20,558 research outputs found
Mapping the interstellar medium in galaxies with Herschel/SPIRE
The standard method of mapping the interstellar medium in a galaxy, by observing the molecular gas in the CO 1-0 line and the atomic gas in the 21-cm line, is largely limited with current telescopes to galaxies in the nearby universe. In this letter, we use SPIRE observations of the galaxies
M99 and M100 to explore the alternative approach of mapping the interstellar medium using the continuum emission from the dust. We have compared the methods by measuring the relationship between the star-formation rate and the surface density of gas in the galaxies using both
methods. We find the two methods give relationships with a similar dispersion, confirming that observing the continuum emission from the dust is a promising method of mapping the interstellar medium in galaxies
Trends in Molecular Emission from Different Extragalactic Stellar Initial Mass Functions
Banerji et al. (2009) suggested that top-heavy stellar Initial Mass Functions
(IMFs) in galaxies may arise when the interstellar physical conditions inhibit
low-mass star formation, and they determined the physical conditions under
which this suppression may or may not occur. In this work, we explore the
sensitivity of the chemistry of interstellar gas under a wide range of
conditions. We use these results to predict the relative velocity-integrated
antenna temperatures of the CO rotational spectrum for several models of high
redshift active galaxies which may produce both top-heavy and unbiased IMFs. We
find that while active galaxies with solar metallicity (and top-heavy IMFs)
produce higher antenna temperatures than those with sub-solar metallicity (and
unbiased IMFs) the actual rotational distribution is similar. The high-J to
peak CO ratio however may be used to roughly infer the metallicity of a galaxy
provided we know whether it is active or quiescent. The metallicity strongly
influences the shape of the IMF. High order CO transitions are also found to
provide a good diagnostic for high far-UV intensity and low metallicity
counterparts of Milky Way type systems both of which show some evidence for
having top-heavy IMFs. We also compute the relative abundances of molecules
known to be effective tracers of high density gas in these galaxy models. We
find that the molecules CO and CS may be used to distinguish between solar and
sub-solar metallicity in active galaxies at high redshift whereas HCN, HNC and
CN are found to be relatively insensitive to the IMF shape at the large visual
magnitudes typically associated with extragalactic sources.Comment: 26 Pages, 8 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
A Comprehensive View of a Strongly Lensed Planck-Associated Submillimeter Galaxy
We present high-resolution maps of stars, dust, and molecular gas in a strongly lensed submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 3.259. HATLAS J114637.9â001132 is selected from the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) as a strong lens candidate mainly based on its unusually high 500 Îźm flux density (~300 mJy). It is the only high-redshift Planck detection in the 130 deg^2 H-ATLAS Phase-I area. Keck Adaptive Optics images reveal a quadruply imaged galaxy in the K band while the Submillimeter Array and the Jansky Very Large Array show doubly imaged 880 Îźm and CO(1â0) sources, indicating differentiated distributions of the various components in the galaxy. In the source plane, the stars reside in three major kpc-scale clumps extended over ~1.6 kpc, the dust in a compact (~1 kpc) region ~3 kpc north of the stars, and the cold molecular gas in an extended (~7 kpc) disk ~5 kpc northeast of the stars. The emissions from the stars, dust, and gas are magnified by ~17, ~8, and ~7 times, respectively, by four lensing galaxies at z ~ 1. Intrinsically, the lensed galaxy is a warm (T_(dust) ~ 40-65 K), hyper-luminous (L_(IR) ~ 1.7 Ă 10^(13) L_â; star formation rate (SFR) ~2000 M_â yr^(â1)), gas-rich (M_(gas)/M_(baryon) ~ 70%), young (M_(stellar)/SFR ~ 20 Myr), and short-lived (M_(gas)/SFR ~ 40 Myr) starburst. With physical properties similar to unlensed z > 2 SMGs, HATLAS J114637.9â001132 offers a detailed view of a typical SMG through a powerful cosmic microscope
Observation of H_2O in a strongly lensed Herschel-ATLAS source at z = 2.3
