26 research outputs found
Combining radiative transfer and diffuse interstellar medium physics to model star formation (article)
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2015 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.The dataset associated with this journal article can be found in ORE at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/17067We present a method for modelling star-forming clouds that combines two different models of the thermal evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM). In the combined model, where the densities are low enough that at least some part of the spectrum is optically thin, a model of the thermodynamics of the diffuse ISM is more significant in setting the temperatures. Where the densities are high enough to be optically thick across the spectrum, a model of flux-limited diffusion is more appropriate. Previous methods either model the low-density ISM and ignore the thermal behaviour at high densities (e.g. inside collapsing molecular cloud cores), or model the thermal behaviour near protostars but assume a fixed background temperature (e.g. ≈10 K) on large scales. Our new method treats both regimes. It also captures the different thermal evolution of the gas, dust, and radiation separately. We compare our results with those from the literature, and investigate the dependence of the thermal behaviour of the gas on the various model parameters. This new method should allow us to model the ISM across a wide range of densities and, thus, develop a more complete and consistent understanding of the role of thermodynamics in the star formation process.European Research Council - European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013
Analysis of Hydrogen Cyanide Hyperfine Spectral Components towards Star Forming Cores
Although hydrogen cyanide has become quite a common molecular tracing species
for a variety of astrophysical sources, it, however, exhibits dramatic non-LTE
behaviour in its hyperfine line structure. Individual hyperfine components can
be strongly boosted or suppressed. If these so-called hyperfine line anomalies
are present in the HCN rotational spectra towards low or high mass cores, this
will affect the interpretation of various physical properties such as the line
opacity and excitation temperature in the case of low mass objects and infall
velocities in the case of their higher mass counterparts. This is as a
consequence of the direct effects that anomalies have on the underlying line
shape, be it with the line structural width or through the inferred line
strength. This work involves the first observational investigation of these
anomalies in two HCN rotational transitions, J=1!0 and J=3!2, towards both low
mass starless cores and high mass protostellar objects. The degree of anomaly
in these two rotational transitions is considered by computing the ratios of
neighboring hyperfine lines in individual spectra. Results indicate some degree
of anomaly is present in all cores considered in our survey, the most likely
cause being line overlap effects among hyperfine components in higher
rotational transitions.Comment: 8th Serbian Conference on Spectral Line Shapes in Astrophysics,
Divicibare; 8 pages, 5 figure
The Mid-infrared Fine-structure Lines of Neon as an Indicator of Star For mation Rate in Galaxies
The fine-structure lines of singly ([Ne II] 12.8 micron) and doubly ([Ne III]
15.6 micron) ionized neon are among the most prominent features in the
mid-infrared spectra of star-forming regions, and have the potential to be a
powerful new indicator of the star formation rate in galaxies. Using a sample
of star-forming galaxies with measurements of the fine-structure lines
available from the literature, we show that the sum of the [Ne II] and [Ne III]
luminosities obeys a tight, linear correlation with the total infrared
luminosity, over 5 orders of magnitude in luminosity. We discuss the formation
of the lines and their relation with the Lyman continuum luminosity. A simple
calibration between star formation rate and the [Ne II]+[Ne III] luminosity is
presented.Comment: To appear in ApJ. 8 page
Time Variability in Simulated Ultracompact and Hypercompact HII Regions
Ultracompact and hypercompact HII regions appear when a star with a mass
larger than about 15 solar masses starts to ionize its own environment. Recent
observations of time variability in these objects are one of the pieces of
evidence that suggest that at least some of them harbor stars that are still
accreting from an infalling neutral accretion flow that becomes ionized in its
innermost part. We present an analysis of the properties of the HII regions
formed in the 3D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations presented by Peters et al.
as a function of time. Flickering of the HII regions is a natural outcome of
this model. The radio-continuum fluxes of the simulated HII regions, as well as
their flux and size variations are in agreement with the available
observations. From the simulations, we estimate that a small but non-negligible
fraction (~ 10 %) of observed HII regions should have detectable flux
variations (larger than 10 %) on timescales of ~ 10 years, with positive
variations being more likely to happen than negative variations. A novel result
of these simulations is that negative flux changes do happen, in contrast to
the simple expectation of ever growing HII regions. We also explore the
temporal correlations between properties that are directly observed (flux and
size) and other quantities like density and ionization rates.Comment: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press. The
movie of free-free optical depth can be found at
http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~tpeters/tau.av
High Resolution Molecular Gas Maps of M33
New observations of CO (J=1->0) line emission from M33, using the 25 element
BEARS focal plane array at the Nobeyama Radio Observatory 45-m telescope, in
conjunction with existing maps from the BIMA interferometer and the FCRAO 14-m
telescope, give the highest resolution (13'') and most sensitive (RMS ~ 60 mK)
maps to date of the distribution of molecular gas in the central 5.5 kpc of the
galaxy. A new catalog of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) has a completeness limit
of 1.3 X 10^5 M_sun. The fraction of molecular gas found in GMCs is a strong
function of radius in the galaxy, declining from 60% in the center to 20% at
galactocentric radius R_gal ~ 4 kpc. Beyond that radius, GMCs are nearly
absent, although molecular gas exists. Most (90%) of the emission from low mass
clouds is found within 100 pc projected separation of a GMC. In an annulus 2.1<
R_gal <4.1 kpc, GMC masses follow a power law distribution with index -2.1.
