Related papers: A Hunt for Massive Starless Cores

Studying the physical and chemical properties of cold and dense molecular clouds is crucial for the understanding of how stars form. Under the typical conditions of infrared dark clouds, CO is removed from the gas phase and trapped on to…

We study deuterium fractionation in two massive starless/early-stage cores C1-N and C1-S in Infrared Dark Cloud (IRDC) G028.37+00.07, first identified by Tan et al. (2013) with ALMA. Line emission from multiple transitions of $\rm N_2H^+$…

We have performed a dense core survey toward the Infrared Dark Cloud G14.225-0.506 at 3 mm continuum emission with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). This survey covers the two hub-filament systems with an angular…

Our search for the earliest stages of massive star formation turned up twelve massive pre-protocluster candidates plus a few protoclusters. For this search, we selected 47 FIR-bright IRAS sources in the outer Galaxy. We mapped regions of…

We report the identification of a sample of potential High-Mass Starless Cores (HMSCs). The cores were discovered by comparing images of the fields containing candidate High-Mass Protostellar Objects (HMPOs) at 1.2mm and mid-infrared…

We present observations of the intermediate to massive star-forming region I05345+3157 using the molecular line tracer CS(2-1) with CARMA to reveal the properties of the dense gas cores. Seven gas cores are identified in the integrated…

Hot cores characterized by rich lines of complex organic molecules are considered as ideal sites for investigating the physical and chemical environments of massive star formation. We present a search for hot cores by using typical…

We mapped two molecular cloud cores in the Orion A cloud with the ALMA ACA 7-m Array and with the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope. These cores have bright N$_2$D$^+$ emission in single-pointing observations with the Nobeyama 45-m radio…

We mapped the MSX dark cloud G084.81-01.09 in the NH3 (1,1) - (4,4) lines and in the J = 1-0 transitions of 12CO, 13CO, C18O and HCO+ in order to study the physical properties of infrared dark clouds, and to better understand the initial…

We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of seven massive molecular clumps which are dark in the far-infrared for wavelengths up to 70 $\mu$m. Our 1.3 mm continuum images reveal 44 dense cores, with gas masses ranging from 1.4 to…

Investigating the physical and chemical structures of massive star-forming regions is critical for understanding the formation and the early evolution of massive stars. We performed a detailed line survey toward six dense cores named as…

High-mass star formation theories make distinct predictions on the properties of the prestellar seeds of high-mass stars. Observations of the early stages of high-mass star formation can provide crucial constraints, but they are challenging…

Pre-stellar cores represent the initial conditions in the process of star and planet formation. Their low temperatures ($<$10 K) allow the formation of thick icy dust mantles, which will be partially preserved in the future protoplanetary…

We study star formation in the Center Ridge 1 (CR1) clump in the Vela C giant molecular cloud, selected as a high column density region that shows the lowest level of dust continuum polarization angle dispersion, likely indicating that the…

We present new NH3 (1,1), (2,2), and (4,4) observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) compiled with work in the literature to explore the range of conditions observed in young, massive star-forming regions. To sample the…

Tracing dust in small dense molecular cores is a powerful tool to study the conditions required for ices to form during the pre-stellar phase. To study these environments, five molecular cores were observed: three with ongoing low-mass star…

(abridged) We develop the mid-infrared extinction (MIREX) mapping technique of Butler & Tan (2009, Paper I), presenting a new method to correct for the Galactic foreground emission based on observed saturation in independent cores. Using…

The earliest phases of massive star formation are found in cold and dense infrared dark clouds (IRDCs). Since the detection method of IRDCs is very sensitive to the local properties of the background emission, we present here an alternative…

Star formation is a series of mass assembly processes and starless cores, those cold and dense condensations in molecular clouds, play a pivotal role as initial seeds of stars. With only a limited sample of known starless cores, however,…

We have measured the deuterium fractionation (through the column density ratio N(N2D+)/N(N2H+)) and the CO depletion factor (ratio between expected and observed CO abundance) in a sample of 10 high-mass protostellar candidates, in order to…