R=100,000 Spectroscopy of Photodissociation Regions: H2 Rotational Lines in the Orion Bar

Ground state rotational lines of H2 are good temperature probes of moderately hot (200-1000 K) gas. The low A-values of these lines result in low critical densities while ensuring that the lines are optically thin. ISO observations of H2 rotational lines in PDRs reveal large quantities of warm gas that are difficult to explain via current models, but the spatial resolution of ISO does not resolve the temperature structure of the warm gas. We present and discuss high spatial resolution observations of H2 rotational line emission from the Orion Bar.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, Proceedings of the ESO Workshop on High Resolution Infrared Spectroscop

Vortex Loops and Majoranas

We investigate the role that vortex loops play in characterizing eigenstates of interacting Majoranas. We first give some general results, and then we focus on ladder Hamiltonian examples to test further ideas. Two methods yield exact results: i.) We utilize the mapping of spin Hamiltonians to quartic interactions of Majoranas and show under certain conditions the spectra of these two examples coincide. ii) In cases with reflection-symmetric Hamiltonians, we use reflection positivity for Majoranas to characterize vortices. Aside from these exact results, two additional methods suggest wider applicability of these results: iii.) Numerical evidence suggests similar behavior for certain systems without reflection symmetry. iv.) A perturbative analysis also suggests similar behavior without the assumption of reflection symmetry.Comment: 28 page

Ne II Observations of Gas Motions in Compact and Ultracompact H II Regions

We present high spatial and spectral resolution observations of 16 Galactic compact and ultracompact H II regions in the [Ne II] 12.8 mu m fine-structure line. The small thermal width of the neon line and the high dynamic range of the maps provide an unprecedented view of the kinematics of compact and ultracompact H II regions. These observations solidify an emerging picture of the structure of ultracompact H II regions suggested in our earlier studies of G29.96-0.02 and Mon R2 IRS 1; systematic surface flows, rather than turbulence or bulk expansion, dominate the gas motions in the H II regions. The observations show that almost all of the sources have significant (5-20 km s(-1)) velocity gradients and that most of the sources are limb-brightened. In many cases, the velocity pattern implies tangential flow along a dense shell of ionized gas. None of the observed sources clearly fits into the categories of filled expanding spheres, expanding shells, filled blister flows, or cometary H II regions formed by rapidly moving stars. Instead, the kinematics and morphologies of most of the sources lead to a picture of H II regions confined to the edges of cavities created by stellar wind ram pressure and flowing along the cavity surfaces. In sources where the radio continuum and [Ne II] morphologies agree, the majority of the ionic emission is blueshifted relative to nearby molecular gas. This is consistent with sources lying on the near side of their natal clouds being less affected by extinction and with gas motions being predominantly outward, as is expected for pressure-driven flows.NSF AST-0607312, NSF-0708074SOFIA USRA8500-98-008NYSTAR Faculty Development ProgramNASA NNG 04-GG92G, CAN-NCC5-679Lunar and Planetary InstituteAstronom

IGRINS spectroscopy of Class I sources: IRAS 03445+3242 and IRAS 04239+2436

We have detected molecular and atomic line emission from the hot and warm disks of two Class I sources, IRAS 03445+3242 and IRAS 04239+2436 using the high resolution Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph (IGRINS). CO overtone band transitions and near-IR lines of Na I and Ca I, all in emission, trace the hot inner disk while CO rovibrational absorption spectra of the first overtone transition trace the warm gas within the inner few AU of the disk. The emission-line profiles for both sources show evidence for Keplerian disks. A thin Keplerian disk with power-law temperature and column density profiles with a projected rotational velocity of $\sim$60--75 km s$^{-1}$ and a gas temperature of $\sim$3500 K at the innermost annulus can reproduce the CO overtone band emission. Na I and Ca I emission lines also arise from this disk, but they show complicated line features possibly affected by photospheric absorption lines. Multi-epoch observations show asymmetric variations of the line profiles on one-year (CO overtone bandhead and atomic lines for IRAS 03445+3242) or on one-day (atomic lines for IRAS 04239+2436) time scales, implying non-axisymmetric features in disks. The narrow CO rovibrational absorption spectra ($v$=0$\rightarrow$2) indicate that both warm ($>$ 150 K) and cold ($\sim$20--30 K) CO gas are present along the line of sight to the inner disk. This study demonstrates the power of IGRINS as a tool for studies of the sub-AU scale hot and AU-scale warm protoplanetary disks with its simultaneous coverage of the full H and K bands with high spectral resolution ($R$= 45,000) allowing many aspects of the sources to be investigated at once.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Evidence for J and H-band excess in classical T Tauri stars and the implications for disk structure and estimated ages

We argue that classical T Tauri stars (cTTs) possess significant non- photospheric excess in the J and H bands. We first show that normalizing the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of cTTs to the J-band leads to a poor fit of the optical fluxes, while normalizing the SEDs to the Ic-band produces a better fit to the optical bands and in many cases reveals the presence of a considerable excess at J and H. NIR spectroscopic veiling measurements from the literature support this result. We find that J and H-band excesses correlate well with the K-band excess, and that the J-K and H-K colors of the excess emission are consistent with that of a black body at the dust sublimation temperature (~ 1500-2000 K). We propose that this near-IR excess originates at a hot inner rim, analogous to those suggested to explain the near-IR bump in the SEDs of Herbig Ae/Be stars. To test our hypothesis, we use the model presented by Dullemond et al. (2001) to fit the photometry data between 0.5 um and 24 um of 10 cTTs associated with the Chamaeleon II molecular cloud. The models that best fit the data are those where the inner radius of the disk is larger than expected for a rim in thermal equilibrium with the photospheric radiation field alone. In particular, we find that large inner rims are necessary to account for the mid infrared fluxes (3.6-8.0 um) obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Finally, we argue that deriving the stellar luminosities of cTTs by making bolometric corrections to the J-band fluxes systematically overestimates these luminosities. The overestimated luminosities translate into underestimated ages when the stars are placed in the H-R diagram. Thus, the results presented herein have important implications for the dissipation timescale of inner accretion disks.Comment: 45 pages, 13 figure

A Spitzer Search For Planetary-Mass Brown Dwarfs With Circumstellar Disks: Candidate Selection

We report on initial results from a Spitzer program to search for very low-mass brown dwarfs in Ophiuchus. This program is an extension of an earlier study by Allers et al. which had resulted in an extraordinary success rate, 18 confirmed out of 19 candidates. Their program combined near-infrared and Spitzer photom- etry to identify objects with very cool photospheres together with circumstellar disk emission to indicate youth. Our new program has obtained deep IRAC pho- tometry of a 0.5 deg2 field that was part of the original Allers et al. study. We report 18 new candidates whose luminosities extend down to 10-4 L\cdot which sug- gests masses down to ~ 2 MJ if confirmed. We describe our selection techniques, likely contamination issues, and follow-on photometry and spectroscopy that are in progress