Assessing Self-Absorbed Molecular Lines as Tracers of Gravitational Collapse

[2509.25399] Assessing Self-Absorbed Molecular Lines as Tracers of Gravitational Collapse Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Astrophysics > Astrophysics of Galaxies arXiv:2509.25399 (astro-ph) [Submitted on 29 Sep 2025 ( v1 ), last revised 26 Aug 2026 (this version, v2)] Title: Assessing Self-Absorbed Molecular Lines as Tracers of Gravitational Collapse Authors: Lillian Y. Cai (1 and 2), Felix D. Priestley (1), Sarah E. Ragan (1) ((1) School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, (2) Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University) View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: Red-shifted self-absorption features in molecular lines are commonly interpreted as signatures of gravitational collapse in pre- and protostellar cores. The shape of the line profile then encodes information on the dynamics of the collapse. There exist well-established observational techniques to estimate infall velocities from these profiles, but these have historically been calibrated on constant-velocity slab models, whereas more realistic simulations of gravitational collapse produce highly non-uniform radial velocity profiles. We produce synthetic line observations of a simulated collapsing prestellar core, including a treatment of the time-dependent chemical evolution. Applying observational techniques to the synthetic line profiles, we find that the estimated infall velocities are significantly and systematically lower than the mass-weighted infall velocities from the simulation. This is primarily because the self-absorption features tend to originate from the outer regions of the core, well beyond the location of the peak infall velocity. Velocities and mass accretion rates measured via these techniques are likely to underestimate the true values. Comments: 8 pages, 6 figures, Published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) Cite as: arXiv:2509.25399 [astro-ph.GA] (or arXiv:2509.25399v2 [astro-ph.GA] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2509.25399 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Related DOI : https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.168761 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Lillian Cai [ view email ] [v1] Mon, 29 Sep 2025 18:55:39 UTC (452 KB) [v2] Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:19:48 UTC (452 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: astro-ph.GA < prev | next > new | recent | 2025-09 Change to browse by: astro-ph astro-ph.SR References & Citations SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab)

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