2000ApJ...545..327J

We present results from a survey of the central 700 arcmin² region of the ρ Ophiuchi molecular cloud at 850 µm using the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Using the clump-finding procedure developed by Williams et al., we identify 55 independent objects and compute size, flux, and degree of central concentration. Comparison with isothermal, pressure-confined, self-gravitating Bonnor-Ebert spheres implies that the clumps have internal temperatures of 10-30 K and surface pressures P/k=10^6–7 K.cm^–3, consistent with the expected average pressure in the ρ Ophiuchi central region, P/k∼2x10⁷ K.cm^–3. The clump masses span 0.02-6.3 M_☉ assuming a dust temperature T_d∼20 K and a dust emissivity κ₈₅₀=0.01 cm².g^–1. The distribution of clump masses is well characterized by a broken power law, N(M)∝M^–α, with α=1.0-1.5 for M>0.6 M_☉ and α=0.5 for M≤0.6 M_☉, although significant incompleteness may affect the slope at the lower mass end. This mass function is in general agreement with the ρ Ophiuchi clump mass function derived at 1.3 mm by Motte et al. The two-point correlation function of the clump separations is measured and reveals clustering on size scales r<3x10⁴ AU with a radial power-law exponent γ=0.75.