Sequential Star Formation in Taurus Molecular Cloud 1

Abstract

We discuss the fragmentation of a filamentary cloud on the basis of a 1-dimensional hydrodynamical simulation of a self-gravitating gas cloud. The simulation shows that dense cores are produced with a semi-regular interval in space and time from one edge to the other. At the initial stage the gas near one of the edges is attracted inwards by gravity and the accumulation of the gas makes a dense core near the edge. When the dense core grows in mass up to a certain amount, it gathers gas from the other direction. Accordingly the dense core becomes isolated from the main cloud and the parent filamentary cloud has a new edge. This cycle repeats and the fragmentation process propagates towards the other edge. The propagation speed is a few tens of percent larger than the sound speed. According to the theory, the age difference for the northwest-most and southeast-most cores in TMC-1 is estimated to be 0.68~pc/0.6~km~s$^{-1}$ = $ 10 ^6 $~y. The estimated age difference is consistent with that obtained from the chemical chronology.