ALMA-IRDC from cloud to core scales

We combine these results with a homogenized catalogue of literature cores to recover the hierarchical structure within these clouds over four orders of magnitude in spatial scale (0.01-10 pc). Using supplementary observations at an even higher angular resolution, we find that the smallest fragments (<0.02 pc) within this hierarchy do not currently have the mass and-or the density required to form high-mass stars. None the less, the new ALMA observations presented in this paper have facilitated the identification of 19 (6 quiescent and 13 star-forming) cores that retain > 16 M_{sun}_ without further fragmentation.

These high-mass cores contain trans-sonic non-thermal motions, are kinematically sub-virial, and require moderate magnetic field strengths for support against collapse. The identification of these potential sites of HMSF represents a key step in allowing us to test the predictions from high-mass star and cluster formation theories.