The ALMA Survey of 70 \textmum Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). XIII. Core Mass Function, Lifetime, and Growth of Prestellar Cores
Abstract
The core mass function (CMF) of prestellar cores is essential for understanding the initial conditions of star and cluster formation. However, the universality of the CMF and its relationship to the initial mass function (IMF) remain unclear. We study the CMF in the earliest stage of high-mass star formation using 461 prestellar core candidates and 254 protostellar cores as a part of the ALMA Survey of 70 µm Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). We find that prestellar core candidates tend to have lower masses than protostellar cores. We also find that the lifetime of prestellar cores is several times longer than the freefall time, although it approaches the freefall time as the core mass increases. The CMF, including both protostellar and prestellar cores, has a power-law slope of −2.05 ± 0.04, shallower than Salpeter’s IMF slope of −2.35. Conversely, the CMF of gravitationally bound, prestellar cores has a steeper slope (−2.32 ± 0.30), indistinguishable from Salpeter’s slope. This finding is consistent with observations in both low-mass star-forming regions and high-mass protoclusters, implying a universal core formation mechanism. The protostellar CMF with a larger maximum core mass can be reproduced by the prestellar CMF when an external gas infall is considered. The inferred mass infall rate is higher than the Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton accretion rate and follows a shallower mass dependence (smaller power-law index), more consistent with the tidal-lobe accretion. This may contribute to the evolution of CMFs seen in later stages.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{morii2026alma,
title = {{The ALMA Survey of 70 \textmum Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). XIII. Core Mass Function, Lifetime, and Growth of Prestellar Cores}},
author = {Kaho Morii and Patricio Sanhueza and Qizhou Zhang and Giovanni Sabatini and Shanghuo Li and Fabien Louvet and Henrik Beuther and Fernando A. Olguin and Shuting Lin and Daniel Tafoya and Takeshi Sakai and Xing Lu and Fumitaka Nakamura},
journal = {Architecture and Planning Journal},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae25f6},
eprint = {2512.00147},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05847867v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The ALMA Survey of 70 \textmum Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). XIII. Core Mass Function, Lifetime, and Growth of Prestellar Cores
AU - Kaho Morii
AU - Patricio Sanhueza
AU - Qizhou Zhang
AU - Giovanni Sabatini
AU - Shanghuo Li
AU - Fabien Louvet
AU - Henrik Beuther
AU - Fernando A. Olguin
AU - Shuting Lin
AU - Daniel Tafoya
AU - Takeshi Sakai
AU - Xing Lu
AU - Fumitaka Nakamura
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - Architecture and Planning Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae25f6
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05847867v1
AB - The core mass function (CMF) of prestellar cores is essential for understanding the initial conditions of star and cluster formation. However, the universality of the CMF and its relationship to the initial mass function (IMF) remain unclear. We study the CMF in the earliest stage of high-mass star formation using 461 prestellar core candidates and 254 protostellar cores as a part of the ALMA Survey of 70 µm Dark High-mass Clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). We find that prestellar core candidates tend to have lower masses than protostellar cores. We also find that the lifetime of prestellar cores is several times longer than the freefall time, although it approaches the freefall time as the core mass increases. The CMF, including both protostellar and prestellar cores, has a power-law slope of −2.05 ± 0.04, shallower than Salpeter’s IMF slope of −2.35. Conversely, the CMF of gravitationally bound, prestellar cores has a steeper slope (−2.32 ± 0.30), indistinguishable from Salpeter’s slope. This finding is consistent with observations in both low-mass star-forming regions and high-mass protoclusters, implying a universal core formation mechanism. The protostellar CMF with a larger maximum core mass can be reproduced by the prestellar CMF when an external gas infall is considered. The inferred mass infall rate is higher than the Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton accretion rate and follows a shallower mass dependence (smaller power-law index), more consistent with the tidal-lobe accretion. This may contribute to the evolution of CMFs seen in later stages.
SN - 2079-4096
SN - 2789-8547
ER -