We have undertaken an unprecedentedly large 1.1 millimeter continuum survey of three nearby star forming clouds using Bolocam at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory .
We mapped the largest areas in each cloud at millimeter or submillimeter wavelengths to date : 7.5 deg ^ { 2 } in Perseus ( Paper I ) , 10.8 deg ^ { 2 } in Ophiuchus ( Paper II ) , and 1.5 deg ^ { 2 } in Serpens with a resolution of 31″ , detecting 122 , 44 , and 35 cores , respectively .
Here we report on results of the Serpens survey and compare the three clouds .
Average measured angular core sizes and their dependence on resolution suggest that many of the observed sources are consistent with power-law density profiles .
Tests of the effects of cloud distance reveal that linear resolution strongly affects measured source sizes and densities , but not the shape of the mass distribution .
Core mass distribution slopes in Perseus and Ophiuchus ( \alpha = 2.1 \pm 0.1 and \alpha = 2.1 \pm 0.3 ) are consistent with recent measurements of the stellar IMF , whereas the Serpens distribution is flatter ( \alpha = 1.6 \pm 0.2 ) .
We also compare the relative mass distribution shapes to predictions from turbulent fragmentation simulations .
Dense cores constitute less than 10 % of the total cloud mass in all three clouds , consistent with other measurements of low star-formation efficiencies .
Furthermore , most cores are found at high column densities ; more than 75 % of 1.1 mm cores are associated with \mbox { $A _ { V } $ } \gtrsim 8 mag in Perseus , 15 mag in Serpens , and 20 - 23 mag in Ophiuchus .