ATLASGAL dense filamentary structures

We find many examples where the dense filaments identified in ATLASGAL are associated with larger scale filamentary structures (~100pc), and argue that this is likely to be common, and as such these may indicate a connection between large-scale Galactic dynamics and star formation. We have produced a large and Galaxy-wide catalogue of dense filamentary structures that are representative of a particular size and mass range not previously well studied in the literature.

Analyses of the properties and distribution of these filaments reveals that they are correlated with the spiral arms and make a significant contribution to star formation in the Galaxy. Massive star formation is ongoing within ~20% of the filaments and is strongly correlated with the filaments with the largest mass-to- length ratios. The luminosity of the embedded sources has a similar distribution to the Galactic-wide samples of young massive stars and can therefore be considered to be representative.