[CI], [CII] and CO emission lines as a probe for alpha variations at low and high redshifts

The offsets between the radial velocities of the rotational transitions of carbon monoxide and the fine structure transitions of neutral and singly ionized carbon are used to test the hypothetical variation of the fine structure constant, alpha. From the analysis of the [CI] and [CII] fine structure lines and low J rotational lines of 12CO and 13CO, emitted by the dark cloud L1599B in the Milky Way disk, we find no evidence for fractional changes in alpha at the level of |$\Delta \alpha/\alpha$| < 3*10^-7. For the neighbour galaxy M33 a stringent limit on Delta alpha/alpha is set from observations of three HII zones in [CII] and CO emission lines: |$\Delta \alpha/\alpha$| < 4*10^-7. Five systems over the redshift interval z = 5.7-6.4, showing CO J=6-5, J=7-6 and [CII] emission, yield a limit on |$\Delta \alpha/\alpha$| < 1.3*10^-5. Thus, a combination of the [CI], [CII], and CO emission lines turns out to be a powerful tool for probing the stability of the fundamental physical constants over a wide range of redshifts not accessible to optical spectral measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Understanding the spectral energy distributions of the galactic star forming regions IRAS 18314-0720, 18355-0532 &#38; 18316-0602

Embedded Young Stellar Objects (YSO) in dense interstellar clouds is treated self-consistently to understand their spectral energy distributions (SED). Radiative transfer calculations in spherical geometry involving the dust as well as the gas component, have been carried out to explain observations covering a wide spectral range encompassing near-infrared to radio continuum wavelengths. Various geometric and physical details of the YSOs are determined from this modelling scheme. In order to assess the effectiveness of this self-consistent scheme, three young Galactic star forming regions associated with IRAS 18314-0720, 18355-0532 and 18316-0602 have been modelled as test cases. They cover a large range of luminosity (≈ 40). The modelling of their SEDs has led to information about various details of these sources, e.g. embedded energy source, cloud structure &#38; size, density distribution, composition &#38; abundance of dust grains etc. In all three cases, the best fit model corresponds to the uniform density distribution

The Carbon content in the Galactic CygnusX/DR21 star forming region

Observations of Carbon bearing species are among the most important diagnostic probes of ongoing star formation. CO is a surrogate for H$_2$ and is found in the vicinity of star formation sites. There, [CI] emission is thought to outline the dense molecular cores and extend into the lower density regions, where the impinging interstellar UV radiation field plays a critical role for the dissociation and ionization processes. Emission of ionized carbon ([CII]) is found to be even more extended than [CI] and is linking up with the ionized medium. These different tracers emphasize the importance of multi-wavelength studies to draw a coherent picture of the processes driving and driven by high mass star formation. Until now, large scale surveys were only done with low resolution, such as the COBE full sky survey, or were biased to a few selected bright sources (e.g. Yamamoto et al. 2001, Schneider et al. 2003). A broader basis of unbiased, high-resolution observations of [CI], CO, and [CII] may play a key role to probe the material processed by UV radiation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure, to appear in "Proceedings of the 4th Cologne-Bonn-Zermatt-Symposium", ed. S. Pfalzner, C. Kramer, C. Straubmeier, and A. Heithausen (Springer Verlag

Spatial distribution of emission in Unidentified Infrared Bands from Midcourse Space Experiment Survey

Recently the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) has surveyed the Galactic plane in mainly four infrared bands between 6 and 25 micron. Two of these bands cover several Unidentified Infrared emission Bands (UIBs). With the aim of extracting the spatial distribution of the UIB emission on a large scale, a scheme has been developed to model the MSX data with emission in the UIBs alongwith the underlying thermal continuum from the interstellar dust. In order to test this scheme, a sample of five Galactic compact H II regions (Sh-61, Sh-138, Sh-152, Sh-156, Sh-186; Zavagno & Ducci 2001) for which imaging study in some individual UIBs is available from ISOCAM measurements, has been studied. The results of this comparative study on small angular scale are as follows : (i) the morphological details extracted from our scheme agree very well with those from the superior ISOCAM measurements; (ii) the integrated strength of UIBs extracted from the MSX database correlates extremely well with the sum of the strengths of individual UIBs measured from ISOCAM. This tight correlation is very encouraging and promises the potential of MSX database for study of large scale spatial distribution of UIB emission (and the carriers of UIBs) in the entire Galactic plane.Comment: to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics; (9 pages including 2 tables & 11 figures

Probing the massive star forming environment - a multiwavelength investigation of the filamentary IRDC G333.73+0.37

We present a multiwavelength study of the filamentary infrared dark cloud (IRDC) G333.73+0.37. The region contains two distinct mid-infrared sources S1 and S2 connected by dark lanes of gas and dust. Cold dust emission from the IRDC is detected at seven wavelength bands and we have identified 10 high density clumps in the region. The physical properties of the clumps such as temperature: 14.3-22.3 K and mass: 87-1530 M_sun are determined by fitting a modified blackbody to the spectral energy distribution of each clump between 160 micron and 1.2 mm. The total mass of the IRDC is estimated to be $~4700 M_sun. The molecular line emission towards S1 reveals signatures of protostellar activity. Low frequency radio emission at 1300 and 610 MHz is detected towards S1 (shell-like) and S2 (compact morphology), confirming the presence of newly formed massive stars in the IRDC. Photometric analysis of near and mid-infrared point sources unveil the young stellar object population associated with the cloud. Fragmentation analysis indicates that the filament is supercritical. We observe a velocity gradient along the filament, that is likely to be associated with accretion flows within the filament rather than rotation. Based on various age estimates obtained for objects in different evolutionary stages, we attempt to set a limit to the current age of this cloud.Comment: 26 pages, 20 figures, accepted by Ap

