576 research outputs found
The Escape of Ionizing Photons from the Galaxy
The Magellanic Stream and several high velocity clouds have now been detected
in optical line emission. The observed emission measures and kinematics are
most plausibly explained by photoionization due to hot, young stars in the
Galactic disk. The highly favorable orientation of the Stream allows an
unambiguous determination of the fraction of ionizing photons, F_esc, which
escape the disk. We have modelled the production and transport of ionizing
photons through an opaque interstellar medium. Normalization to the Stream
detections requires F_esc = 6%, in reasonable agreement with the flux required
to ionize the Reynolds layer. Neither shock heating nor emission within a hot
Galactic corona can be important in producing the observed H-alpha emission. If
such a large escape fraction is typical of L_* galaxies, star-forming systems
dominate the extragalactic ionizing background. Within the context of this
model, both the three-dimensional orientation of the Stream and the distances
to high-velocity clouds can be determined by sensitive H-alpha observations.Comment: 4 pages; LaTeX2e, emulateapj.sty, apjfonts.sty; 4 encapsulated PS
figures. For correct labels, may need to print Fig. 3 separately due to psfig
limitation. Astrophysical Journal (Letters), accepte
A deep submillimetre survey of the Galactic Centre
We present first results from a submillimetre continuum survey of the
Galactic Centre `Central Molecular Zone' (CMZ), made with SCUBA on the James
Clerk Maxwell Telescope. SCUBA's scan-map mode has allowed us to make extremely
wide-field maps of thermal dust emission with unprecedented speed and
sensitivity. We also discuss some issues related to the elimination of
artefacts in scan-map data. Our simultaneous 850/450 micron maps have a total
size of approximately 2.8 x 0.5 degrees (400 x 75 pc) elongated along the
galactic plane. They cover the Sgr A region-including Sgr A*, the circumnuclear
disc, and the +20 km/s and +50 km/s clouds; the area around the Pistol; Sgr
B2-the brightest feature on the map; and at their Galactic Western and Eastern
edges the Sgr C and Sgr D regions. There are many striking features such as
filaments and shell-like structures, as well as point sources such as Sgr A*
itself. The total mass in the Central Molecular Zone is greater than that
revealed in previous optically-thin molecular line maps by a factor of ~3, and
new details are revealed on scales down to 0.33 pc across this 400 pc wide
region.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, (figures now smaller, in paper body), accepted
by ApJ
Hot gas and dust in a protostellar cluster near W3(OH
We used the IRAM Interferometer to obtain sub-arcsecond resolution
observations of the high-mass star-forming region W3(OH) and its surroundings
at a frequency of 220 GHz. With the improved angular resolution, we distinguish
3 peaks in the thermal dust continuum emission originating from the hot core
region about 6 arcsec (0.06 pc) east of W3(OH). The dust emission peaks are
coincident with known radio continuum sources, one of which is of non-thermal
nature. The latter source is also at the center of expansion of a powerful
bipolar outflow observed in water maser emission. We determine the hot core
mass to be 15 solar masses based on the integrated dust continuum emission.
Simultaneously many molecular lines are detected allowing the analysis of the
temperature structure and the distribution of complex organic molecules in the
hot core. From HNCO lines, spanning a wide range of excitation, two 200 K
temperature peaks are found coincident with dust continuum emission peaks
suggesting embedded heating sources within them.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Infalling Gas Towards the Galactic Center
VLA maps of ammonia emission were made for the Galactic Center region. The
NH3(1,1) and NH3(2,2) transitions were observed in three 2' x 2' fields
covering Sgr A* and the region 3' immediately south of it. In the central 3
parsecs surrounding Sgr A* we find emission which appears to be associated with
the circumnuclear disk (CND), both morphologically and kinematically. This
central emission is connected to a long, narrow 2 pc x 10 pc streamer of clumpy
molecular gas located towards the south, which appears to be carrying gas from
the nearby 20 km/s giant molecular cloud (GMC) to the circumnuclear region. We
find a velocity gradient along the streamer, with progressively higher
velocities as the gas approaches Sgr A*. The streamer stops at the location of
the CND, where the line width of the NH3 emission increases dramatically. This
may be the kinematic signature of accretion onto the CND. The ratio of the
NH3(2,2)/NH3(1,1) emission indicates that the gas is heated at the northern tip
of the streamer, located inside the eastern edge of the CND. The morphology,
kinematics and temperature gradients of the gas all indicate that the southern
streamer is located at the Galactic Center and is interacting with the
circumnuclear region.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal (figure 1
contours have been corrected
Applicability of the Long Chain Diol Index (LDI) as a Sea Surface Temperature Proxy in the Arabian Sea
The long-chain diol index (LDI) is a relatively new proxy for sea surface temperature (SST) which has been rarely applied in upwelling regions. Here, we evaluated its application by comparison with other SST records obtained by commonly used proxies, that is, the Mg/Ca ratio of the planktonic foraminifera species Globigerinoides ruber and the alkenone paleothermometer U-37(K '). We focused on the last glacial-interglacial transition of four different sedimentary archives from the western and northern Arabian Sea, which are currently under the influence of monsoon-induced upwelling and the associated development of an oxygen minimum zone. The UK ' 37 and Mg/Ca-G.ruber SST records revealed an increase of 0.6-3.4 degrees C from the Last Glacial Maximum to the late Holocene with somewhat higher amplitude in the northern part of the Arabian Sea than compared to the western part. In contrast, the LDI SSTs did not reveal major changes during the last glacial-interglacial transition which was followed by a decreasing trend during the Holocene. The LGM versus the Holocene LDI SSTs ranged between -0.2 and -2.7 degrees C. Particularly at one record, offshore Oman, the SST decrease during the Holocene was high in amplitude, suggesting a potential cold bias, possibly related to changes in upwelling intensity. This indicates that care has to be taken when applying the LDI for annual mean SST reconstruction in upwelling regions
