Far-infrared and radio observations of the W31 star-forming region

Abstract

New 150 micron mapping of the W31 star-forming region with a resolution of 1.5 arcmin has resolved 12 sources, including eight new ones. About 35 percent of the emission is of diffuse origin. The IRAS two-dimensional COADD data of the same region at 60 and 100 microns have been deconvolved using a maximum-entropy algorithm. The dust temperature, dust optical depth, far-IR luminosity, and so on, have been derived for individual sources in the star-forming complex; several of these seem to be excited by embedded young stars. One young stellar object with an optically thick ionized envelope has been identified. New high-resolution maps of selected regions around the two most prominent H II regions in the W31 complex, G10.2-0.3 and G10.3-0.1, have been obtained at 5 and 15 GHz using the VLA. The initial mass function for G10.2-0.3 is quite steep. An energetic bipolar outflow source candidate has been found which is proposed to be the mid-IR source in the G10.2-0.3 complex.