WUNA Lunch Talk:

Sarah Sadavoy

University of Victoria

A Tale of Two Clumps: New Herschel Observations of Perseus B1-E and B1

October 17

12:10PM, Room 230, NRAO, Edgemont Road

Abstract:

Studies with new far-infrared, submillimeter, and radio instrumentation are expanding our understanding of star formation. In particular, the Herschel Space Observatory and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) are providing continuum data from 70 microns to 850 microns of nearby molecular clouds at unparalleled sensitivities. Here, I present recent observations of two molecular clumps in the Perseus cloud, B1-E and B1, made as part of the larger Herschel and JCMT Gould Belt Surveys. The B1-E clump is unusual; it contains significant material at high column densities but no young stellar objects. For B1-E, Herschel (and GBT) data reveal previously undetected substructure, suggesting that the clump is fragmenting into cores for the first time. In contrast, the B1 clump is a known star-forming region with several young stellar objects. For B1, Herschel and JCMT data reveal significant variations in the dust opacity, with lower values of beta, the dust opacity power-law index, towards the prestellar and protostellar cores found in the clump center. These opacity variations likely reflect differences in the evolution of the dust grains themselves, and affect determinations of the core masses. Finally, I discuss the prospects of new analyses of the Herschel and JCMT Gould Belt datasets.