2020ApJ...891...66N

The non-uniform distribution of gas and protostars in molecular clouds is caused by combinations of various physical processes that are difficult to separate. We explore this non-uniform distribution in the M17 molecular cloud complex that hosts massive star formation activity using the ¹²CO (J = 1-0) and ¹³CO (J = 1-0) emission lines obtained with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. Differences in clump properties such as mass, size, and gravitational boundedness reflect the different evolutionary stages of the M17-H II and M17-IRDC clouds. Clumps in the M17-H II cloud are denser, more compact, and more gravitationally bound than those in M17-IRDC. While M17-H II hosts a large fraction of very dense gas (27%) that has a column density larger than the threshold of ∼1 g cm^–2 theoretically predicted for massive star formation, this very dense gas is deficient in M17-IRDC (0.46%). Our HCO⁺ (J = 1-0) and HCN (J = 1-0) observations with the Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory 14 m telescope trace all gas with a column density higher than 3 x 10²² cm^–2, confirming the deficiency of high-density (>=10⁵ cm^–3) gas in M17-IRDC. Although M17-IRDC is massive enough to potentially form massive stars, its deficiency of very dense gas and gravitationally bound clumps can explain the current lack of massive star formation.