A new mid-infrared map of the BN/KL region using the Keck telescope

We present a new mid-infrared (12.5micron) map of the BN/KL high-mass star-forming complex in Orion using the LWS instrument at Keck I. Despite poor weather we achieved nearly diffraction-limited images (FWHM = 0.38'') over a roughly 25'' X 25'' region centered on IRc2 down to a flux limit of ~250 mJy. Many of the known infrared (IR) sources in the region break up into smaller sub-components. We have also detected 6 new mid-IR sources. Nearly all of the sources are resolved in our mosaic. The near-IR source ''n'' is slightly elongated in the mid-IR along a NW--SE axis and perfectly bisects the double-peaked radio source ''L''. Source n has been identified as a candidate for powering the large IR luminosity of the BN/KL region (L = 10^5 L_sun). We postulate that the 12 micron emission arises in a circumstellar disk surrounding source n. The morphology of the mid-IR emission and the Orion ''hot core'' (as seen in NH_3 emission), along with the location of water and OH masers, is very suggestive of a bipolar cavity centered on source n and aligned with the rotation axis of the hypothetical circumstellar disk. IRc2, once thought to be the dominant energy source for the BN/KL region, clearly breaks into 4 sub-sources in our mosaic, as seen previously at 3.8 -- 5.0 micron. The anti-correlation of mid-IR emission and NH_3 emission from the nearby hot core indicates that the IRc2 sources are roughly coincident (or behind) the dense hot core. The nature of IRc2 is not clear: neither self-luminous sources (embedded protostars) nor external heating by source I can be definitively ruled out. We also report the discovery of a new arc-like feature SW of the BN object, and some curious morphology surrounding near-IR source ''t".Comment: To appear in The Astronomical Journal, July 2004 (16 pages, 7 figures

Discovery of Interstellar Propylene (CH_2CHCH_3): Missing Links in Interstellar Gas-Phase Chemistry

We report the discovery of propylene (also called propene, CH_2CHCH_3) with the IRAM 30-m radio telescope toward the dark cloud TMC-1. Propylene is the most saturated hydrocarbon ever detected in space through radio astronomical techniques. In spite of its weak dipole moment, 6 doublets (A and E species) plus another line from the A species have been observed with main beam temperatures above 20 mK. The derived total column density of propylene is 4 10^13 cm^-2, which corresponds to an abundance relative to H_2 of 4 10^-9, i.e., comparable to that of other well known and abundant hydrocarbons in this cloud, such as c-C_3H_2. Although this isomer of C_3H_6 could play an important role in interstellar chemistry, it has been ignored by previous chemical models of dark clouds as there seems to be no obvious formation pathway in gas phase. The discovery of this species in a dark cloud indicates that a thorough analysis of the completeness of gas phase chemistry has to be done.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Influence of polymer-pore interactions on translocation

We investigate the influence of polymer-pore interactions on the translocation dynamics using Langevin dynamics simulations. An attractive interaction can greatly improve translocation probability. At the same time, it also increases translocation time slowly for weak attraction while exponential dependence is observed for strong attraction. For fixed driving force and chain length the histogram of translocation time has a transition from Gaussian distribution to long-tailed distribution with increasing attraction. Under a weak driving force and a strong attractive force, both the translocation time and the residence time in the pore show a non-monotonic behavior as a function of the chain length. Our simulations results are in good agreement with recent experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Large Scale Flows from Orion-South

Multiple optical outflows are known to exist in the vicinity of the active star formation region called Orion-South (Orion-S). We have mapped the velocity of low ionization features in the brightest part of the Orion Nebula, including Orion-S, and imaged the entire nebula with the Hubble Space Telescope. These new data, combined with recent high resolution radio maps of outflows from the Orion-S region, allow us to trace the origin of the optical outflows. It is confirmed that HH 625 arises from the blueshifted lobe of the CO outflow from 136-359 in Orion-S while it is likely that HH 507 arises from the blueshifted lobe of the SiO outflow from the nearby source 135-356. It is likely that redshifted lobes are deflected within the photon dominated region behind the optical nebula. This leads to a possible identification of a new large shock to the southwest from Orion-S as being driven by the redshifted CO outflow arising from 137-408. The distant object HH 400 is seen to have two even further components and these all are probably linked to either HH 203, HH 204, or HH 528. Distant shocks on the west side of the nebula may be related to HH 269. The sources of multiple bright blueshifted Herbig-Haro objects (HH 202, HH 203, HH 204, HH 269, HH 528) remain unidentified, in spite of earlier claimed identifications. Some of this lack of identification may arise from the fact that deflection in radial velocity can also produce a change in direction in the plane of the sky. The best way to resolve this open question is through improved tangential velocities of low ionization features arising where the outflows first break out into the ionized nebula.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in press. Some figures are shown at reduced resolution. A full-resolution version is available at http://ifront.org/wiki/Orion_South_Outflows_Pape

