8,407 research outputs found
HI ``Tails'' from Cometary Globules in IC1396
IC 1396 is a relatively nearby (750 pc), large (>2 deg), HII region ionized
by a single O6.5V star and containing bright-rimmed cometary globules. We have
made the first arcmin resolution images of atomic hydrogen toward IC 1396, and
have found remarkable ``tail''-like structures associated with some of the
globules and extending up to 6.5 pc radially away from the central ionizing
star. These HI ``tails'' may be material which has been ablated from the
globule through ionization and/or photodissociation and then accelerated away
from the globule by the stellar wind, but which has since drifted into the
``shadow'' of the globules.
This report presents the first results of the Galactic Plane Survey Project
recently begun by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory.Comment: 11 pages, 5 postscript figures, uses aaspp4.sty macros, submitted in
uuencoded gzipped tar format, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal Letters, colour figures available at
http://www.drao.nrc.ca/~schieven/news_sep95/ic1396.htm
DA495 - an aging pulsar wind nebula
We present a radio continuum study of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) DA 495
(G65.7+1.2), including images of total intensity and linear polarization from
408 to 10550 MHz based on the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey and observations
with the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope. Removal of flux density
contributions from a superimposed \ion{H}{2} region and from compact
extragalactic sources reveals a break in the spectrum of DA 495 at 1.3 GHz,
with a spectral index below the break and
above it (). The
spectral break is more than three times lower in frequency than the lowest
break detected in any other PWN. The break in the spectrum is likely the result
of synchrotron cooling, and DA 495, at an age of 20,000 yr, may have
evolved from an object similar to the Vela X nebula, with a similarly energetic
pulsar. We find a magnetic field of 1.3 mG inside the nebula. After
correcting for the resulting high internal rotation measure, the magnetic field
structure is quite simple, resembling the inner part of a dipole field
projected onto the plane of the sky, although a toroidal component is likely
also present. The dipole field axis, which should be parallel to the spin axis
of the putative pulsar, lies at an angle of {\sim}50\degr east of the North
Celestial Pole and is pointing away from us towards the south-west. The upper
limit for the radio surface brightness of any shell-type supernova remnant
emission around DA 495 is OAWatt
m Hz sr (assuming a radio spectral index of ), lower than the faintest shell-type remnant known to date.Comment: 25 pages, accepted by Ap
A Low Frequency Survey of the Galactic Plane Near l=11 degrees: Discovery of Three New Supernova Remnants
We have imaged a 1 deg^2 field centered on the known Galactic supernova
remnant (SNR) G11.2-0.3 at 74, 330, and 1465 MHz with the Very Large Array
radio telescope (VLA) and 235 MHz with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
(GMRT). The 235, 330, and 1465 MHz data have a resolution of 25 arcsec, while
the 74 MHz data have a resolution of 100 arcsec. The addition of this low
frequency data has allowed us to confirm the previously reported low frequency
turnover in the radio continuum spectra of the two known SNRs in the field:
G11.2-0.3 and G11.4-0.1 with unprecedented precision. Such low frequency
turnovers are believed to arise from free-free absorption in ionized thermal
gas along the lines of site to the SNRs. Our data suggest that the 74 MHz
optical depths of the absorbing gas is 0.56 and 1.1 for G11.2-0.3 and
G11.4-0.1, respectively. In addition to adding much needed low frequency
integrated flux measurements for two known SNRs, we have also detected three
new SNRs: G11.15-0.71, G11.03-0.05, and G11.18+0.11. These new SNRs have
integrated spectral indices between -0.44 and -0.80. Because of confusion with
thermal sources, the high resolution (compared to previous Galactic radio
frequency surveys) and surface brightness sensitivity of our observations have
been essential to the identification of these new SNRs. With this study we have
more than doubled the number of SNRs within just a 1 deg^2 field of view in the
inner Galactic plane. This result suggests that future low frequency
observations of the Galactic plane of similar quality may go a long way toward
alleviating the long recognized incompleteness of Galactic SNR catalogs.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures. Figure 7 is in color. Accepted to A
