Submillimetre Studies of Prestellar and Starless Cores in the Ophiuchus, Taurus and Cepheus Molecular Clouds

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Focusing on the starless core populations within three nearby molecular clouds, this thesis utilizes data from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and the Herschel Space Observatory. It measures the temperatures, masses, and stability of these cores, employing detailed virial analysis to assess their resistance to collapse. The findings reveal that starless cores are primarily confined by external pressure rather than self-gravity. An analytical model is introduced, suggesting that cores can evolve due to virial stability, challenging the definition of prestellar cores based solely on gravitational binding.