Molecular Line Observations of Infrared Dark Clouds: Seeking the Precursors to Intermediate and Massive Star Formation

We have identified 41 infrared dark clouds from the 8 micron maps of the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX), selected to be found within one square degree areas centered on known ultracompact HII regions. We have mapped these infrared dark clouds in N2H+(1-0), CS(2-1) and C18O(1-0) emission using the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory. The maps of the different species often show striking differences in morphologies, indicating differences in evolutionary state and/or the presence of undetected, deeply embedded protostars. We derive an average mass for these clouds using N2H+ column densities of ~2500 solar masses, a value comparable to that found in previous studies of high mass star forming cores using other mass tracers. The linewidths of these clouds are typically ~2.0 - 2.9 km/s. Based on the fact that they are dark at 8 micron, compact, massive, and have large velocity dispersions, we suggest that these clouds may be the precursor sites of intermediate and high mass star formation.Comment: Accepted to ApJS, 22 pages, 10 pages of figures. For full-resolution images, see http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/~seragan/pubs/fcrao/figures.tar.g

Spectral Energy Distributions of 6.7 GHz methanol masers

The 6.7 GHz maser transition of methanol has been found exclusively towards massive star forming regions. A majority of the masers have been found to lack the presence of any associated radio continuum. This could be due to the maser emission originating prior to the formation of an HII region around the central star, or from the central object being too cool to produce a HII region. One way to distinguish between the two scenarios is to determine and model the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the masers. We observed a sample of 20 6.7 GHz methanol masers selected from the blind Arecibo survey, from centimeter to submillimeter wavelengths. We combined our observations with existing data from various Galactic plane surveys to determine SEDs from centimeter to near-infrared wavelengths. We find that 70% of the masers do not have any associated radio continuum, with the rest of the sources being associated with hypercompact and ultracompact HII regions. Modeling the SEDs shows them to be consistent with rapidly accreting massive stars, with accretion rates well above 10^{-3} M_sun/yr. The upper limits on the radio continuum are also consistent with any ionized region being confined close to the stellar surface. This confirms the paradigm of 6.7 GHz methanol masers being signposts of early phases of massive star formation, mostly prior to the formation of a hypercompact HII region.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; Accepted by A&

On the Identification of High Mass Star Forming Regions using IRAS: Contamination by Low-Mass Protostars

We present the results of a survey of a small sample (14) of low-mass protostars (L_IR < 10^3 Lsun) for 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission performed using the ATNF Parkes radio telescope. No new masers were discovered. We find that the lower luminosity limit for maser emission is near 10^3 Lsun, by comparison of the sources in our sample with previously detected methanol maser sources. We examine the IRAS properties of our sample and compare them with sources previously observed for methanol maser emission, almost all of which satisfy the Wood & Churchwell criterion for selecting candidate UCHII regions. We find that about half of our sample satisfy this criterion, and in addition almost all of this subgroup have integrated fluxes between 25 and 60 microns that are similar to sources with detectable methanol maser emission. By identifying a number of low-mass protostars in this work and from the literature that satisfy the Wood & Churchwell criterion for candidate UCHII regions, we show conclusively for the first time that the fainter flux end of their sample is contaminated by lower-mass non-ionizing sources, confirming the suggestion by van der Walt and Ramesh & Sridharan.Comment: 8 pages with 2 figures. Accepted by Ap

Discovery of 6.035GHz Hydroxyl Maser Flares in IRAS18566+0408

We report the discovery of 6.035GHz hydroxyl (OH) maser flares toward the massive star forming region IRAS18566+0408 (G37.55+0.20), which is the only region known to show periodic formaldehyde (4.8 GHz H2CO) and methanol (6.7 GHz CH3OH) maser flares. The observations were conducted between October 2008 and January 2010 with the 305m Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico. We detected two flare events, one in March 2009, and one in September to November 2009. The OH maser flares are not simultaneous with the H2CO flares, but may be correlated with CH3OH flares from a component at corresponding velocities. A possible correlated variability of OH and CH3OH masers in IRAS18566+0408 is consistent with a common excitation mechanism (IR pumping) as predicted by theory.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Nutritional, immune, micronutrient and health status of HIV-infected children in care centres in Mangaung

