  Long wavelength sonic oscillations are observed or inferred in many of the
small, dark molecular clouds, the starless cores, that are the precursors to
protostars. The oscillations provide significant internal energy and the time
scale for their dissipation may control the rate of star formation in the
starless cores. Despite their importance, their origin is unknown. We explore
one hypothesis that the oscillations develop as a starless core forms from a
filament. We model this process with a numerical hydrodynamic simulation and
generate synthetic molecular line observations with a radiative transfer
simulation. Comparison with actual observations shows general agreement
suggesting the proposed mechanism is viable.
