ALMA resolved views of molecular filaments/clumps in the Large Magellanic Cloud: A possible gas flow penetrating one of the most massive protocluster systems in the Local Group

Abstract

Abstract We present spatially resolved molecular filaments and clumps in the high-mass star-forming regions N159E-Papillon, W-South, and W-North in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Our ALMA observations in CO isotopes and millimeter continuum revealed remarkable hub-filament systems with a typical width of 0.1 pc. The most massive clump in the observed regions, N159W-North MMS-2, shows an especially massive/dense nature whose total H2 mass and peak column density are ∼104 M ⊙ and ∼1024 cm−2, respectively, and harbors massive (∼100 M ⊙) starless core candidates. The hub-filamentary clouds in the three regions share a common orientation and have 10–30 pc scale head-tail structures with active star formation at the tips. Their striking similarity proposes a “teardrops-inflow” model, i.e., substructured conversing H i flow, that explains the synchronized, extreme star formation across ∼50 pc, including one of the most massive protocluster clumps in the Local Group.