Discovery of the Carina Flare with NANTEN; Evidence for a Supershell That Triggered the Formation of Stars and Massive Molecular Clouds

Abstract

Abstract We present extensive observations of the Carina arm region in the 2.6 mm CO (J = 1−0) emission with the NANTEN telescope in Chile. The observations have revealed 120 molecular clouds which are distributed in an area of 283° < l < 293° and 2° .5 < b < 10°. Because of its vertical elongation to the galactic plane, the clouds are named the Carina flare. H I and far-infrared emission show a cavity-like distribution corresponding to the molecular clouds, and soft X-ray emission appears to fill this cavity. It is shown that the Carina flare represents a supershell at a distance of a few kpc that has been produced by about 20 supernova explosions, or equivalent stellar winds of OB stars, over the last ∼ 2×107 yr. The supershell consisting of molecular and atomic neutral gas involves a total mass and kinetic energy of ≳ 3×105M⊙ and ≳ 3×1050 erg, respectively, and the originally injected energy required is about 100-times this current kinetic energy in the shell. It is unique among supershells known previously because of the following aspects: i) it exhibits evidence for the triggered formation of intermediate-to-high-mass stars and massive molecular clouds of 102 − 104M⊙, and ii) the massive molecular clouds formed are located unusually far above the galactic plane at z ∼ 100–500 pc.