Talk abstract

Star formation is a process of mass transfer from the parent molecular cloud through the dense protostellar envelope to disk and star. While the mass of the protostar itself is unknown, the mass of the accreting envelope can be estimated from submillimetre fluxes and molecular lines. Observational constraints on the evolution of envelope mass through the protostellar stages come from (1) the snapshot distribution of envelope masses for protostars evolving through the different classes and (2) the mass loss rates from their envelopes via molecular outflows. Using SCUBA and HARP observations of the Perseus molecular cloud, I show that mass loss in outflows is insufficient to set the star formation efficiency and thus the scaling between the CMF and the IMF. I also look at the extent to which varying times in the Class 0 phase affect the observed mass distributions, and what can therefore be concluded about the masses of cores which contribute stars to the IMF.