The star-forming content of the W3 giant molecular cloud |
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| Authors: | T J T Moore D E Bretherton T Fujiyoshi N A Ridge J Allsopp M G Hoare S L Lumsden J S Richer |
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| Institution: | Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD;Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA;Harvard College Observatory, 60 Garden Street, MS 42, Cambridge, MA 01238, USA;School of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT;Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thompson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE |
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| Abstract: | We have surveyed a ～0.9 square degree area of the W3 giant molecular cloud (GMC) and star-forming region in the 850-μm continuum, using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. A complete sample of 316 dense clumps were detected with a mass range from around 13 to 2500 M⊙ . Part of the W3 GMC is subject to an interaction with the H ii region and fast stellar winds generated by the nearby W4 OB association. We find that the fraction of total gas mass in dense, 850-μm traced structures is significantly altered by this interaction, being around 5–13 per cent in the undisturbed cloud but ～25–37 per cent in the feedback-affected region. The mass distribution in the detected clump sample depends somewhat on assumptions of dust temperature and is not a simple, single power law but contains significant structure at intermediate masses. This structure is likely to be due to crowding of sources near or below the spatial resolution of the observations. There is little evidence of any difference between the index of the high-mass end of the clump mass function in the compressed region and in the unaffected cloud. The consequences of these results are discussed in terms of current models of triggered star formation. |
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| Keywords: | stars: formation ISM: clouds ISM: individual: W3 submillimetre |
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