Far and mid infrared observations of two ultracompact H II regions and one compact CO clump

Two ultracompact H II regions (IRAS 19181+1349 and 20178+4046) and one compact molecular clump (20286+4105) have been observed at far infrared wavelengths using the TIFR 1 m balloon-borne telescope and at mid infrared wavelengths using ISO. Far infrared observations have been made simultaneously in two bands with effective wavelengths of ~ 150 and ~ 210 micron, using liquid 3He cooled bolometer arrays. ISO observations have been made in seven spectral bands using the ISOCAM instrument; four of these bands cover the emission from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. In addition, IRAS survey data for these sources in the four IRAS bands have been processed using the HIRES routine. In the high resolution mid infrared maps as well as far infrared maps multiple embedded energy sources have been resolved. There are structural similarities between the images in the mid infrared and the large scale maps in the far infrared bands, despite very different angular resolutions of the two. Dust temperature and optical depth (tau_150 um) maps have also been generated using the data from balloon-borne observations. Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for these sources have been constructed by combining the data from all these observations. Radiation transfer calculations have been made to understand these SEDs. Parameters for the dust envelopes in these sources have been derived by fitting the observed SEDs. In particular, it has been found that radial density distribution for three sources is diffrent. Whereas in the case of IRAS 20178+4046, a steep distribution of the form r^-2 is favoured, for IRAS 20286+4105 it is r^-1 and for IRAS 19181+1349 it the uniform distribution (r^0). Line ratios for PAH bands have generally been found to be similar to those for other compact H II regions but different from general H II regions.Comment: To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics; (19 pages including 14 Figures and 6 Tables

Efficient absolute aspect determination of a balloon borne far infrared telescope using a solid state optical photometer

The observational and operational efficiency of the TIFR 1 meter balloon borne far infrared telescope has been improved by incorporating a multielement solid state optical photometer (SSOP) at the Cassegrain focus of the telescope. The SSOP is based on a 1-D linear photo diode array (PDA). The online and offline processing schemes of the PDA signals which have been developed, lead to improvement in the determination of absolute telescope aspect ($\sim$ 0\farcm8), which is very crucial for carrying out the observations as well as offline analysis. The SSOP and its performance during a recent balloon flight are presented here.Comment: To appear in the February 2000 issue of the PAS

Far infrared mapping of three Galactic star forming regions : W3(OH), S 209 & S 187

Three Galactic star forming regions associated with W3(OH), S209 and S187 have been simultaneously mapped in two trans-IRAS far infrared (FIR) bands centered at ~ 140 and 200 micron using the TIFR 100 cm balloon borne FIR telescope. These maps show extended FIR emission with structures. The HIRES processed IRAS maps of these regions at 12, 25, 60 & 100 micron have also been presented for comparison. Point-like sources have been extracted from the longest waveband TIFR maps and searched for associations in the other five bands. The diffuse emission from these regions have been quantified, which turns out to be a significant fraction of the total emission. The spatial distribution of cold dust (T < 30 K) for two of these sources (W3(OH) & S209), has been determined reliably from the maps in TIFR bands. The dust temperature and optical depth maps show complex morphology. In general the dust around S209 has been found to be warmer than that in W3(OH) region.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (20 pages including 8 figures & 3 tables

Temperatures of dust and gas in S~140

In dense parts of interstellar clouds (> 10^5 cm^-3), dust & gas are expected to be in thermal equilibrium, being coupled via collisions. However, previous studies have shown that the temperatures of the dust & gas may remain decoupled even at higher densities. We study in detail the temperatures of dust & gas in the photon-dominated region S 140, especially around the deeply embedded infrared sources IRS 1-3 and at the ionization front. We derive the dust temperature and column density by combining Herschel PACS continuum observations with SOFIA observations at 37 $\mu$m and SCUBA at 450 $\mu$m. We model these observations using greybody fits and the DUSTY radiative transfer code. For the gas part we use RADEX to model the CO 1-0, CO 2-1, 13CO 1-0 and C18O 1-0 emission lines mapped with the IRAM-30m over a 4' field. Around IRS 1-3, we use HIFI observations of single-points and cuts in CO 9-8, 13CO 10-9 and C18O 9-8 to constrain the amount of warm gas, using the best fitting dust model derived with DUSTY as input to the non-local radiative transfer model RATRAN. We find that the gas temperature around the infrared sources varies between 35 and 55K and that the gas is systematically warmer than the dust by ~5-15K despite the high gas density. In addition we observe an increase of the gas temperature from 30-35K in the surrounding up to 40-45K towards the ionization front, most likely due to the UV radiation from the external star. Furthermore, detailed models of the temperature structure close to IRS 1 show that the gas is warmer and/or denser than what we model. Finally, modelling of the dust emission from the sub-mm peak SMM 1 constrains its luminosity to a few ~10^2 Lo. We conclude that the gas heating in the S 140 region is very efficient even at high densities, most likely due to the deep UV penetration from the embedded sources in a clumpy medium and/or oblique shocks.Comment: 15 pages, 23 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&