Molecular environment and thermal X-ray spectroscopy of the semicircular young composite supernova remnant 3C 396

We have investigated the molecular environment of the semicircular composite supernova remnant (SNR) 3C396 and performed a Chandra spatially resolved thermal X-ray spectroscopic study of this young SNR. With our CO millimeter observations, we find that the molecular clouds (MCs) at V(LSR)~84km/s can better explain the multiwavelength properties of the remnant than the V(LSR)=67-72km/s MCs that are suggested by Lee et al. (2009). At around 84km/s, the western boundary of the SNR is perfectly confined by the western molecular wall. The CO emission fades out from west to east, indicating that the eastern region is of low gas density. In particular, an intruding finger/pillar-like MC, which may be shocked at the tip, can well explain the X-ray and radio enhancement in the southwest and some infrared filaments there. The SNR-MC interaction is also favored by the relatively elevated 12CO J=2-1/J=1-0 line ratios in the southwestern "pillar tip" and the molecular patch on the northwestern boundary. The redshifted 12CO (J=1-0 and J=2-1) wings (86-90km/s) of an eastern 81km/s molecular patch may be the kinematic evidence for shock-MC interaction. We suggest that the 69km/s MCs are in the foreground based on HI self-absorption while the 84km/s MCs at a distance of 6.2 kpc (the tangent point) are in physical contact with SNR 3C396. The X-ray spectral analysis suggests an SNR age of ~3kyr. The metal enrichment of the X-ray emitting gas in the north and south implies a 13-15Msun B1-B2 progenitor star.Comment: 17 amulateapj pages, including 11 figures and 3 tables. Accepted to ApJ. Version 2: minor correction

Discovery of molecular shells associated with supernova remnants. (II) Kesteven 75

The young composite supernova remnant (SNR) Kesteven 75, with a pulsar wind nebula at its center, has an unusual morphology with a bright southern half-shell structure in multiwavelengths. The distance to Kes 75 has long been uncertain. Aiming to address these issues, we have made millimeter spectroscopic observations of the molecular gas toward the remnant. The V_{LSR}~83--96 km/s molecular clouds (MCs) are found to overlap a large north-western region of the remnant and are suggested to be located in front of the SNR along the line of sight. Also in the remnant area, the V_{LSR}= 45--58 km/s MC shows a blue-shifted broadening in the 12CO (J=1-0) line profile and a perturbed position-velocity structure near the edge of the remnant, with the intensity centroid sitting in the northern area of the remnant. In particular, a cavity surrounded by a molecular shell is unveiled in the intensity map in the broadened blue wing (45--51 km/s), and the southern molecular shell follows the bright partial SNR shell seen in X-rays, mid-infrared, and radio continuum. These observational features provide effective evidences for the association of Kes 75 with the adjacent 54 km/s MC. This association leads to a determination of the kinematic distance at ~10.6 kpc to the remnant, which agrees with a location at the far side of the Sagittarius arm. The morphological coincidence of the shell seen in multiwavelengths is consistent with a scenario in which the SNR shock hits a pre-existing dense shell. This dense molecular shell is suggested to likely represent the debris of the cooled, clumpy shell of the progenitor's wind bubble proximately behind the 54 km/s cloud. The discovery of the association with MC provides a possible explanation for the gamma-ray excess of the remnant.Comment: 12 emulateapj pages (including 13 figures and 3 tables), some typos are corrected. Accepted by Ap

Cross-National Differences in Victimization : Disentangling the Impact of Composition and Context

Varying rates of criminal victimization across countries are assumed to be the outcome of countrylevel structural constraints that determine the supply ofmotivated o¡enders, as well as the differential composition within countries of suitable targets and capable guardianship. However, previous empirical tests of these ‘compositional’ and ‘contextual’ explanations of cross-national di¡erences have been performed upon macro-level crime data due to the unavailability of comparable individual-level data across countries. This limitation has had two important consequences for cross-national crime research. First, micro-/meso-level mechanisms underlying cross-national differences cannot be truly inferred from macro-level data. Secondly, the e¡ects of contextual measures (e.g. income inequality) on crime are uncontrolled for compositional heterogeneity. In this paper, these limitations are overcome by analysing individual-level victimization data across 18 countries from the International CrimeVictims Survey. Results from multi-level analyses on theft and violent victimization indicate that the national level of income inequality is positively related to risk, independent of compositional (i.e. micro- and meso-level) di¡erences. Furthermore, crossnational variation in victimization rates is not only shaped by di¡erences in national context, but also by varying composition. More speci¢cally, countries had higher crime rates the more they consisted of urban residents and regions with lowaverage social cohesion.

The JCMT BISTRO Survey: A Spiral Magnetic Field in a Hub-filament Structure, Monoceros R2

We present and analyze observations of polarized dust emission at 850 μm toward the central 1 7 1 pc hub-filament structure of Monoceros R2 (Mon R2). The data are obtained with SCUBA-2/POL-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) as part of the B-fields in Star-forming Region Observations survey. The orientations of the magnetic field follow the spiral structure of Mon R2, which are well described by an axisymmetric magnetic field model. We estimate the turbulent component of the magnetic field using the angle difference between our observations and the best-fit model of the underlying large-scale mean magnetic field. This estimate is used to calculate the magnetic field strength using the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method, for which we also obtain the distribution of volume density and velocity dispersion using a column density map derived from Herschel data and the C18O (J = 3 - 2) data taken with HARP on the JCMT, respectively. We make maps of magnetic field strengths and mass-to-flux ratios, finding that magnetic field strengths vary from 0.02 to 3.64 mG with a mean value of 1.0 \ub1 0.06 mG, and the mean critical mass-to-flux ratio is 0.47 \ub1 0.02. Additionally, the mean Alfv\ue9n Mach number is 0.35 \ub1 0.01. This suggests that, in Mon R2, the magnetic fields provide resistance against large-scale gravitational collapse, and the magnetic pressure exceeds the turbulent pressure. We also investigate the properties of each filament in Mon R2. Most of the filaments are aligned along the magnetic field direction and are magnetically subcritical

Magnetic Fields toward Ophiuchus-B Derived from SCUBA-2 Polarization Measurements

We present the results of dust emission polarization measurements of Ophiuchus-B (Oph-B) carried out using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) camera with its associated polarimeter (POL-2) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. This work is part of the B-fields in Star-forming Region Observations survey initiated to understand the role of magnetic fields in star formation for nearby star-forming molecular clouds. We present a first look at the geometry and strength of magnetic fields in Oph-B. The field geometry is traced over ~0.2 pc, with clear detection of both of the sub-clumps of Oph-B. The field pattern appears significantly disordered in sub-clump Oph-B1. The field geometry in Oph-B2 is more ordered, with a tendency to be along the major axis of the clump, parallel to the filamentary structure within which it lies. The degree of polarization decreases systematically toward the dense core material in the two sub-clumps. The field lines in the lower density material along the periphery are smoothly joined to the large-scale magnetic fields probed by NIR polarization observations. We estimated a magnetic field strength of 630 ± 410 μG in the Oph-B2 sub-clump using a Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi analysis. With this magnetic field strength, we find a mass-to-flux ratio λ = 1.6 ± 1.1, which suggests that the Oph-B2 clump is slightly magnetically supercritical