The earliest phases of high-mass star formation, as seen in NGC 6334 by Herschel-HOBYS

Abstract

Aims: To constrain models of high-mass star formation, the Herschel-HOBYS key program aims at discovering massive dense cores (MDCs) able to host the high-mass analogs of low-mass prestellar cores, which have been searched for over the past decade. We here focus on NGC 6334, one of the best-studied HOBYS molecular cloud complexes. <BR /> Methods: We used Herschel/PACS and SPIRE 70-500 μm images of the NGC 6334 complex complemented with (sub)millimeter and mid-infrared data. We built a complete procedure to extract 0.1 pc dense cores with the getsources software, which simultaneously measures their far-infrared to millimeter fluxes. We carefully estimated the temperatures and masses of these dense cores from their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We also identified the densest pc-scale cloud structures of NGC 6334, one 2 pc × 1 pc ridge and two 0.8 pc × 0.8 pc hubs, with volume-averaged densities of 10<SUP>5</SUP> cm<SUP>-3</SUP>. <BR /> Results: A cross-correlation with high-mass star formation signposts suggests a mass threshold of 75 M<SUB>☉</SUB> for MDCs in NGC 6334. MDCs have temperatures of 9.5-40 K, masses of 75-1000 M<SUB>☉</SUB>, and densities of 1 × 10<SUP>5</SUP>-7 × 10<SUP>7</SUP> cm<SUP>-3</SUP>. Their mid-infrared emission is used to separate 6 IR-bright and 10 IR-quiet protostellar MDCs while their 70 μm emission strength, with respect to fitted SEDs, helps identify 16 starless MDC candidates. The ability of the latter to host high-mass prestellar cores is investigated here and remains questionable. An increase in mass and density from the starless to the IR-quiet and IR-bright phases suggests that the protostars and MDCs simultaneously grow in mass. The statistical lifetimes of the high-mass prestellar and protostellar core phases, estimated to be 1-7 × 10<SUP>4</SUP> yr and at most 3 × 10<SUP>5</SUP> yr respectively, suggest a dynamical scenario of high-mass star formation. <BR /> Conclusions: The present study provides good mass estimates for a statistically significant sample, covering the earliest phases of high-mass star formation. High-mass prestellar cores may not exist in NGC 6334, favoring a scenario presented here, which simultaneously forms clouds, ridges, MDCs, and high-mass protostars. <P />Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA. Catalogs built from Tables A.1-A.12, are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to <A href="http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr">http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr</A> (<A href="http://130.79.128.5">http://130.79.128.5</A>) or via <A href="http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/602/A77">http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/602/A77