Cloud–Cloud Collision: Formation of Hub-filament Systems and Associated Gas Kinematics. Mass-collecting Cone—A New Signature of Cloud–Cloud Collision

Abstract

Massive star-forming regions (MSFRs) are commonly associated with hub-filament systems (HFSs) and sites of cloud–cloud collision (CCC). Recent observational studies of some MSFRs suggest a possible connection between CCC and the formation of HFSs. To understand this connection, we analyzed the magnetohydrodynamic simulation data from Inoue et al. This simulation involves the collision of a spherical turbulent molecular cloud with a plane-parallel sea of dense molecular gas at a relative velocity of about 10 km s−1. Following the collision, the turbulent and nonuniform cloud undergoes shock compression, rapidly developing filamentary structures within the compressed layer. We found that CCC can lead to the formation of HFSs, which is the combined effect of turbulence, shock compression, magnetic field, and gravity. The collision between the cloud components shapes the filaments into a cone and drives inward flows among them. These inward flows merge at the vertex of the cone, rapidly accumulating high-density gas, which can lead to the formation of massive star(s). The cone acts as a mass-collecting machine, involving a nongravitational early process of filament formation, followed by gravitational gas attraction to finalize the HFS. The gas distribution in the position–velocity (PV) and position–position spaces highlights the challenges in detecting two cloud components and confirming their complementary distribution if the colliding clouds have a large size difference. However, such CCC events can be confirmed by the PV diagrams presenting gas flow toward the vertex of the cone, which hosts gravitationally collapsing high-density objects, and by the magnetic field morphology curved toward the direction of the collision.