A SCUBA imaging survey of ultracompact HII regions; the environments of massive star formation

Thompson, M.A., Hatchell, J., Walsh, A.J., MacDonald, G.H., and Millar, T.J. (2006) A SCUBA imaging survey of ultracompact HII regions; the environments of massive star formation. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 453 (3). pp. 1003-1026.

[img] PDF (Published Version)
Download (5MB)
View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:2005...
 
84
1071


Abstract

We present a SCUBA submillimetre (450 and 850 μm) survey of the environment of 105 IRAS point sources, selected from the Wood & Churchwell (1989a) and Kurtz et al. (1994) radio ultracompact (UC) Hii region surveys. We detected a total of 155 sub-mm clumps associated with the IRAS point sources and identified three distinct types of object: ultracompact cm-wave sources that are not associated with any sub-mm emission (sub-mm quiet objects), sub-mm clumps that are associated with ultracompact cm-wave sources (radio-loud clumps); and sub-mm clumps that are not associated with any known ultracompact cm-wave sources (radio-quiet clumps). 90% of the sample of IRAS point sources were found to be associated with strong sub-mm emission. We consider the sub-mm colours, morphologies and distance-scaled fluxes of the sample of sub-mm clumps and show that the sub-mm quiet objects are unlikely to represent embedded UC Hii regions unless they are located at large heliocentric distances. Many of the 2.5 arcmin SCUBA fields contain more than one sub-mm clump, with an average number of companions (the companion clump fraction) of 0.90. The clumps are more strongly clustered than other candidate HMPOs and the mean clump surface density exhibits a broken power-law distribution with a break at 3 pc. We demonstrate that the sub-mm and cm-wave fluxes of the majority of radio-loud clumps are in excellent agreement with the standard model of ultracompact Hii regions. We speculate on the nature of the radio-quiet sub-mm clumps and, whilst we do not yet have sufficient data to conclude that they are in a pre-UC Hii region phase, we argue that their characteristics are suggestive of such a stage.

Item ID: 9077
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1432-0746
Keywords: stars; formation; ISM; HII regions; dust; extinction; submillimeter; radio continuum; ISM
Additional Information:

Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics. © ESO.

Date Deposited: 16 Mar 2010 04:22
FoR Codes: 02 PHYSICAL SCIENCES > 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences > 020104 Galactic Astronomy @ 100%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970102 Expanding Knowledge in the Physical Sciences @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 1071
Last 12 Months: 94
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page