746 research outputs found
High Redshift Quasars and Star Formation in the Early Universe
In order to derive information on the star formation history in the early
universe we observed 6 high-redshift (z=3.4) quasars in the near-infrared to
measure the relative iron and \mgii emission strengths. A detailed comparison
of the resulting spectra with those of low-redshift quasars show essentially
the same FeII/MgII emission ratios and very similar continuum and line spectral
properties, indicating a lack of evolution of the relative iron to magnesium
abundance of the gas since z=3.4 in bright quasars. On the basis of current
chemical evolution scenarios of galaxies, where magnesium is produced in
massive stars ending in type II SNe, while iron is formed predominantly in SNe
of type Ia with a delay of ~1 Gyr and assuming as cosmological parameters H_o =
72 km/s Mpc, Omega_M = 0.3, and Omega_Lambda = 0.7$, we conclude that major
star formation activity in the host galaxies of our z=3.4 quasars must have
started already at an epoch corresponding to z_f ~= 10, when the age of the
universe was less than 0.5 Gyrs.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, ApJ in pres
A sensitive survey for 13CO, CN, H2CO and SO in the disks of T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars
We use the IRAM 30-m telescope to perform a sensitive search for CN N=2-1 in
42 T Tauri or Herbig Ae systems located mostly in the Taurus-Auriga region.
CO J=2-1 is observed simultaneously to indicate the level of confusion
with the surrounding molecular cloud. The bandpass also contains two
transitions of ortho-HCO, one of SO and the CO J=2-1 line which
provide complementary information on the nature of the emission.
While CO is in general dominated by residual emission from the cloud,
CN exhibits a high disk detection rate % in our sample. We even report CN
detection in stars for which interferometric searches failed to detect
CO, presumably because of obscuration by a foreground, optically thick,
cloud. Comparison between CN and o-HCO or SO line profiles and intensities
divide the sample in two main categories. Sources with SO emission are bright
and have strong HCO emission, leading in general to [HCO/CN].
Furthermore, their line profiles, combined with a priori information on the
objects, suggest that the emission is coming from outflows or envelopes rather
than from a circumstellar disk. On the other hand, most sources have
[HCO/CN], no SO emission, and some of them exhibit clear
double-peaked profiles characteristics of rotating disks. In this second
category, CN is likely tracing the proto-planetary disks. From the line flux
and opacity derived from the hyperfine ratios, we constrain the outer radii of
the disks, which range from 300 to 600 AU. The overall gas disk detection rate
(including all molecular tracers) is , and decreases for fainter
continuum sources.
This study shows that gas disks, like dust disks, are ubiquitous around young
PMS stars in regions of isolated star formation, and that a large fraction of
them have AU.Comment: 31 pages (including 59 figures
Dust continuum and Polarization from Envelope to Cores in Star Formation: A Case Study in the W51 North region
We present the first high-angular resolution (up to 0.7", ~5000 AU)
polarization and thermal dust continuum images toward the massive star-forming
region W51 North. The observations were carried out with the Submillimeter
Array (SMA) in both the subcompact (SMA-SubC) and extended (SMA-Ext)
configurations at a wavelength of 870 micron. W51 North is resolved into four
cores (SMA1 to SMA4) in the 870 micron continuum image. The associated dust
polarization exhibits more complex structures than seen at lower angular
resolution. We analyze the inferred morphologies of the plane-of-sky magnetic
field (B_bot) in the SMA1 to SMA4 cores and in the envelope using the SMA-Ext
and SMA-SubC data. These results are compared with the B_bot archive images
obtained from the CSO and JCMT. A correlation between dust intensity gradient
position angles (phi_{nabla I}) and magnetic field position angles (phi_B) is
found in the CSO, JCMT and both SMA data sets. This correlation is further
analyzed quantitatively. A systematically tighter correlation between
phi_{nabla I} and phi_B is found in the cores, whereas the correlation
decreases in outside-core regions. Magnetic field-to-gravity force ratio
(Sigma_B) maps are derived using the newly developed polarization - intensity
gradient method by Koch, Tang & Ho 2012. We find that the force ratios tend to
be small (Sigma_B <= 0.5) in the cores in all 4 data sets. In regions outside
of the cores, the ratios increase or the field is even dominating gravity
(Sigma_B > 1). This possibly provides a physical explanation of the tightening
correlation between phi_{nabla I} and phi_B in the cores: the more the B field
lines are dragged and aligned by gravity, the tighter the correlation is.