Monitoring the Large Proper Motions of Radio Sources in the Orion BN/KL Region

We present absolute astrometry of four radio sources in the Becklin-Neugebauer/Kleinman-Low (BN/KL) region, derived from archival data (taken in 1991, 1995, and 2000) as well as from new observations (taken in 2006). All data consist of 3.6 cm continuum emission and were taken with the Very Large Array in its highest angular resolution A configuration. We confirm the large proper motions of the BN object, the radio source I (GMR I) and the radio counterpart of the infrared source n (Orion-n), with values from 15 to 26 km/s. The three sources are receding from a point between them from where they seem to have been ejected about 500 years ago, probably via the disintegration of a multiple stellar system. We present simulations of very compact stellar groups that provide a plausible dynamical scenario for the observations. The radio source Orion-n appeared as a double in the first three epochs, but as single in 2006. We discuss this morphological change. The fourth source in the region, GMR D, shows no statistically significant proper motions. We also present new, accurate relative astrometry between BN and radio source I that restrict possible dynamical scenarios for the region. During the 2006 observations, the radio source GMR A, located about 1' to the NW of the BN/KL region, exhibited an increase in its flux density of a factor of ~3.5 over a timescale of one hour. This rapid variability at cm wavelengths is similar to that previously found during a flare at millimeter wavelengths that took place in 2003.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

The wideband backend at the MDSCC in Robledo. A new facility for radio astronomy at Q- and K- bands

The antennas of NASA's Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC) in Robledo de Chavela are available as single-dish radio astronomical facilities during a significant percentage of their operational time. Current instrumentation includes two antennas of 70 and 34 m in diameter, equipped with dual-polarization receivers in K (18 - 26 GHz) and Q (38 - 50 GHz) bands, respectively. We have developed and built a new wideband backend for the Robledo antennas, with the objectives (1) to optimize the available time and enhance the efficiency of radio astronomy in MDSCC; and (2) to tackle new scientific cases impossible to that were investigated with the old, narrow-band autocorrelator. The backend consists of an IF processor, a FFT spectrometer (FFTS), and the software that interfaces and manages the events among the observing program, antenna control, the IF processor, the FFTS operation, and data recording. The whole system was end-to-end assembled in August 2011, at the start of commissioning activities, and the results are reported in this paper. Frequency tunings and line intensities are stable over hours, even when using different synthesizers and IF channels; no aliasing effects have been measured, and the rejection of the image sideband was characterized. The first setup provides 1.5 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth in a single polarization, using 8192 channels and a frequency resolution of 212 kHz; upgrades under way include a second FFTS card, and two high-resolution cores providing 100 MHz and 500 MHz of bandwidth, and 16384 channels. These upgrades will permit simultaneous observations of the two polarizations with instantaneous bandwidths from 100 MHz to 3 GHz, and spectral resolutions from 7 to 212 kHz.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysic

Hot and Diffuse Clouds near the Galactic Center Probed by Metastable H3+

Using an absorption line from the metastable (J, K) = (3, 3) level of H3+ together with other lines of H3+ and CO observed along several sightlines, we have discovered a vast amount of high temperature (T ~ 250 K) and low density (n ~ 100 cm-3) gas with a large velocity dispersion in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Galaxy, i.e., within 200 pc of the center. Approximately three fourths of the H3+ along the line of sight to the brightest source we observed, the Quintuplet object GCS 3-2, is inferred to be in the CMZ, with the remaining H3+ located in intervening spiral arms. About half of H3+ in the CMZ has velocities near ~ - 100 km s-1 indicating that it is associated with the 180 pc radius Expanding Molecular Ring which approximately forms outer boundary of the CMZ. The other half, with velocities of ~ - 50 km s-1 and ~ 0 km s-1, is probably closer to the center. CO is not very abundant in those clouds. Hot and diffuse gas in which the (3, 3) level is populated was not detected toward several dense clouds and diffuse clouds in the Galactic disk where large column densities of colder H3+ have been reported previously. Thus the newly discovered environment appears to be unique to the CMZ. The large observed H3+ column densities in the CMZ suggests an ionization rate much higher than in the diffuse interstellar medium in the Galactic disk. Our finding that the H3+ in the CMZ is almost entirely in diffuse clouds indicates that the reported volume filling factor (f ≥ 0.1) for n ≥ 104 cm-3 clouds in the CMZ is an overestimate by at least an order of magnitude.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Chaperone-assisted translocation of a polymer through a nanopore

