We investigate the global properties of the straight and isolated filamentary cloud G350.54 + 0.69 using Herschel continuum and APEX molecular line data .
The overall straight morphology is similar to two other well studied nearby filaments ( Musca and Taurus-B211/3 ) while the isolated nature of G350.54 + 0.69 appears similar to Musca .
G350.54 + 0.69 is composed of two distinct filaments with a length \sim 5.9 pc for G350.5-N ( \sim 2.3 pc for G350.5-S ) , a total mass of \sim 810 M _ { \odot } ( \sim 110 M _ { \odot } ) , and a mean temperature of \sim 18.2 K ( \sim 17.7 K ) .
We identify 9 dense and gravitationally bound cores in the whole cloud G350.54 + 0.69 .
The separations between cores and the line mass of the whole cloud appear to follow the predictions of the “ sausage ” instability theory , which suggests that G350.54 + 0.69 could have undergone radial collapse and fragmentation .
The presence of young protostars is consistent with this hypothesis .
The line masses of the two filaments ( \sim 120 M _ { \odot } pc ^ { -1 } for G350.5-N , and \sim 45 M _ { \odot } pc ^ { -1 } for G350.5-S ) , mass-size distributions of the dense cores , and low-mass protostars collectively suggest that G350.54 + 0.69 is a site of ongoing low-mass star formation .
Based on the above evidence , we place G350.54 + 0.69 in an intermediate evolutionary state between Musca and Taurus-B211/3 .
We suggest that investigations into straight ( and isolated ) versus those distributed inside molecular clouds may provide important clues into filament formation and evolution .