Wide-Field $^{12}$CO ($J=2-1$) and $^{13}$CO ($J=2-1$) Observations toward the Aquila Rift and Serpens Molecular Cloud Complexes. I. Molecular Clouds and Their Physical Properties

Abstract

We present results of wide-field $^{12}$CO ($J = 2 - 1$) and $^{13}$CO ($J = 2 - 1$) observations toward the Aquila Rift and Serpens molecular cloud complexes (25$^\circ < l < 33^\circ$ and $1^\circ < b < 6^\circ$) at an angular resolution of 3$'$.4 ($\approx$ 0.25 pc) and at a velocity resolution of 0.079 km s$^{-1}$ with the velocity coverage of $-5$ km s$^{-1} < V_{\rm LSR} <$ 35 km s$^{-1}$. We found that the $^{13}$CO emission better traces the structures seen in the extinction map and derived the $X_{\rm ^{13}CO}$-factor of this region. Applying \texttt{SCIMES} to the $^{13}$CO data cube, we identified 61 clouds and derived their masses, radii, and line widths. The line-width-radius relation of the identified clouds basically follows those of nearby molecular clouds. Majority of the identified clouds are close to virial equilibrium although the dispersion is large. By inspecting the $^{12}$CO channel maps by eye, we found several arcs which are spatially extended to 0.2 $-$ 3 degree in length. In the longitude-velocity diagrams of $^{12}$CO, we also found the two spatially-extended components which appear to converge toward Serpens South and W40 region. The existence of two components with different velocities and arcs suggests that large-scale expanding bubbles and/or flows play a role in the formation and evolution of the Serpens South and W40 cloud.