Models of molecular cloud cores. II - Multitransition study of CS-34

The dense cores embedded in the M17, S140 and NGC 2024 molecular clouds are mapped in the J = 5-4, J = 3-2, and J = 2-1 transitions of CS-34, and these lines are found to be a factor of 3-4 weaker, and 25 percent narrower, than the CS lines mapped in these cores by Snell et al. (1984). The data are well fitted by spherical LGV models for the excitation, and the excellent correlation between the CS-34 and CS column densities corroborates the absence of a systematic increase in the gas density with decreasing core radius found by Snell et al. Though the CS/CS-34 column density ratio is 9-17, rather than the terrestrial value of 22.5, the column density relationship is linear. The data support of a clump model in which the column density distribution in the core is determined by the volume filling factor of clumps with high, fairly uniform gas density, and it is suggested that the dense gas in the data represents the dominant component of the core gas.