A Sino-German 6 cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane II. The region from 129 degree to 230 degree longitude
Linearly polarized Galactic synchrotron emission provides valuable
information about the properties of the Galactic magnetic field and the
interstellar magneto-ionic medium, when Faraday rotation along the line of
sight is properly taken into account. We aim to survey the Galactic plane at 6
cm including linear polarization. At such a short wavelength Faraday rotation
effects are in general small and the Galactic magnetic field properties can be
probed to larger distances than at long wavelengths. The Urumqi 25-m telescope
is used for a sensitive 6 cm survey in total and polarized intensities. WMAP
K-band (22.8 GHz) polarization data are used to restore the absolute zero-level
of the Urumqi U and Q maps by extrapolation. Total intensity and polarization
maps are presented for a Galactic plane region of 129 degree < l < 230 degree
and |b| < 5 degree in the anti-centre with an angular resolution of 9'5 and an
average sensitivity of 0.6 mK and 0.4 mK Tb in total and polarized intensity,
respectively. We briefly discuss the properties of some extended Faraday
Screens detected in the 6 cm polarization maps. The Sino-German 6 cm
polarization survey provides new information about the properties of the
magnetic ISM. The survey also adds valuable information for discrete Galactic
objects and is in particular suited to detect extended Faraday Screens with
large rotation measures hosting strong regular magnetic fields.Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures, accepted by A&A. Resolutions of the figures
have been significantly reduced. For version with full resolution, see
http://159.226.88.6/zmtt/6cm/papers/gao.paper2.pd
All-sky Galactic radiation at 45 MHz and spectral index between 45 and 408 MHz
Aims: We study the Galactic large-scale synchrotron emission by generating a
reliable all-sky spectral index map and temperature map at 45 MHz. Methods: We
use our observations, the published all-sky map at 408 MHz, and a
bibliographical compilation to produce a map corrected for zero-level offset
and extragalactic contribution. Results: We present full sky maps of the
Galactic emission at 45 MHz and the Galactic spectral index between 45 and 408
MHz with an angular resolution of 5\degs. The spectral index varies between 2.1
and 2.7, reaching values below 2.5 at low latitude because of thermal free-free
absorption and its maximum in the zone next to the Northern Spur.Comment: A&A accepte
Effects of Foreground Contamination on the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Measured by MAP
We study the effects of diffuse Galactic, far-infrared extragalactic source,
and radio point source emission on the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
anisotropy data anticipated from the MAP experiment. We focus on the
correlation function and genus statistics measured from mock MAP
foreground-contaminated CMB anisotropy maps generated in a spatially-flat
cosmological constant dominated cosmological model. Analyses of the simulated
MAP data at 90 GHz (0.3 deg FWHM resolution smoothed) show that foreground
effects on the correlation function are small compared with cosmic variance.
However, the Galactic emission, even just from the region with |b| > 20 deg,
significantly affects the topology of CMB anisotropy, causing a negative genus
shift non-Gaussianity signal. Given the expected level of cosmic variance, this
effect can be effectively reduced by subtracting existing Galactic foreground
emission models from the observed data. IRAS and DIRBE far-infrared
extragalactic sources have little effect on the CMB anisotropy. Radio point
sources raise the amplitude of the correlation function considerably on scales
below 0.5 deg. Removal of bright radio sources above a 5 \sigma detection limit
effectively eliminates this effect. Radio sources also result in a positive
genus curve asymmetry (significant at 2 \sigma) on 0.5 deg scales. Accurate
radio point source data is essential for an unambiguous detection of CMB
anisotropy non-Gaussianity on these scales. Non-Gaussianity of cosmological
origin can be detected from the foreground-subtracted CMB anisotropy map at the
2 \sigma level if the measured genus shift parameter |\Delta\nu| >= 0.02 (0.04)
or if the measured genus asymmetry parameter |\Delta g| >= 0.03 (0.08) on a 0.3
(1.0) deg FWHM scale.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for Publication in Astrophysical
Journal (Some sentences and figures modified
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