Forces on Dust Grains Exposed to Anisotropic Interstellar Radiation Fields
Grains exposed to anisotropic radiation fields are subjected to forces due to
the asymmetric photon-stimulated ejection of particles. These forces act in
addition to the ``radiation pressure'' due to absorption and scattering. Here
we model the forces due to photoelectron emission and the photodesorption of
adatoms. The ``photoelectric'' force depends on the ambient conditions relevant
to grain charging. We find that it is comparable to the radiation pressure when
the grain potential is relatively low and the radiation spectrum is relatively
hard. The calculation of the ``photodesorption'' force is highly uncertain,
since the surface physics and chemsitry of grain materials are poorly
understood at present. For our simple yet plausible model, the photodesorption
force dominates the radiation pressure for grains with size >~0.1 micron
exposed to starlight from OB stars. We find that the anisotropy of the
interstellar radiation field is ~10% in the visible and ultraviolet. We
estimate size-dependent drift speeds for grains in the cold and warm neutral
media and find that micron-sized grains could potentially be moved across a
diffuse cloud during its lifetime.Comment: LaTeX(41 pages, 19 figures), submitted to Ap
The Escape of Ionizing Photons from OB Associations in Disk Galaxies: Radiation Transfer Through Superbubbles
By solving the time-dependent radiation transfer problem of stellar radiation
through evolving superbubbles within a smoothly varying HI distribution, we
estimate the fraction of ionizing photons emitted by OB associations that
escapes the HI disk of our Galaxy into the halo and intergalactic medium (IGM).
We consider both coeval star-formation and a Gaussian star-formation history
with a time spread sigma_t = 2 Myr. We consider both a uniform H I distribution
and a two-phase (cloud/intercloud) model, with a negligible filling factor of
hot gas. We find that the shells of the expanding superbubbles quickly trap or
attenuate the ionizing flux, so that most of the escaping radiation escapes
shortly after the formation of the superbubble. For the coeval star-formation
history, the total fraction of Lyman Continuum photons that escape both sides
of the disk in the solar vicinity is f_esc approx 0.15 +/- 0.05. For the
Gaussian star formation history, f_esc approx 0.06 +/- 0.03, a value roughly a
factor of two lower than the results of Dove & Shull (1994), where superbubbles
were not considered. For a local production rate of ionizing photons Psi_LyC =
4.95 X 10^7 cm^{-2} s^{-1}, the flux escaping the disk is Phi_LyC approx
(1.5-3.0) X 10^6 cm^{-2} s^{-1} for coeval and Gaussian star formation,
comparable to the flux required to sustain the Reynolds layer.Comment: Revised version (expanded), accepted for publication by ApJ, 38
pages, 8 figures, aasms4.sty and aabib.sty files include
First Intrinsic Anisotropy Observations with the Cosmic Background Imager
We present the first results of observations of the intrinsic anisotropy of
the cosmic microwave background radiation with the Cosmic Background Imager
from a site at 5080 m altitude in northern Chile. Our observations show a sharp
decrease in C_l in the range l=400 - 1500. The broadband amplitudes we have
measured are deltaT(band) = 58.7 (-6.3, +7.7) microK for l = 603 (-166, +180)
and 29.7 (-4.2, +4.8) microK for l = 1190 (-224, +261), where these are
half-power widths in l. Such a decrease in power at high l is one of the
fundamental predictions of the standard cosmological model, and these are the
first observations which cover a broad enough l range to show this decrease in
a single experiment. The C_l we have measured enable us to place limits on the
density parameter, Omega(tot) = 0.7 (90% confidence).Comment: 5 pages including 2 figures. Corrected an error in the comparison
with Boomerang and Maxim
A molecular shell with star formation toward the supernova remnant G349.7+0.2
A field of ~38'x38' around the supernova remnant (SNR) G349.7+0.2 has been
surveyed in the CO J=1-0 transition with the 12 Meter Telescope of the NRAO,
using the On-The-Fly technique. The resolution of the observations is 54". We
have found that this remnant is interacting with a small CO cloud which, in
turn, is part of a much larger molecular complex, which we call the ``Large CO
Shell''. The Large CO Shell has a diameter of about 100 pc, an H_2 mass of
930,000 solar masses, and a density of 35 cm-3. We investigate the origin of
this structure and suggest that an old supernova explosion ocurred about 4
million years ago, as a suitable hypothesis. Analyzing the interaction between
G349.7+0.2 and the Large CO Shell, it is possible to determine that the shock
front currently driven into the molecular gas is a non-dissociative shock
(C-type), in agreement with the presence of OH 1720 MHz masers. The positional
and kinematical coincidence among one of the CO clouds that constitute the
Large CO Shell, an IRAS point-like source and an ultracompact H II region,
indicate the presence of a recently formed star. We suggest that the formation
of this star was triggered during the expansion of the Large CO Shell, and
suggest the possibility that the same expansion also created the progenitor
star of G349.7+0.2. The Large CO Shell would then be one of the few
observational examples of supernova-induced star formation.Comment: accepted in Astronomical Journal, corrected typo in the abstract (in
first line, 38' instead of 38"
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