In Search for Infall Gas in Molecular Clouds: A Catalogue of CO Blue-Profiles

Abstract

Abstract We have started a systematic survey of molecular clumps with infall motions to study the very early phase of star formation. Our first step is to utilize the data products by MWISP to make an unbiased survey for blue asymmetric line profiles of CO isotopical molecules. Within a total area of ∼2400 square degrees nearby the Galactic plane, we have found 3533 candidates showing blue-profiles, in which 3329 are selected from the 12CO&13CO pair and 204 are from the 13CO&C18O pair. Exploration of the parametric spaces suggests our samples are in the cold phase with relatively high column densities ready for star formation. Analysis of the spatial distribution of our samples suggests that they exist virtually in all major components of the galaxy. The vertical distribution suggest that the sources are located mainly in the thick disk of ∼85 pc, but still a small part are located far beyond Galactic midplane. Our follow-up observation indicates that these candidates are a good sample to start a search for infall motions, and to study the condition of very early phase of star formation.