The Mass Function of Molecular Cloud Cores

Abstract

The mass function of molecular cloud cores is described in terms of the power spectrum of the density fluctuation field in a filamentary molecular cloud by using Press-Schechter formalism. In contrast to the cosmological applications, the shape of the resultant mass function is time-dependent owing to the wavenumber-dependent growth rate of the perturbation in the filamentary configuration. The validity of the description can be directly examined by the observational determination of both the mass function of molecular cloud cores in the filament and the power spectrum of the mass distribution in the longitudinal direction of the filament.