The Carina Flare

What can fragments in the wall tell us?^⋆,⋆⋆

¹ Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Bocni II 1401–2a, Prague, Czech Republic
e-mail: richard@wunsch.cz
² Excellence Cluster “Universe”, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
³ School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay Campus, Churchill Avenue, Sandy Bay, TAS 7005, Australia
⁴ Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan

Received: 9 September 2011
Accepted: 18 December 2011

Abstract

¹³CO(J = 2–1) and C¹⁸O(J = 2–1) observations of the molecular cloud G285.90+4.53 (Cloud 16) in the Carina Flare supershell (GSH287+04-17) with the APEX telescope are presented. With an algorithm DENDROFIND we identify 51 fragments and compute their sizes and masses. We discuss their mass spectrum and interpret it as being the result of the shell fragmentation process described by the pressure assisted gravitational instability – PAGI. We conclude that the explanation of the clump mass function needs a combination of gravity with pressure external to the shell.