Using Langevin dynamics simulations, we investigate the dynamics of chaperone-assisted translocation of a flexible polymer through a nanopore. We find that increasing the binding energy $\epsilon$ between the chaperone and the chain and the chaperone concentration $N_c$ can greatly improve the translocation probability. Particularly, with increasing the chaperone concentration a maximum translocation probability is observed for weak binding. For a fixed chaperone concentration, the histogram of translocation time $\tau$ has a transition from long-tailed distribution to Gaussian distribution with increasing $\epsilon$. $\tau$ rapidly decreases and then almost saturates with increasing binding energy for short chain, however, it has a minimum for longer chains at lower chaperone concentration. We also show that $\tau$ has a minimum as a function of the chaperone concentration. For different $\epsilon$, a nonuniversal dependence of $\tau$ on the chain length $N$ is also observed. These results can be interpreted by characteristic entropic effects for flexible polymers induced by either crowding effect from high chaperone concentration or the intersegmental binding for the high binding energy.Comment: 10 pages, to appear in J. Am. Chem. So

The Birth of High Mass Stars: Accretion and/or Mergers?

The observational consequences of the merger scenario for massive star formation are explored and contrasted with the gradual accumulation of mass by accretion. Protostellar mergers may produce high luminosity infrared flares lasting years to centuries followed by a luminosity decline on the Kelvin-Helmholtz time-scale of the merger product. Mergers may be surrounded by thick tori of expanding debris, impulsive wide-angle outflows, and shock induced maser and radio continuum emission. Collision products are expected to have fast stellar rotation and a large multiplicity fraction. Close encounters or mergers will produce circumstellar debris disks with an orientation that differs form that of a pre-existing disk. The extremely rare merger of two stars close to the upper-mass end of the IMF may be a possible pathway to hypernova generated gamma-ray bursters. While accretional growth can lead to the formation of massive stars in isolation or in loose clusters, mergers can only occur in high-density cluster environments. It is proposed that the outflow emerging from the OMC1 core in the Orion molecular cloud was produced by a protostellar merger that released between $10^{48}$ to $10^{49}$ ergs less than a thousand years ago

A Viscous Heating Mechanism for the Hot Plasma in the Galactic Center Region

In addition to lines originating in a soft phase at ~0.8 keV and to cold molecular clouds, the X-ray spectra from the Galactic center region also exhibit properties similar to those of a diffuse, thin, very hot plasma at 8 keV on a scale of hundreds of parsecs. This phase is surprising for more than one reason. First, such a hot plasma should not be bound to the Galactic plane and the power needed to sustain the escaping matter would be higher then any known source. Second, there is no known mechanism able to heat the plasma to more than a few keV. Recently we have suggested that, hydrogen having escaped, the hot plasma could be a helium plasma, heavy enough to be gravitationally confined. In this case, the required power is much more reasonable. We present here a possible heating mechanism which taps the gravitational energy of the molecular clouds. We note that the 8 keV plasma is highly viscous and we show how viscous friction of molecular clouds flowing within the hot phase can dissipate energy in the gas and heat it. We detail the MHD wake of a spherical cloud by considering the different MHD waves the cloud can excite. We find that most of the energy is dissipated by the damping of Alfvenic perturbations in two possible manners, namely by non-linear effects and by a large scale curvature of the field lines. Depending on the field strength, this heating can balance the radiative cooling. We note that the plasma parameters may be optimal to make the dissipation most efficient, suggesting a self-regulation mechanism. The loss of kinetic and gravitational energy also causes accretion of the clouds and may have significant action on the gas dynamics in this region between the large scale, bar dominated flow and the central accretion to the massive black hole.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&