Related papers: Chemistry in Infrared Dark Clouds
(Abridged) We present an overview of the sample of high-mass star and cluster forming regions observed as part of the Earliest Phases of Star Formation (EPoS) Herschel Guaranteed Time Key Program. A sample of 45 infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs)…
An estimate of the degree of CO-depletion ($f_D$) provides information on the physical conditions occurring in the innermost and densest regions of molecular clouds. A key parameter in these studies is the size of the depletion radius, i.e.…
Low-velocity large-scale shocks impacting on the ISM may efficiently shape molecular clouds and trigger star formation within them. These shocks, both driven by galactic bubbles and/or cloud-cloud collisions, leave specific signatures in…
The study of molecules and their chemistry in star-forming regions is fundamental to understand the physical process occurring in such regions. The HCN and HNC J=1-0 emissions were used to derive their integrated line intensities (I), to…
We have used deep near-infrared observations with adaptive optics to discover a distributed population of low-mass protostars within the filamentary Infrared Dark Cloud G34.43+00.24. We use maps of dust emission at multiple wavelengths to…
Some observations of warm carbon chain chemistry (WCCC) cores indicate that they are often located near the edges of molecular clouds. This finding may suggest that WCCC is promoted in star-forming cores exposed to radiation from the…
Massive star-forming regions exhibit an extremely rich and diverse chemistry, which in principle provides a wealth of molecular probes, as well as laboratories for interstellar prebiotic chemistry. Since the chemical structure of these…
We investigate star formation at very early evolutionary phases in five massive clouds in the inner 500 pc of the Galaxy, the Central Molecular Zone. Using interferometer observations of H$_2$O masers and ultra-compact H II regions, we find…
The outer Galaxy is characterized by a lower metallicity than regions near the Sun, suggesting differences in the formation and survival of molecules in star-forming regions. To understand chemical evolution across the Milky Way, deriving…
We investigated the physical properties of molecular clouds and star formation processes around infrared bubbles which are essentially expanding HII regions. We performed observations of 13 galactic infrared bubble fields containing 18…
The "Nessie" Nebula is a filamentary infrared dark cloud (IRDC) with a large aspect ratio of over 150:1 (1.5 degrees x 0.01 degrees, or 80 pc x 0.5 pc at a kinematic distance of 3.1 kpc). Maps of HNC (1-0) emission, a tracer of dense…
A powerful way to observe directly the solid state inventory of dense molecular clouds is by infrared spectroscopy of background stars. We present Spitzer/IRS 5-20 micron spectra of ices toward stars behind the Serpens and Taurus molecular…
High-mass stars shape the interstellar medium in galaxies, and yet, largely because the initial conditions are poorly constrained, we do not know how they form. One possibility is that high-mass stars and star clusters form at the junction…
Recent observational studies of intermediate- and high-mass star-forming regions at submillimeter and infrared wavelengths are reviewed, and chemical diagnostics of the different physical components associated with young stellar objects are…
Massive stars form deeply embedded in dense molecular gas, which they stir and heat up and ionize. During an early phase, the ionization is confined to hypercompact HII regions, and the stellar radiation is entirely absorbed by dust, giving…
Our knowledge of the initial conditions and early stages of high mass star formation is very limited. We will review recent surveys of regions in the early stages of massive star formation using molecular tracers of high density and dust…
We analyze the molecular gas and dust associated with the infrared dark cloud SDC 341.232-0.268 in order to investigate the characteristics and parameters of the gas, determine the evolutionary status of four embedded EGO candidates and…
Star formation in a filamentary infrared dark cloud (IRDC) is simulated over a dynamic range of 4.2 pc to 28 au for a period of $3.5\times 10^5$ yr, including magnetic fields and both radiative and outflow feedback from the protostars. At…
We report a sample of 463 high-mass starless clump (HMSC) candidates within $-60\deg<l<60\deg$ and $-1\deg<b<1\deg$. This sample has been singled out from 10861 ATLASGAL clumps. All of these sources are not associated with any known…
We aim to investigate the chemistry of internal photon-dominated regions surrounding deeply embedded hypercompact and ultracompact HII regions. We search for specific tracers of this evolutionary stage of massive star formation that can be…