Finally, we propose a schematic scenario for the magnetic field in W51 North to
interpret the four polarization observations at different physical scales.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 10 pages. 7 figure
Detection of CO (2-1) and Radio Continuum Emission from the z = 4.4 QSO BRI 1335-0417
We have detected redshifted CO (2-1) emission at 43 GHz and radio continuum
emission at 1.47 and 4.86 GHz from the z = 4.4 QSO BRI 1335-0417 using the Very
Large Array. The CO data imply optically thick emission from warm (>30 K)
molecular gas with a total mass, M(H_2), of 1.5+/-0.3 x10^{11} M_solar, using
the Galactic gas mass-to-CO luminosity conversion factor. We set an upper limit
to the CO source size of 1.1", and a lower limit of 0.23"x(T_ex/50K)^{-1/2},
where T_ex is the gas excitation temperature. We derive an upper limit to the
dynamical mass of 2x10^{10} x sin^{-2} i M_solar, where i is the disk
inclination angle. To reconcile the gas mass with the dynamical mass requires
either a nearly face-on disk (i < 25deg), or a gas mass-to-CO luminosity
conversion factor significantly lower than the Galactic value. The spectral
energy distribution from the radio to the rest-frame infrared of BRI 1335-0417
is consistent with that expected from a nuclear starburst galaxy, with an
implied massive star formation rate of 2300+/-600 M_solar yr^{-1}.Comment: standard AAS LATEX forma
A CO Survey of Gravitationally Lensed Quasars with the IRAM Interferometer
We present the results of a CO survey of gravitationally lensed quasars,
conducted with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer over the last three years.
Among the 18 objects surveyed, one was detected in CO line emission, while six
were detected in the continuum at 3mm and three in the continuum at 1mm. The
low CO detection rate may at least in part be due to uncertainties in the
redshifts derived from quasar broad emission lines. The detected CO source, the
z=3.2 radio quiet quasar MG0751+2716, is quite strong in the CO(4-3) line and
in the millimeter/submillimeter continuum, the latter being emission from cool
dust. The integrated CO line flux is 5.96 +- 0.45 Jy.km/s, and the total
molecular gas mass is estimated to be in the range M(H_2) = 1.6-3.1 X 10^9
solar masses.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, uses aa.cls and psfig.st
Molecular line radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks: Monte Carlo simulations versus approximate methods
We analyze the line radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks using several
approximate methods and a well-tested Accelerated Monte Carlo code. A low-mass
flaring disk model with uniform as well as stratified molecular abundances is
adopted. Radiative transfer in low and high rotational lines of CO, C18O, HCO+,
DCO+, HCN, CS, and H2CO is simulated. The corresponding excitation
temperatures, synthetic spectra, and channel maps are derived and compared to
the results of the Monte Carlo calculations. A simple scheme that describes the
conditions of the line excitation for a chosen molecular transition is
elaborated. We find that the simple LTE approach can safely be applied for the
low molecular transitions only, while it significantly overestimates the
intensities of the upper lines. In contrast, the Full Escape Probability (FEP)
approximation can safely be used for the upper transitions (J_{\rm up} \ga 3)
but it is not appropriate for the lowest transitions because of the maser
effect. In general, the molecular lines in protoplanetary disks are partly
subthermally excited and require more sophisticated approximate line radiative
transfer methods. We analyze a number of approximate methods, namely, LVG, VEP
(Vertical Escape Probability) and VOR (Vertical One Ray) and discuss their
algorithms in detail. In addition, two modifications to the canonical Monte
Carlo algorithm that allow a significant speed up of the line radiative
transfer modeling in rotating configurations by a factor of 10--50 are
described.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Sensitive survey for 13CO, CN, H2CO, and SO in the disks of T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars II: Stars in Oph and upper Scorpius
We attempt to determine the molecular composition of disks around young
low-mass stars in the Oph region and to compare our results with a
