Hennebelle
Hillenbrand
Hopkins
Hunter
Ibáñez-Mejía
Jan Forbrich
Kainulainen
Kawamura
Klessen
Koda
Koyama
Koyama
Kritsuk
Kroupa
Kruijssen
Kruijssen
Krumholz
Lada
Lada
Lee
Lin
Lombardi
Manuel Zamora-Avilés
McCrea
Molinari
Murray
Murray
Padoan
Padoan
Palla
Palla
Passot
Povich
Roberto Galván-Madrid
Robertson
Schneider
Tobin
Vishniac
Vázquez-Semadeni
Vázquez-Semadeni
Vázquez-Semadeni
Vázquez-Semadeni
Vázquez-Semadeni
Vázquez-Semadeni
Vázquez-Semadeni
Vázquez-Semadeni
Völschow
Walder
Wolfire
Zamora-Avilés
Zamora-Avilés
Publication date
21 September 2018
Publisher
'Oxford University Press (OUP)'
Doi
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on
arXiv
Abstract
This article has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.In previous contributions, we have presented an analytical model describing the evolution and star formation rate (SFR) of molecular clouds (MCs) undergoing hierarchical gravitational contraction. The cloud’s evolution is characterized by an initial increase in its mass, density, SFR, and star formation efficiency (SFE), as it contracts, followed by a decrease of these quantities as newly formed massive stars begin to disrupt the cloud. The main parameter of the model is the maximum mass reached by the cloud during its evolution. Thus, specifying the instantaneous mass and some other variable completely determines the cloud’s evolutionary stage. We apply the model to interpret the observed scatter in SFEs of the cloud sample compiled by Lada et al. as an evolutionary effect so that, although clouds such as California and Orion A have similar masses, they are in very different evolutionary stages, causing their very different observed SFRs and SFEs. The model predicts that the California cloud will eventually reach a significantly larger total mass than the Orion A cloud. Next, we apply the model to derive estimated ages of the clouds since the time when approximately 25 per cent of their mass had become molecular. We find ages from ∼1.5 to 27 Myr, with the most inactive clouds being the youngest. Further predictions of the model are that clouds with very low SFEs should have massive atomic envelopes constituting the majority of their gravitational mass, and that low-mass clouds (M ∼ 103–104M⊙) end their lives with a mini-burst of star formation, reaching SFRs ∼300–500M⊙ Myr−1. By this time, they have contracted to become compact (∼1 pc) massive star-forming clumps, in general embedded within larger giant molecular clouds.Peer reviewe
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