The HP2 Survey - IV. The Pipe nebula : Effective dust temperatures in dense cores
Multi-wavelength observations in the sub-millimeter regime provide information on the distribution of both the dust column density and the effective dust temperature in molecular clouds. In this study, we created high-resolution and high-dynamic-range maps of the Pipe nebula region and explored the value of dust-temperature measurements in particular towards the dense cores embedded in the cloud. The maps are based on data from the Herschel and Planck satellites, and calibrated with a near-infrared extinction map based on 2MASS observations. We have considered a sample of previously defined cores and found that the majority of core regions contain at least one local temperature minimum. Moreover, we observed an anti-correlation between column density and temperature. The slope of this anti-correlation is dependent on the region boundaries and can be used as a metric to distinguish dense from diffuse areas in the cloud if systematic effects are addressed appropriately. Employing dust-temperature data thus allows us to draw conclusions on the thermodynamically dominant processes in this sample of cores: External heating by the interstellar radiation field and shielding by the surrounding medium. In addition, we have taken a first step towards a physically motivated core definition by recognising that the column-densityerature anti-correlation is sensitive to the core boundaries. Dust-temperature maps therefore clearly contain valuable information about the physical state of the observed medium.
Item Type | Article |
---|---|
Additional information | 14 pages, 22 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics. © 2018 ESO |
Keywords | dust, extinction, infrared: ism, ism: individual objects: pipe nebula, ism: structure, methods: data analysis, sub-millimeter: ism, astronomy and astrophysics, space and planetary science |
Date Deposited | 15 May 2025 13:52 |
Last Modified | 31 May 2025 00:17 |
-
picture_as_pdf - 1807.04286v1.pdf
-
subject - Submitted Version