We present the first results of high-spectral resolution ( 0.023 km s ^ { -1 } ) N _ { 2 } H ^ { + } observations of dense gas dynamics at core scales ( \sim 0.01 pc ) using the recently commissioned Argus instrument on the Green Bank Telescope ( GBT ) .
While the fitted linear velocity gradients across the cores measured in our targets nicely agree with the well-known power-law correlation between the specific angular momentum and core size , it is unclear if the observed gradients represent core-scale rotation .
In addition , our Argus data reveal detailed and intriguing gas structures in position-velocity ( PV ) space for all 5 targets studied in this project , which could suggest that the velocity gradients previously observed in many dense cores actually originate from large-scale turbulence or convergent flow compression instead of rigid-body rotation .
We also note that there are targets in this study with their star-forming disks nearly perpendicular to the local velocity gradients , which , assuming the velocity gradient represents the direction of rotation , is opposite to what is described by the classical theory of star formation .
This provides important insight on the transport of angular momentum within star-forming cores , which is a critical topic on studying protostellar disk formation .