Molecular cloud cores in the Orion A cloud. I - Nobeyama CS (1-0) survey

Abstract

A first high-resolution survey of molecular cloud cores in the Orion A giant molecular cloud is reported. We identified 125 molecular cloud cores from an analysis of the spatial and velocity distribution of the CS (1-0) emission. The cores are generally elongated along the filamentary molecular cloud, and the axial ratio is about 0.5. The mass spectrum index of the cores is -1.6 for M≥50 M ○ .. The physical properties of the cores identified in Orion are compared with those of cores in dark clouds reported in the literature. The average radius of the cores in the Orion A cloud, 0.16 pc, is comparable to that of the cores in dark clouds