Inside that radius, the mass distribution is truncated, and clouds more massive
than 8 X 10^5 M_sun are absent. The cloud mass distribution shows no
significant difference in the grand design spiral arms versus the interarm
region. The CO surface brightness ratio for the arm to interarm regions is 1.5,
typical of other flocculent galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, accepted in ApJ. Some tables poorly typeset in
emulateapj; see source files for raw dat
Dark cloud cores and gravitational decoupling from turbulent flows
We test the hypothesis that the starless cores may be gravitationally bound
clouds supported largely by thermal pressure by comparing observed molecular
line spectra to theoretical spectra produced by a simulation that includes
hydrodynamics, radiative cooling, variable molecular abundance, and radiative
transfer in a simple one-dimensional model. The results suggest that the
starless cores can be divided into two categories: stable starless cores that
are in approximate equilibrium and will not evolve to form protostars, and
unstable pre-stellar cores that are proceeding toward gravitational collapse
and the formation of protostars. The starless cores might be formed from the
interstellar medium as objects at the lower end of the inertial cascade of
interstellar turbulence. Additionally, we identify a thermal instability in the
starless cores. Under par ticular conditions of density and mass, a core may be
unstable to expansion if the density is just above the critical density for the
collisional coupling of the gas and dust so that as the core expands the
gas-dust coupling that cools the gas is reduced and the gas warms, further
driving the expansion.Comment: Submitted to Ap
Observations on the Formation of Massive Stars by Accretion
Observations of the H66a recombination line from the ionized gas in the
cluster of newly formed massive stars, G10.6-0.4, show that most of the
continuum emission derives from the dense gas in an ionized accretion flow that
forms an ionized disk or torus around a group of stars in the center of the
cluster. The inward motion observed in the accretion flow suggests that despite
the equivalent luminosity and ionizing radiation of several O stars, neither
radiation pressure nor thermal pressure has reversed the accretion flow. The
observations indicate why the radiation pressure of the stars and the thermal
pressure of the HII region are not effective in reversing the accretion flow.
The observed rate of the accretion flow, 0.001 solar masses/yr, is sufficient
to form massive stars within the time scale imposed by their short main
sequence lifetimes. A simple model of disk accretion relates quenched HII
regions, trapped hypercompact HII regions, and photo-evaporating disks in an
evolutionary sequence
Does External Pressure Explain Recent Results for Molecular Clouds?
The recent paper by Heyer et al (2009) indicates that observations of size,
linewidth and column density of interstellar clouds do not agree with simple
virial equilibrium (VE) as a balance between gravitational and kinetic energies
in the sense that the clouds either have too much kinetic energy or too little
mass to be bound. This may be explained by violation of VE as suggested by
Dobbs et al 2011, by observational underestimation of the masses as suggested
by Heyer et al 2009, or by an external pressure acting as an additional
confining force as suggested earlier by Heyer et al 2004. The data of Heyer et
al. 2009 cannot be explained with a single value for the external pressure, but
if different clouds in the sample have different external pressures in the
range of Pe/k = E4 to E7 cm-3 K, then most of the clouds could be in pressure
virial equilibrium (PVE). In this paper we discuss two consequences of the
external pressure. First, we show that the observational data are consistent
with the hypothesis (Chie\'ze 1987) that most clouds are at a critical mass for
dynamical stability determined solely by the pressure. Above this mass a cloud
is unstable to gravitational collapse or fragmentation. Second, we show that
the external pressure modifies the well-known size-linewidth relationship first
proposed by Larson (1981) so that the proportionality is no longer constant but
depends on the external pressure.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
The Early Evolution of Massive Stars: Radio Recombination Line Spectra
Velocity shifts and differential broadening of radio recombination lines are
used to estimate the densities and velocities of the ionized gas in several
hypercompact and ultracompact HII regions. These small HII regions are thought
to be at their earliest evolutionary phase and associated with the youngest
massive stars. The observations suggest that these HII regions are
characterized by high densities, supersonic flows and steep density gradients,
consistent with accretion and outflows that would be associated with the
formation of massive stars.Comment: ApJ in pres
The Different Structures of the Two Classes of Starless Cores
We describe a model for the thermal and dynamical equilibrium of starless
cores that includes the radiative transfer of the gas and dust and simple CO
chemistry. The model shows that the structure and behavior of the cores is
significantly different depending on whether the central density is either
above or below about 10^5 cm-3. This density is significant as the critical
density for gas cooling by gas-dust collisions and also as the critical density
for dynamical stability, given the typical properties of the starless cores.
The starless cores thus divide into two classes that we refer to as thermally
super-critical and thermally sub-critical.This two-class distinction allows an
improved interpretation of the different observational data of starless cores
within a single model.Comment: ApJ in pres