Aim: To assess the nutritional, immune, micronutrient and health status of antiretroviral-naïve HIV-infected children.Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was undertaken between September 2004 and March 2006 amongst HIV-infected children of which none received antiretroviral therapy, in care centres in Mangaung, Free State.Results: The study included 37 clinically stable and food-secure HIV-infected children. Their median age was 5.4 years (range 1.2–10.2 years). Fifteen children (41%) were underweight, 30 (81%) were stunted and one (3%) was wasted. The most commonly observed clinical features were lymphadenopathy (84%), skin rashes (51%), hepatomegaly (32%) and pallor (41%). Eight per cent of children had features of TB, while 19% had a lower respiratory tract infection. The median viral load of the group (n = 35) was 117 000 copies/ml, the median CD4+ cell count was 477 cells/mm3 and the median CD4 percentage was 22.5%. A significant negative correlation could be demonstrated between viral load and nutritional indicators. Children had deficient serum levels relative to normal reference values for glutathione (91% of children), albumin (78%), vitamin A (63%), vitamin D (44%), zinc (38%) and vitamin E (13%). Sixty per cent of the children were anaemic and 30% were iron deficient.Conclusion: A high prevalence of acute and chronic malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies occurred among HIV-infected children residing in care centres. The study highlights the need to investigate early initiation of antiretroviral therapy and nutrition interventions, including aggressive supplementation, in order to improve the prognosis of these children

High-Mass Proto-Stellar Candidates - I : The Sample and Initial Results

We describe a systematic program aimed at identifying and characterizing candidate high-mass proto-stellar objects (HMPOs). Our candidate sample consists of 69 objects selected by criteria based on those established by Ramesh & Sridharan (1997) using far-infrared, radio-continuum and molecular line data. Infrared-Astronomical-Satellite (IRAS) and Midcourse-Space-Experiment (MSX) data were used to study the larger scale environments of the candidate sources and to determine their total luminosities and dust temperatures. To derive the physical and chemical properties of our target regions, we observed continuum and spectral line radiation at millimeter and radio wavelengths. We imaged the free-free and dust continuum emission at wavelengths of 3.6 cm and 1.2 mm, respectively, searched for H2O and CH3OH maser emission and observed the CO 2-1 and several NH3 lines toward all sources in our sample. Other molecular tracers were observed in a subsample. The presented results indicate that a substantial fraction of our sample harbors HMPOs in a pre-UCHII region phase, the earliest known stage in the high-mass star formation process.Comment: 16 pages, 11 eps-figures. Astrophysical Journal, in pres

Time evolution of the Rabi Hamiltonian from the unexcited vacuum

The Rabi Hamiltonian describes a single mode of electromagnetic radiation interacting with a two-level atom. Using the coupled cluster method, we investigate the time evolution of this system from an initially empty field mode and an unexcited atom. We give results for the atomic inversion and field occupation, and find that the virtual processes cause the field to be squeezed. No anti-bunching occurs.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, RevTe

Polarized point sources in the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: A preliminary catalog

The polarization properties of radio sources at very low frequencies (h45m–15h30m right ascension, 45°–57° declination, 570 square degrees). We have produced a catalog of 92 polarized radio sources at 150 MHz at 4.′3 resolution and 1 mJy rms sensitivity, which is the largest catalog of polarized sources at such low frequencies. We estimate a lower limit to the polarized source surface density at 150 MHz, with our resolution and sensitivity, of 1 source per 6.2 square degrees. We find that our Faraday depth measurements are in agreement with previous measurements and have significantly smaller errors. Most of our sources show significant depolarization compared to 1.4 GHz, but there is a small population of sources with low depolarization indicating that their polarized emission is highly localized in Faraday depth. We predict that an extension of this work to the full LOTSS data would detect at least 3400 polarized sources using the same methods, and probably considerably more with improved data processing