Abstract

In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the IRS 17 filament within the intermediate-mass protocluster IRAS 08448-4343 (of similar to 10(3)L(circle dot)), using ALMA data from the ATOMS 3 mm and QUARKS 1.3 mm surveys. The IRS 17 filament, which spans similar to 54,000 au (0.26 pc) in length and similar to 4000 au (0.02 pc) in width, exhibits a complex, multicomponent velocity field and harbors hierarchical substructures. These substructures include three bundles of seven velocity-coherent fibers and 29 dense (n similar to 10(8) cm(-3)) condensations. The fibers have a median length of similar to 4500 au and a median width of similar to 1400 au. Among these fibers, four are identified as "fertile," each hosting at least three dense condensations, which are regarded as the "seeds" of star formation. While the detected cores are randomly spaced within the IRS 17 filament based on the 3 mm dust continuum image, periodic spacing (similar to 1600 au) of condensations is observed in the fertile fibers according to the 1.3 mm dust map, consistent with the predictions of linear isothermal cylinder fragmentation models. These findings underscore the crucial role of fibers in star formation and suggest a hierarchical fragmentation process that extends from the filament to the fibers and, ultimately, to the smallest-scale condensations.