2021ApJ...908...86A

We analyze the gas mass distribution, the gas kinematics, and the young stellar objects of the California Molecular Cloud L1482 filament. The mean Gaia DR2 YSO distance is 511_–16⁺¹⁷ pc. In terms of the gas, the line-mass (M/L) profiles are symmetric scale-free power laws consistent with cylindrical geometry. We calculate the gravitational potential and field profiles based on these. Our IRAM 30 m multi-tracer position-velocity diagrams highlight twisting and turning structures. We measure the C¹⁸O velocity profile perpendicular to the southern filament ridgeline. The profile is regular, confined (projected r <= 0.4 pc), antisymmetric, and, to first order, linear, with a break at r ∼ 0.25 pc. We use a simple solid-body rotation toy model to interpret it. We show that the centripetal force, compared to gravity, increases toward the break; when the ratio of forces approaches unity, the profile turns over, just before the implied filament breakup. The timescales of the inner (outer) gradients are ∼0.7 (6.0) Myr. The timescales and relative roles of gravity to rotation indicate that the structure is stable, long lived (∼a few times 6 Myr), and undergoing outside-in evolution. This filament has practically no star formation, a perpendicular Planck plane-of-the-sky magnetic field morphology, and 2D "zig-zag" morphology, which together with the rotation profile lead to the suggestion that the 3D shape is a "corkscrew" filament. These results, together with results in other regions, suggest evolution toward higher densities as rotating filaments shed angular momentum. Thus, magnetic fields may be an essential feature of high-mass (M ∼ 10⁵ M_☉) cloud filament evolution toward cluster formation.