{
  "id": "2104.03987",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2021-04-08T18:00:20.000Z",
  "updated": "2021-04-08T18:00:20.000Z",
  "title": "Investigating the role of magnetic fields in star formation using molecular line profiles",
  "authors": [
    "Charles Yin",
    "Felix D. Priestley",
    "James Wurster"
  ],
  "comment": "8 pages of text, 10 pages in total. Accepted in MNRAS",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA",
    "astro-ph.SR"
  ],
  "abstract": "Determining the importance of magnetic fields in star forming environments is hampered by the difficulty of accurately measuring both field strength and gas properties in molecular clouds. We post-process three-dimensional non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations of prestellar cores with a time-dependent chemical network, and use radiative transfer modelling to calculate self-consistent molecular line profiles. Varying the initial mass-to-flux ratio from sub- to super-critical results in significant changes to both the intensity and shape of several observationally important molecular lines. We identify the peak intensity ratio of N$_2$H$^+$ to CS lines, and the CS $J=2-1$ blue-to-red peak intensity ratio, as promising diagnostics of the initial mass-to-flux ratio, with N$_2$H$^+$/CS values of $>0.6$ ($<0.2$) and CS blue/red values of $<3$ ($>5$) indicating subcritical (supercritial) collapse. These criteria suggest that, despite presently being magnetically supercritical, L1498 formed from subcritical initial conditions.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2021-04-08T18:00:20.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "magnetic fields",
      "star formation",
      "peak intensity ratio",
      "initial mass-to-flux ratio",
      "post-process three-dimensional non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 8,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}