ATOMS: ALMA three-millimeter observations of massive star-forming regions – III. Catalogues of candidate hot molecular cores and hyper/ultra compact H <scp>ii</scp> regions
Hongli Liu, Tie Liu, Neal J. Evans, Ke Wang, Guido Garay, Sheng‐Li Qin, Shanghuo Li, Amelia M. Stutz, P. F. Goldsmith, Sheng‐Yuan Liu, Anandmayee Tej, Qizhou Zhang, M. Juvela, Di Li, Junzhi Wang, L. Bronfman, Zhiyuan Ren, Yuefang Wu, Kee‐Tae Kim, Chang Won Lee, Ken’ichi Tatematsu, Maria Cunningham, Xunchuan Liu, Jingwen Wu, Tomoya Hirota, Jeong‐Eun Lee, Pak Shing Li, Sung-Ju Kang, Diego Mardones, I. Ristorcelli, Yong Zhang, Qiuyi Luo, L. Viktor Tóth, Hee-Weon Yi, Hyeong-Sik Yun, Yaping Peng, Juan Li, Feng-Yao Zhu, Zhi-Qiang Shen, Tapas Baug, L. K. Dewangan, Chakali Eswaraiah, Rong Liu, Fengwei Xu, Yu Wang, Chao Zhang, Jinzeng Li, Chao Zhang, Jianwen Zhou, Mengyao Tang, Qiaowei Xue, Namitha Issac, Archana Soam, R. H. Álvarez-Gutiérrez
Abstract
ABSTRACT We have identified 453 compact dense cores in 3 mm continuum emission maps in the ALMA Three-millimetre Observations of Massive Star-forming regions survey, and compiled three catalogues of high-mass star-forming cores. One catalogue, referred to as hyper/ultra compact (H/UC)-H ii catalogue, includes 89 cores that enshroud H/UC H ii regions as characterized by associated compact H40α emission. A second catalogue, referred to as pure s-cHMC, includes 32 candidate hot molecular cores (HMCs) showing rich spectra (N ≥ 20 lines) of complex organic molecules (COMs) and not associated with H/UC-H ii regions. The third catalogue, referred to as pure w-cHMC, includes 58 candidate HMCs with relatively low levels of COM richness and not associated with H/UC-H ii regions. These three catalogues of dense cores provide an important foundation for future studies of the early stages of high-mass star formation across the Milky Way. We also find that nearly half of H/UC-H ii cores are candidate HMCs. From the number counts of COM-containing and H/UC-H ii cores, we suggest that the duration of high-mass protostellar cores showing chemically rich features is at least comparable to the lifetime of H/UC-H ii regions. For cores in the H/UC-H ii catalogue, the width of the H40α line increases as the core size decreases, suggesting that the non-thermal dynamical and/or pressure line-broadening mechanisms dominate on the smaller scales of the H/UC-H ii cores.