A SiO J = 5 → 4 Survey Toward Massive Star Formation Regions

Abstract

We performed a survey in the SiO J = 5 → 4 line toward a sample of 199 Galactic massive star-forming regions at different evolutionary stages with the Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) 10 m and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) 10.4 m telescopes. The sample consists of 44 infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), 86 protostellar candidates, and 69 young H ii regions. We detected SiO J = 5 → 4 line emission in 102 sources, with a detection rate of 57%, 37%, and 65% for IRDCs, protostellar candidates, and young H ii regions, respectively. We find both broad line emissions with full widths at zero power >20 km s−1 and narrow line emissions of SiO in objects at various evolutionary stages, likely associated with high-velocity shocks and low-velocity shocks, respectively. The SiO luminosities do not show apparent differences among various evolutionary stages in our sample. We find no correlation between the SiO abundance and the luminosity-to-mass ratio, indicating that the SiO abundance does not vary significantly in regions at different evolutionary stages of star formation.