The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: radiative heating by OB stars
Rumble, D; Hatchell, J; Kirk, H; et al.Pattle, K
Date: 27 May 2021
Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Royal Astronomical Society / Oxford University Press
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Radiative feedback can influence subsequent star formation. We quantify the heating from OB stars in the local starforming regions in the JCMT Gould Belt survey. Dust temperatures are calculated from 450/850 µm flux ratios from
SCUBA-2 observations at the JCMT assuming a fixed dust opacity spectral index β = 1.8. Mean dust temperatures
are ...
Radiative feedback can influence subsequent star formation. We quantify the heating from OB stars in the local starforming regions in the JCMT Gould Belt survey. Dust temperatures are calculated from 450/850 µm flux ratios from
SCUBA-2 observations at the JCMT assuming a fixed dust opacity spectral index β = 1.8. Mean dust temperatures
are calculated for each submillimetre clump along with projected distances from the main OB star in the region.
Temperature vs. distance is fit with a simple model of dust heating by the OB star radiation plus the interstellar
radiation field and dust cooling through optically thin radiation. Classifying the heating sources by spectral type,
O-type stars produce the greatest clump average temperature rises and largest heating extent, with temperatures
over 40 K and significant heating out to at least 2.4 pc. Early-type B stars (B4 and above) produce temperatures of
over 20 K and significant heating over 0.4 pc. Late-type B stars show a marginal heating effect within 0.2 pc. For
a given projected distance, there is a significant scatter in clump temperatures that is due to local heating by other
luminous stars in the region, projection effects, or shadowing effects. Even in these local, ‘low-mass’ star-forming
regions, radiative feedback is having an effect on parsec scales, with 24% of the clumps heated to at least 3 K above
the 15 K base temperature expected from heating by only the interstellar radiation field, and a mean dust temperature
for heated clumps of 24 K.
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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