Embedded filaments in IRAS 05463+2652: early stage of fragmentation and star formation activities

Abstract

We present a multi-wavelength data analysis of IRAS 05463+2652 (hereafter I05463+2652) to study star formation mechanisms. A shell-like structure around I05463+2652 is evident in the Herschel column density map, which is not associated with any ionized emission. Based on the Herschel sub-millimeter images, several parsec-scale filaments (including two elongated filaments, "s-fl" and "nw-fl" having lengths of ~6.4 pc and ~8.8 pc, respectively) are investigated in I05463+2652 site. Herschel temperature map depicts all these features in a temperature range of ~11-13 K. 39 clumps are identified and have masses between ~70-945 M$_\odot$. A majority of clumps (having M_clump >= 300 M$_\odot$) are distributed toward the shell-like structure. 175 young stellar objects (YSOs) are selected using the photometric 1-5 microns data and a majority of these YSOs are distributed toward the four areas of high column density >= 5 x 10^{21} cm^{-2}; A_V ~5.3 mag) in the shell-like structure, where massive clumps and a spatial association with filament(s) are also observed. The knowledge of observed masses per unit length of elongated filaments and critical mass length reveals that they are supercritical. The filament "nw-fl" is fragmented into five clumps (having M_clump ~100-545 M$_\odot$) and contains noticeable YSOs, while the other filament "s-fl" is fragmented into two clumps (having M_clump ~170-215 M$_\odot$) without YSOs. Together, these observational results favor the role of filaments in star formation process in I05480+2545. This study also reveals the filament "s-fl", containing two starless clumps, at an early stage of fragmentation.