DENSE GAS IN MOLECULAR CORES ASSOCIATED WITH PLANCK GALACTIC COLD CLUMPS

Abstract

We present the first survey of dense gas toward Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs). Observations in the J = 1–0 transitions of HCO +  and HCN toward 621 molecular cores associated with PGCCs were performed using the Purple Mountain Observatory’s 13.7 m telescope. Among them, 250 sources were detected, including 230 cores detected in HCO +  and 158 in HCN. Spectra of the J = 1–0 transitions from 12 CO, 13 CO, and C 18 O at the centers of the 250 cores were extracted from previous mapping observations to construct a multi-line data set. The significantly low detection rate of asymmetric double-peaked profiles, together with the good consistency among central velocities of CO, HCO + , and HCN spectra, suggests that the CO-selected Planck cores are more quiescent than classical star-forming regions. The small difference between line widths of C 18 O and HCN indicates that the inner regions of CO-selected Planck cores are no more turbulent than the exterior. The velocity-integrated intensities and abundances of HCO +  are positively correlated with those of HCN, suggesting that these two species are well coupled and chemically connected. The detected abundances of both HCO +  and HCN are significantly lower than values in other low- to high-mass star-forming regions. The low abundances may be due to beam dilution. On the basis of an inspection of the parameters given in the PGCC catalog, we suggest that there may be about 1000 PGCC objects that have a sufficient reservoir of dense gas to form stars.