N2H(+) in the Orion ambient ridge - Cloud clumping versus rotation
The IRAM 30-m telescope is used to obtain spectra of the J = 1 yields 0 transition of N2H(+) over a 2 x 2 arcsec area toward the Orion-KL/IRc2 star-forming region with 26-arcsec angular resolution. The N2H(+) emission, which exclusively traces the ridge gas, exhibits multiple radial velocities which appear to arise from the presence of at least four clouds of quiescent material. It is argued that the velocity structure of N2H(+) does not uniformly change across OMC-1 and, consequently, is inconsistent with the presence of large-scale differential rotation of the extended ridge along the SW-NE axis about IRc2. The coincidence of the two larger clouds with star-forming activity in Orion-KL suggests that either the quiescent gas is being pushed apart or that the star formation may have been triggered by a cloud-cloud interaction.