Massive Quiescent Cores in Orion: VI. The Internal Structures and a Candidate of Transiting Core in NGC 2024 Filament

Abstract

We present a multi-wavelength observational study of the NGC 2024 filament using infrared to sub-millimeter continuum and the NH$_3$ $(1,1)$ and $(2,2)$ inversion transitions centered on FIR-3, the most massive core therein. FIR-3 is found to have no significant infrared point sources in the Spitzer/IRAC bands. But the NH$_3$ kinetic temperature map shows a peak value at the core center with $T_{\rm k}=25$ K which is significantly higher than the surrounding level ($T_{\rm k}=15-19$ K). Such internal heating signature without an infrared source suggests an ongoing core collapse possibly at a transition stage from first hydrostatic core (FHSC) to protostar. The eight dense cores in the filament have dust temperatures between 17.5 and 22 K. They are much cooler than the hot ridge ($T_{\rm d}=55$ K) around the central heating star IRS-2b. Comparison with a dust heating model suggests that the filament should have a distance of $3-5$ pc from IRS-2b. This value is much larger than the spatial extent of the hot ridge, suggesting that the filament is spatially separated from the hot region along the line of sight.