Internal 1000 au Scale Structures of the R CrA Cluster-forming Cloud. I. Filamentary Structures

Abstract

We report Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array/Atacama Compact Array observations of a high-density region of the Corona Australis cloud forming a young star cluster, and the results of resolving internal structures. In addition to embedded Class 0/I protostars in the continuum, a number of complex dense filamentary structures are detected in the C ^18 O and SO lines by the 7 m array. These are substructures of the molecular clump that are detected by the total power array as extended emission. We identify 101 and 37 filamentary structures with widths of a few thousand astronomical units in C ^18 O and SO, respectively, which are called feathers . The typical column density of the feathers in C ^18 O is about 10 ^22 cm ^−2 , and the volume density and line mass are ∼10 ^5 cm ^−3 and a few M _☉ pc ^−1 , respectively. This line mass is significantly smaller than the critical line mass expected for cold and dense gas. These structures have complex velocity fields, indicating a turbulent interior. The number of feathers associated with Class 0/I protostars is only ∼10, indicating that most of them do not form stars but rather are transient structures. The formation of feathers can be interpreted as a result of colliding gas flow because the morphology is well reproduced by MHD simulations, and this is supported by the presence of H i shells in the vicinity. The colliding gas flows may accumulate gas and form filaments and feathers, and trigger the active star formation of the R CrA cluster.

Keywords

• Interstellar medium
• Interstellar filaments
• Interstellar clouds
• Dark interstellar clouds
• Star formation
• Young star clusters