The Herschel survey, H-ATLAS, with its large areal coverage, has recently discovered a number of bright, strongly lensed high-z submillimeter galaxies. The strong magnification makes it possible to study molecular species other than CO, which are otherwise difficult to observe in high-z galaxies. Among the lensed galaxies already identified by H-ATLAS, the source J090302.9-014127B (SDP.17b) at z = 2.305 is remarkable because of its excitation conditions and a tentative detection of the H_2O 2_(02)-1_(11) emission line (Lupu et al. 2010, ApJ, submitted). We report observations of this line in SDP.17b using the IRAM interferometer equipped with its new 277â371âGHz receivers. The H_2O line is detected at a redshift of z = 2.3049 Âą 0.0006, with a flux of 7.8 Âą 0.5 Jy km s^(-1) and a FWHM of 250 Âą 60 â km â s^(-1). The new flux is 2.4 times weaker than the previous tentative detection, although both remain marginally consistent within 1.6Ď. The intrinsic line luminosity and ratio of H_2O(2_(02) â 1_(11))/CO(8 â 7) are comparable with those of the nearby starburst/enshrouded-AGN Mrk 231, and the ratio I(H_2O)/L_(FIR) is even higher, suggesting that SDP.17b could also host a luminous AGN. The detection of a strong H_2O 2_(02) â 1_(11) line in SDP.17b implies an efficient excitation mechanism of the water levels that must occur in very dense and warm interstellar gas probably similar to Mrk 231
Detection of the 13CO(J=6-5) Transition in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 253
We report the detection of 13CO(J=6-5) emission from the nucleus of the
starburst galaxy NGC 253 with the redshift (z) and Early Universe Spectrometer
(ZEUS), a new submillimeter grating spectrometer. This is the first
extragalactic detection of the 13CO(J=6-5) transition, which traces warm, dense
molecular gas. We employ a multi-line LVG analysis and find ~ 35% - 60% of the
molecular ISM is both warm (T ~ 110 K) and dense (n(H2) ~ 10^4 cm^-3). We
analyze the potential heat sources, and conclude that UV and X-ray photons are
unlikely to be energetically important. Instead, the molecular gas is most
likely heated by an elevated density of cosmic rays or by the decay of
supersonic turbulence through shocks. If the cosmic rays and turbulence are
created by stellar feedback within the starburst, then our analysis suggests
the starburst may be self-limiting.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letter
Abundances in Stars from the Red Giant Branch Tip to the Near the Main Sequence in M71: I. Sample Selection, Observing Strategy and Stellar Parameters
We present the sample for an abundance analysis of 25 members of M71 with
luminosities ranging from the red giant branch tip to the upper main sequence.
The spectra are of high dispersion and of high precision. We describe the
observing strategy and determine the stellar parameters for the sample stars
using both broad band colors and fits of H profiles. The derived
stellar parameters agree with those from the Yale stellar evolutionary
tracks to within 50 -- 100K for a fixed log g, which is within the level of the
uncertainties.Comment: Minor changes to conform to version accepted for publication, with
several new figures (Paper 1 of a pair
Development of Aluminum LEKIDs for Balloon-Borne Far-IR Spectroscopy
We are developing lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs)
designed to achieve background-limited sensitivity for far-infrared (FIR)
spectroscopy on a stratospheric balloon. The Spectroscopic Terahertz Airborne
Receiver for Far-InfraRed Exploration (STARFIRE) will study the evolution of
dusty galaxies with observations of the [CII] 158 m and other atomic
fine-structure transitions at , both through direct observations of
individual luminous infrared galaxies, and in blind surveys using the technique
of line intensity mapping. The spectrometer will require large format
(1800 detectors) arrays of dual-polarization sensitive detectors with
NEPs of W Hz. The low-volume LEKIDs are fabricated
with a single layer of aluminum (20 nm thick) deposited on a crystalline
silicon wafer, with resonance frequencies of MHz. The inductor is a
single meander with a linewidth of 0.4 m, patterned in a grid to absorb
optical power in both polarizations. The meander is coupled to a circular
waveguide, fed by a conical feedhorn. Initial testing of a small array
prototype has demonstrated good yield, and a median NEP of
W Hz.Comment: accepted for publication in Journal of Low Temperature Physic
- âŚ