Modeling Molecular-Line Emission from Circumstellar Disks

Molecular lines hold valuable information on the physical and chemical composition of disks around young stars, the likely progenitors of planetary systems. This invited contribution discusses techniques to calculate the molecular emission (and absorption) line spectrum based on models for the physical and chemical structure of protoplanetary disks. Four examples of recent research illutrate these techniques in practice: matching resolved molecular-line emission from the disk around LkCa15 with theoertical models for the chemistry; evaluating the two-dimensional transfer of ultraviolet radiation into the disk, and the effect on the HCN/CN ratio; far-infrared CO line emission from a superheated disk surface layer; and inward motions in the disk around L1489 IRS.Comment: 6 pages, no figures. To appear in "The Dense Interstellar Medium in Galaxies", Procs. Fourth Cologne-Bonn-Zermatt-Symposiu

Coherent transfer of photoassociated molecules into the rovibrational ground state

We report on the direct conversion of laser-cooled 41K and 87Rb atoms into ultracold 41K87Rb molecules in the rovibrational ground state via photoassociation followed by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. High-resolution spectroscopy based on the coherent transfer revealed the hyperfine structure of weakly bound molecules in an unexplored region. Our results show that a rovibrationally pure sample of ultracold ground-state molecules is achieved via the all-optical association of laser-cooled atoms, opening possibilities to coherently manipulate a wide variety of molecules.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Disappearance of N2H+ from the Gas Phase in the Class 0 Protostar IRAM 04191

We present a high-resolution spectroscopic study of the envelope of the young Class 0 protostar IRAM 04191+1522 in Taurus. N2H+(1-0) observations with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer and the IRAM 30m telescope demonstrate that the molecular ion N2H+ disappears from the gas phase in the inner envelope (r < 1600 AU, n(H2) > 4-7 * 1e5 cm-3). This may result from N2 depletion on polar ice mantles and enhanced grain chemistry.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. (Co)authored by members of the MPIfR (Sub)millimeter Astronomy Group. To appear in the Proceedings of the 4th Cologne-Bonn-Zermatt-Symposium "The Dense Interstellar Medium in Galaxies" eds. S. Pfalzner, C. Kramer, C. Straubmeier, & A. Heithausen (Springer: Berlin

Evidence for Low-Dimensional Chaos in Semiregular Variable Stars

An analysis of the photometric observations of the light curves of the five large amplitude, irregularly pulsating stars R UMi, RS Cyg, V CVn, UX Dra and SX Her is presented. First, multi-periodicity is eliminated for these pulsations, i.e. they are not caused by the excitation of a small number of pulsation modes with constant amplitudes. Next, on the basis of energetics we also eliminate stochasticity as a cause, leaving low dimensional chaos as the only alternative. We then use a global flow reconstruction technique in an attempt to extract quantitative information from the light curves, and to uncover common physical features in this class of irregular variable stars that straddle the RV Tau to the Mira variables. Evidence is presented that the pulsational behavior of R UMi, RS Cyg, V CVn and UX Dra takes place in a 4-dimensional dynamical phase space, suggesting that two vibrational modes are involved in the pulsation. A linear stability analysis of the fixed points of the maps further indicates the existence of a two-mode resonance, similar to the one we had uncovered earlier in R Sct: The irregular pulsations are the result of a continual energy exchange between two strongly nonadiabatic modes, a lower frequency pulsation mode and an overtone that are in a close 2:1 resonance. The evidence is particularly convincing for R UMi, RS Cyg and V CVn, but much weaker for UX Dra. In contrast, the pulsations of SX Her appear to be more complex and may require a 6D space.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted in ApJ - paper with clearer figures is available at http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~buchler/publications/u12.ps.gz (1Mb

Molecular line radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks: Monte Carlo simulations versus approximate methods

We analyze the line radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks using several approximate methods and a well-tested Accelerated Monte Carlo code. A low-mass flaring disk model with uniform as well as stratified molecular abundances is adopted. Radiative transfer in low and high rotational lines of CO, C18O, HCO+, DCO+, HCN, CS, and H2CO is simulated. The corresponding excitation temperatures, synthetic spectra, and channel maps are derived and compared to the results of the Monte Carlo calculations. A simple scheme that describes the conditions of the line excitation for a chosen molecular transition is elaborated. We find that the simple LTE approach can safely be applied for the low molecular transitions only, while it significantly overestimates the intensities of the upper lines. In contrast, the Full Escape Probability (FEP) approximation can safely be used for the upper transitions (J_{\rm up} \ga 3) but it is not appropriate for the lowest transitions because of the maser effect. In general, the molecular lines in protoplanetary disks are partly subthermally excited and require more sophisticated approximate line radiative transfer methods. We analyze a number of approximate methods, namely, LVG, VEP (Vertical Escape Probability) and VOR (Vertical One Ray) and discuss their algorithms in detail. In addition, two modifications to the canonical Monte Carlo algorithm that allow a significant speed up of the line radiative transfer modeling in rotating configurations by a factor of 10--50 are described.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap