Becoming Angels: women writing cyberspace

As virtual technology evolves and its uses become more widespread, particularly in western communities, women are moving from the virtual spaces of their cultural bodies to the virtual habitats of their cyber-bodies. What makes this migration interesting is the familiarity with which women begin to inhabit their virtual bodies. What seems to be occurring here is the recognition of a virtual existence and of women's learned capacity to inhabit absence. In virtual spaces virtual bodies are downloaded, mirrored, uplinked, morphed and mutated. Their existence as information strings makes them amenable to all kinds of virtual manipulations and manifestations which, in the external/real world are impossible. Perhaps what makes this less confronting for female subjects is their learned capacity to inhabit culture - where their subjectivity has long been overwritten by the male subject - from a position which is not of their own devising. In a culture which renders them as objects women have long since learned many and varied ways of subverting their liminal cultural positions. While male users often express a fear of the dissolution of the body/self, women have known all along what it means to be only virtually real (Wise). We know, furthermore, how to participate in a culture which is the site of our negation

CO and CH3OH observations of the BHR71 outflows with APEX

Context : Highly-collimated outflows are believed to be the earliest stage in outflow evolution, so their study is essential for understanding the processes driving outflows. The BHR71 Bok globule is known to harbour such a highly-collimated outflow, which is powered by a protostar belonging to a protobinary system. Aims : We aimed at investigating the interaction of collimated outflows with the ambient molecular cloud by using molecular tracers. Methods : We mapped the BHR71 highly-collimated outflow in CO(3-2) with the APEX telescope, and observed several bright points of the outflow in the molecular transitions CO(4-3), 13CO(3-2), C18O(3-2), and CH3OH(7-6). We use an LVG code to characterise the temperature enhancements in these regions. Results : In our CO(3-2) map, the second outflow driven by IRS2, which is the second source of the binary system, is completely revealed and shown to be bipolar. We also measure temperature enhancements in the lobes. The CO and methanol LVG modelling points to temperatures between 30 and 50K in the IRS1 outflow, while the IRS2 outflow seems to be warmer (up to 300K).Comment: 4 pages, 5 Figures, accepted by A&A Letters, to appear in the APEX First results special issu

A MERLIN Observation of PSR B1951+32 and its associated Plerion

In an investigative 16 hour L band observation using the MERLIN radio interferometric array, we have resolved both the pulsar PSR B1951+32 and structure within the flat spectral radio continuum region, believed to be the synchrotron nebula associated with the interaction of the pulsar and its `host' supernova remnant CTB 80. The extended structure we see, significant at $\sim$ 4.5 $\sigma$, is of dimensions 2.5" $\times$ 0.75", and suggests a sharp bow shaped arc of shocked emission, which is correlated with similar structure observed in lower resolution radio maps and X-ray images. Using this MERLIN data as a new astrometric reference for other multiwavelength data we can place the pulsar at one edge of the HST reported optical synchrotron knot, ruling out previous suggested optical counterparts, and allowing an elementary analysis of the optical synchrotron emission which appears to trail the pulsar. The latter is possibly a consequence of pulsar wind replenishment, and we suggest that the knot is a result of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities. These being so, it suggests a dynamical nature to the optical knot, which will require high resolution optical observations to confirm.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Spitzer spectral line mapping of protostellar outflows: I. Basic data and outflow energetics

We report the results of spectroscopic mapping observations carried out toward protostellar outflows in the BHR71, L1157, L1448, NGC 2071, and VLA 1623 molecular regions using the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) of the Spitzer Space Telescope. These observations, covering the 5.2 - 37 micron spectral region, provide detailed maps of the 8 lowest pure rotational lines of molecular hydrogen and of the [SI] 25.25 micron and [FeII] 26.0 micron fine structure lines. The molecular hydrogen lines, believed to account for a large fraction of the radiative cooling from warm molecular gas that has been heated by a non-dissociative shock, allow the energetics of the outflows to be elucidated. Within the regions mapped towards these 5 outflow sources, total H2 luminosities ranging from 0.02 to 0.75 L(solar) were inferred for the sum of the 8 lowest pure rotational transitions. By contrast, the much weaker [FeII] 26.0 micron fine structure transition traces faster, dissociative shocks; here, only a small fraction of the fast shock luminosity emerges as line radiation that can be detected with Spitzer/IRS.Comment: 38 pages including 17 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Filamentary Accretion Flows in the Embedded Serpens South Protocluster

One puzzle in understanding how stars form in clusters is the source of mass -- is all of the mass in place before the first stars are born, or is there an extended period when the cluster accretes material which can continuously fuel the star formation process? We use a multi-line spectral survey of the southern filament associated with the Serpens South embedded cluster-forming region in order to determine if mass is accreting from the filament onto the cluster, and whether the accretion rate is significant. Our analysis suggests that material is flowing along the filament's long axis at a rate of ~30Msol/Myr (inferred from the N2H+ velocity gradient along the filament), and radially contracting onto the filament at ~130Msol/Myr (inferred from HNC self-absorption). These accretion rates are sufficient to supply mass to the central cluster at a similar rate to the current star formation rate in the cluster. Filamentary accretion flows may therefore be very important in the ongoing evolution of this cluster.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in Ap