* Astronomy

Title: Evidence For Cloud-Cloud Collision and Parsec-Scale Stellar Feedback Within the L1641-N Region
Authors: Fumitaka Nakamura (NAOJ), Tomoya Miura (Niigata Univ.), Yoshimi Kitamura (JAXA), Yo****o Shimajiri (NRO), Ryohei Kawabe (NRO), Norio Ikeda (JAXA), Takashi Tsukagoshi (Univ. of Tokyo), Munetake Momose (Ibaragi Univ.), Ryoichi Nishi (Niigata Univ.), Zhi-Yun Li (Univ. of Virginia)

We present high spatial resolution ^{12} CO (J=1-0) images taken by the Nobeyama 45m telescope toward a 48' x 48' area including the L1641-N cluster. The effective spatial resolution of the maps is 21", corresponding to 0.04 pc at a distance of 400 pc. A recent 1.1 mm dust continuum map reveals that the dense gas is concentrated in several thin filaments. We find that a few dust filaments are located at the parts where ^{12} CO (J=1-0) emission drops sharply. Furthermore, the filaments have two-components with different velocities. The velocity difference between the two-components is about 3 km s^{-1}, corresponding to a Mach number of 10, significantly larger than the local turbulent velocity in the cloud. These facts imply that the collision of the two components (hereafter, the cloud-cloud collision) possibly contributed to the formation of these filaments. Since the two components appear to overlap toward the filaments on the plane of the sky, the collision may have occurred almost along the line of sight. Star formation in the L1641-N cluster was probably triggered by such a collision. We also find several parsec-scale CO shells whose centers are close to either the L1641-N cluster or V 380 Ori cluster. We propose that these shells were created by multiple winds and/or outflows from cluster YSOs, i.e., "protocluster winds." One exceptional dust filament located at the western cloud edge lies along a shell; it is presumably a part of the expanding shell. Both the cloud-cloud collision and protocluster winds are likely to influence the cloud structure and kinematics in this region.

Read more  (1531kb, PDF)