| Abstract
| - Context. Studies of the interstellar medium and the pre-stellar cloud evolution require spectral line observations that have a high sensitivity and high angular and velocity resolution. Regions of high-mass star formation are particularly challenging because of line-of-sight confusion, inhomogeneous physical conditions, and potentially very high optical depths. Aims. We wish to quantify to what accuracy the physical conditions within a massive star-forming cloud can be determined from observations. We are particularly interested in the possibilities offered by the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) interferometer. Methods. We used data from a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of star formation in a high-density environment. We concentrated on the study of a filamentary structure that has physical properties similar to a small infrared-dark cloud. We produced synthetic observations for spectral lines observable with the ngVLA and analysed these to measure column density, gas temperature, and kinematics. Results were compared to ideal line observations and the actual 3D model. Results. For a nominal cloud distance of 4kpc, ngVLA provides a resolution of ~0.01 pc even in its most compact configuration. For abundant molecules, such as HCO +, NH 3, N 2H +, and CO isotopomers, cloud kinematics and structure can be mapped down to subarcsecond scales in just a few hours. For NH 3, a reliable column density map could be obtained for the entire 15″ × 40″ cloud, even without the help of additional single-dish data, and kinetic temperatures are recovered to a precision of ~1 K. At higher frequencies, the loss of large-scale emission becomes noticeable. The line observations are seen to accurately trace the cloud kinematics, except for the largest scales, where some artefacts appear due to the filtering of low spatial frequencies. The line-of-sight confusion complicates the interpretation of the kinematics, and the usefulness of collapse indicators based on the expected blue asymmetry of optically thick lines is limited. Conclusions. The ngVLA will be able to provide accurate data on the small-scale structure and the physical and chemical state of star-forming clouds, even in high-mass star-forming regions at kiloparsec distances. Complementary single-dish data are still essential for estimates of the total column density and the large-scale kinematics.
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