A large catalogue of molecular clouds with accurate distances within 4 kpc of the Galactic disc

Chen, Bingqiu; Li, G. X.; Yuan, Haibo; Huang, Yang; Tian, Zhijia; Wang, H. F.; Zhang, H. W.; Wang, C.; Liu, X. W.

doi:10.1093/mnras/staa235

Cited by 50 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…Based on a sample of over 32 million stars with color excesses and Gaia distances, Chen et al (2019b) constructed new three-dimensional dust reddening maps of the Milky Way. With the maps and the sample of stars, Chen et al (2020) identified 567 dust/molecular clouds, and estimated their distances by using a dust model fitting algorithm. The typical distance uncertainty was less than 5%.…”

Section: Giant Molecular Cloudsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accurate parallaxes and proper motions have been obtained for a large number of HMSFR masers (e.g., Reid et al, 2019), HII regions (e.g., , O-type stars (e.g., Xu et al, 2021), young open clusters (OCs, e.g., Dias et al, 2021), and evolved stars (e.g., Khoperskov et al, 2020). Additionally, many giant molecular clouds (GMCs) have had accurately determined distances based on the multi-wavelength survey data from optical to infrared bands or the astrometric data of foreground/background stars (Yan et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2020). By combining the available data of different types of tracers together, it is now possible to reliably map the detailed spiral structure within about 5 kpc of the Sun.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Spiral Structure in the Solar Neighborhood

Hou

2021

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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The spiral structure in the solar neighborhood is an important issue in astronomy. In the past few years, there has been significant progress in observation. The distances for a large number of good spiral tracers, i.e., giant molecular clouds, high-mass star-formation region masers, HII regions, O-type stars, and young open clusters, have been accurately estimated, making it possible to depict the detailed properties of nearby spiral arms. In this work, we first give an overview about the research status for the Galaxy’s spiral structure based on different types of tracers. Then the objects with distance uncertainties better than 15% and <0.5 kpc are collected and combined together to depict the spiral structure in the solar neighborhood. Five segments related with the Perseus, Local, Sagittarius-Carina, Scutum-Centaurus, and Norma arms are traced. With the large dataset, the parameters of the nearby arm segments are fitted and updated. Besides the dominant spiral arms, some substructures probably related to arm spurs or feathers are also noticed and discussed.

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Section: Giant Molecular Cloudsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spiral Structure in the Solar Neighborhood

Hou

2021

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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“…The properties of these cores have been recalculated using the same assumptions outlined in this work (section 4.1). (lower panel) Shown as grey open points are the properties taken directly fromLarson (1981),Kauffmann et al (2013), Peretto et al (2013), Sánchez- Monge et al (2013), and Chen et al (2020. Overlaid as diagonal solid black lines are the mass-radius relations taken fromLarson (1981, L81), and high-mass star formation thresholds taken fromKrumholz & McKee (2008, KM08) andKauffmann & Pillai (2010, KP10).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

ALMA–IRDC: dense gas mass distribution from cloud to core scales

Barnes

Henshaw

Fontani

et al. 2021

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are potential hosts of the elusive early phases of high-mass star formation (HMSF). Here we conduct an in-depth analysis of the fragmentation properties of a sample of 10 IRDCs, which have been highlighted as some of the best candidates to study HMSF within the Milky Way. To do so, we have obtained a set of large mosaics covering these IRDCs with ALMA at band 3 (or 3 mm). These observations have a high angular resolution (∼ 3″; ∼ 0.05 pc), and high continuum and spectral line sensitivity (∼ 0.15 mJy beam−1 and ∼ 0.2 K per 0.1 km s−1 channel at the N2H+ (1 − 0) transition). From the dust continuum emission, we identify 96 cores ranging from low- to high-mass (M = 3.4 − 50.9M⊙) that are gravitationally bound (αvir = 0.3 − 1.3) and which would require magnetic field strengths of B = 0.3 − 1.0 mG to be in virial equilibrium. We combine these results with a homogenised catalogue of literature cores to recover the hierarchical structure within these clouds over four orders of magnitude in spatial scale (0.01 pc – 10 pc). Using supplementary observations at an even higher angular resolution, we find that the smallest fragments (< 0.02 pc) within this hierarchy do not currently have the mass and/or the density required to form high-mass stars. Nonetheless, the new ALMA observations presented in this paper have facilitated the identification of 19 (6 quiescent and 13 star-forming) cores that retain >16 M⊙ without further fragmentation. These high-mass cores contain trans-sonic non-thermal motions, are kinematically sub-virial, and require moderate magnetic field strengths for support against collapse. The identification of these potential sites of high-mass star formation represents a key step in allowing us to test the predictions from high-mass star and cluster formation theories.

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“…In the current work, we have adopted a method similar as in the work of Chen et al (2020a). The method comprises three steps: the first step is to isolate the individual molecular clouds from the 3D extinction maps; the second step to estimate the distances of the identified molecular clouds; and the third step to calculate their physical properties.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using similar techniques, Zucker et al (2019Zucker et al ( , 2020 measured the distances of local molecular clouds by combining the optical and near-IR photometries with the Gaia Data Release 2 (Gaia DR2; Gaia Collaboration 2018). Recently, Chen et al (2020a) presented a large catalogue of 567 clouds in the Galactic plane identified from the 3D extinction maps of Chen et al (2019) and provided their accurate distances and other physical parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large catalogue of molecular clouds in the southern sky

Guo,

Chen,

Liu

2022

Preprint

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We present a large catalogue of molecular clouds with accurate distance estimates in the southern sky. Based on the threedimensional (3D) dust extinction map and the best-fit extinction and distance information of over 17 million stars presented in Guo et al., we have identified 250 dust/molecular clouds in the southern sky using a hierarchical structure identification algorithm. Amongst them, 71 clouds locating at high Galactic latitudes (𝑏 < −10 • ). We have estimated the distances to the clouds by fitting the extinction versus distance profiles of the lines of sight overlapping with the clouds using a simple Gaussian dust distribution model. The typical uncertainties of the distances are less than 7 per cent. We also provide the physical properties of the individual clouds, including the linear radius, mass and surface mass density.

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A large catalogue of molecular clouds with accurate distances within 4 kpc of the Galactic disc

Cited by 50 publications

References 42 publications

The Spiral Structure in the Solar Neighborhood

The Spiral Structure in the Solar Neighborhood

ALMA–IRDC: dense gas mass distribution from cloud to core scales

A large catalogue of molecular clouds in the southern sky

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