Towards a physically motivated core definition: The Pipe Nebula as seen in Herschel-Planck emission and NIR extinction

We construct high-resolution column-density and effective-temperature maps for the Pipe nebula region based on sub-mm/far-infrared and near-infrared data. Based on these maps, we show that the slope of the relation between column density and temperature can be used to distinguish dense from diffuse regions in the cloud. Therefore, temperature information could be employed in one of the criteria to define cores in a physically motivated fashion.