* Astronomy

Title: Herschel Observations of a Potential Core Forming Clump: Perseus B1-E
Authors: S. I. Sadavoy, J. Di Francesco, Ph. Andre, S. Pezzuto, J.-P. Bernard, S. Bontemps, E. Bressert, S. Chitsazzadeh, C. Fallscheer, M. Hennemann, T. Hill, P. Martin, F. Motte, Q. Nguyen Luong, N. Peretto, M. Reid, N. Schneider, L. Testi, G. J. White, C. Wilson

We present continuum observations of the Perseus B1-E region from the Herschel Gould Belt Survey. These Herschel data reveal a loose grouping of substructures at 160 - 500 micron not seen in previous submillimetre observations. We measure temperature and column density from these data and select the nine densest and coolest substructures for follow-up spectral line observations with the Green Bank Telescope. We find that the B1-E clump has a mass of ~ 100 solar masses and appears to be gravitationally bound. Furthermore, of the nine substructures examined here, one substructure (B1-E2) appears to be itself bound. The substructures are typically less than a Jeans length from their nearest neighbour and thus, may interact on a timescale of ~ 1 Myr. We propose that B1-E may be forming a first generation of dense cores, which could provide important constraints on the initial conditions of prestellar core formation. Our results suggest that B1-E may be influenced by a strong, localised magnetic field, but further observations are still required.

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