Probing pre-protostellar cores with formaldehyde

We present maps of the 6 cm and 1.3 mm transitions of H2CO toward three cold, dense pre-protostellar cores (PPCs): L1498, L1512, and L1544. The 6 cm transition is a unique probe of high-density gas at low temperature. However, our models unequivocally indicate that H2CO is depleted in the interiors of PPCs, and depletion significantly affects how H2CO probes the earliest stages of star formation. Multistage, self-consistent models, including gas-dust energetics, of both H2CO transitions are presented, and the implications of the results are discussed.