Determining radial profiles for prestellar cores detected with Herschel

Here I investigate the Sersic profiles of prestellar cores in the Cepheus flare star-forming region as detected by the Herschel Space Observatory. Specifically, I desire to know the average value of the Sersic Index that describes the shape of these cores and how it differs from that of a Gaussian profile, if at all. I also investigate whether these cores are more centrally or peripherally concentrated than a Gaussian. Though images were obtained at five different wavelengths, I only perform the analysis on the three images taken at 250 μm, 350 μm, and 500 μm wavelengths. Of the 1121 surveyed cores, I find that they are more centrally concentrated with a mean Sersic Index of 0.694, differing from that of a Gaussian by 0.194.