Large‐Area Mapping at 850 Microns. II. Analysis of the Clump Distribution in the ρ Ophiuchi Molecular Cloud

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Abstract

We present results from a survey of the central 700 arcmin2 region of the ρ Ophiuchi molecular cloud at 850 μm using the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Using the clump-finding procedure developed by Williams et al., we identify 55 independent objects and compute size, flux, and degree of central concentration. Comparison with isothermal, pressure-confined, self-gravitating Bonnor-Ebert spheres implies that the clumps have internal temperatures of 10-30 K and surface pressures P/k = 106-7 K cm-3, consistent with the expected average pressure in the ρ Ophiuchi central region, P/k ~ 2 × 107 K cm-3. The clump masses span 0.02-6.3 M☉ assuming a dust temperature Td ~ 20 K and a dust emissivity κ850 = 0.01 cm2 g-1. The distribution of clump masses is well characterized by a broken power law, N(M) ∝ M-α, with α = 1.0-1.5 for M > 0.6 M☉ and α = 0.5 for M ≤ 0.6 M☉, although significant incompleteness may affect the slope at the lower mass end. This mass function is in general agreement with the ρ Ophiuchi clump mass function derived at 1.3 mm by Motte et al. The two-point correlation function of the clump separations is measured and reveals clustering on size scales r < 3 × 104 AU with a radial power-law exponent γ = 0.75.

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