Structures of dust in Perseus molecular cloud

We identify 58 clumps in the submillimeter map, and we identify 39 structures (cores) and 11 associations of structures (super cores) in the extinction map. The cumulative mass distributions of the submillimeter clumps and extinction cores have steep slopes (alpha~2 and 1.5-2, respectively), steeper than the Salpeter initial mass function (IMF; alpha=1.35), while the distribution of extinction super cores has a shallow slope (alpha~1).

Most of the submillimeter clumps are well fit by stable Bonnor-Ebert spheres with 10K<T<19K and 5.5<log_10_(Pext/k)<0.6. The clumps are found only in the highest column density regions (AV>5-7mag), although Bonnor-Ebert models suggest that we should have been able to detect them at lower column densities if they exist.