In Search for Infall Gas in Molecular Clouds:A Catalogue of CO Blue-Profiles

We have started a systematic survey of molecular clumps with infall motions to study the very early phase of star formation.Our first step is to utilize the data products by MWISP to make an unbiased survey for blue asymmetric line profiles of CO isotopical molecules.Within a total area of~2400 square degrees nearby the Galactic plane,we have found 3533 candidates showing blue-profiles,in which 3329 are selected from the^(12)CO&^(13)CO pair and 204 are from the^(13)CO&C^(18)O pair.Exploration of the parametric spaces suggests our samples are in the cold phase with relatively high column densities ready for star formation.Analysis of the spatial distribution of our samples suggests that they exist virtually in all major components of the galaxy.The vertical distribution suggest that the sources are located mainly in the thick disk of~85 pc,but still a small part are located far beyond Galactic midplane.Our follow-up observation indicates that these candidates are a good sample to start a search for infall motions,and to study the condition of very early phase of star formation.

A Catalog of Molecular Clumps and Cores with Infall Signatures

The research of infall motion is a common means to study molecular cloud dynamics and the early process of star formation. Many works had been done in-depth research on infall. We searched the literature related to infall study of molecular cloud since 1994, summarized the infall sources identified by the authors. A total of 456 infall sources are cataloged. We classify them into high-mass and low-mass sources, in which the high-mass sources are divided into three evolutionary stages: prestellar, protostellar and H II region. We divide the sources into clumps and cores according to their sizes. The H2 column density values range from 1.21 × 10^(21) to 9.75 × 10^(24) cm^(-2), with a median value of 4.17 × 10^(22) cm^(-2). The H_(2) column densities of high-mass and low-mass sources are significantly separated. The median value of infall velocity for high-mass clumps is 1.12 km s^(-1), and the infall velocities of lowmass cores are virtually all less than 0.5 km s^(-1). There is no obvious difference between different stages of evolution. The mass infall rates of low-mass cores are between 10^(-7) and 10^(-4) M⊙yr^(-1), and those of high-mass clumps are between 10^(-4 )and 10-1 M⊙yr^(-1) with only one exception. We do not find that the mass infall rates vary with evolutionary stages.

The Role of Magnetic Fields in Triggered Star Formation of RCW 120

We report on the near-infrared polarimetric observations of RCW 120 with the 1.4 m IRSF telescope.The starlight polarization of the background stars reveals for the first time the magnetic field of RCW 120.The global magnetic field of RCW 120 is along the direction of 20°,parallel to the Galactic plane.The field strength on the plane of the sky is 100 ± 26 μG.The magnetic field around the eastern shell shows evidence of compression by the H Ⅱ region.The external pressure(turbulent pressure+ magnetic pressure) and the gas density of the ambient cloud are minimum along the direction where RCW 120 breaks out,which explains the observed elongation of RCW 120.The dynamical age of RCW 120,depending on the magnetic field strength,is~1.6 Myr for field strength of100 μG,older than the hydrodynamic estimates.In direction perpendicular to the magnetic field,the density contrast of the western shell is greatly reduced by the strong magnetic field.The strong magnetic field in general reduces the efficiency of triggered star formation,in comparison with the hydrodynamic estimates.Triggered star formation via the "collect and collapse" mechanism could occur in the direction along the magnetic field.Core formation efficiency(CFE) is found to be higher in the southern and eastern shells of RCW 120 than in the infrared dark cloud receiving little influence from the H Ⅱ region,suggesting increase in the CFE related to triggering from ionization feedback.