similar study performed in the Taurus-Auriga region. We used the IRAM 30 m
telescope to perform a sensitive search for CN N=2-1 in 29 T Tauri stars
located in the Oph and upper Scorpius regions. CO J=2-1 is
observed simultaneously to provide an indication of the level of confusion with
the surrounding molecular cloud. The bandpass also contains two transitions of
ortho-HCO, one of SO, and the CO J=2-1 line, which provides
complementary information on the nature of the emission. Contamination by
molecular cloud in CO and even CO is ubiquitous. The CN detection
rate appears to be lower than for the Taurus region, with only four sources
being detected (three are attributable to disks). HCO emission is found
more frequently, but appears in general to be due to the surrounding cloud. The
weaker emission than in Taurus may suggest that the average disk size in the
Oph region is smaller than in the Taurus cloud. Chemical modeling shows
that the somewhat higher expected disk temperatures in Oph play a direct
role in decreasing the CN abundance. Warmer dust temperatures contribute to
convert CN into less volatile forms. In such a young region, CN is no longer a
simple, sensitive tracer of disks, and observations with other tracers and at
high enough resolution with ALMA are required to probe the gas disk population.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&
A Study of CO Emission in High Redshift QSOs Using the Owens Valley Millimeter Array
Searches for CO emission in high-redshift objects have traditionally suffered
from the accuracy of optically-derived redshifts due to lack of bandwidth in
correlators at radio observatories. This problem has motivated the creation of
the new COBRA continuum correlator, with 4 GHz available bandwidth, at the
Owens Valley Radio Observatory Millimeter Array. Presented here are the first
scientific results from COBRA. We report detections of redshifted CO(J=3-2)
emission in the QSOs SMM J04135+10277 and VCV J140955.5+562827, as well as a
probable detection in RX J0911.4+0551. At redshifts of z=2.846, z=2.585, and
z=2.796, we find integrated CO flux densities of 5.4 Jy km/s, 2.4 Jy km/s, and
2.9 Jy km/s for SMM J04135+10277, VCV J140955.5+562827, and RX J0911.4+0551,
respectively, over linewidths of Delta(V_{FWHM}) ~ 350 km/s. These
measurements, when corrected for gravitational lensing, correspond to molecular
gas masses of order M(H_2) ~ 10^{9.6-11.1} solar masses, and are consistent
with previous CO observations of high-redshift QSOs. We also report 3-sigma
upper limits on CO(3-2) emission in the QSO LBQS 0018-0220 of 1.3 Jy km/s. We
do not detect significant 3mm continuum emission from any of the QSOs, with the
exception of a tentative (3-sigma) detection in RX J0911.4+0551 of S_{3mm}=0.92
mJy/beam.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted to ApJ. Changes made for
version 2: citations added, 2 objects added to Table 2 and Figure
Structure of W3(OH) from Very High Spectral Resolution Observations of 5 Centimeter OH Masers
Recent studies of methanol and ground-state OH masers at very high spectral
resolution have shed new light on small-scale maser processes. The nearby
source W3(OH), which contains numerous bright masers in several different
transitions, provides an excellent laboratory for high spectral resolution
techniques. We present a model of W3(OH) based on EVN observations of the
rotationally-excited 6030 and 6035 MHz OH masers taken at 0.024 km/s spectral
resolution. The 6.0 GHz masers are becoming brighter with time and show
evidence for tangential proper motions. We confirm the existence of a region of
magnetic field oriented toward the observer to the southeast and find another
such region to the northeast in W3(OH), near the champagne flow. The 6.0 GHz
masers trace the inner edge of a counterclockwise rotating torus feature.
Masers at 6030 MHz are usually a factor of a few weaker than at 6035 MHz but
trace the same material. Velocity gradients of nearby Zeeman components are
much more closely correlated than in the ground state, likely due to the
smaller spatial separation between Zeeman components. Hydroxyl maser peaks at
very long baseline interferometric resolution appear to have structure on
scales both smaller than that resolvable as well as on larger scales.Comment: 21 pages using emulateapj.cls including 16 figures and 2 tables,
accepted to Ap
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