272 research outputs found
Deep Near-Infrared Observations and Identifications of Chandra Sources in the Orion Molecular Cloud 2 and 3
We conducted deep NIR imaging observations of the Orion molecular cloud 2 and
3 using QUIRC on the 88-inch telescope of the University of Hawaii. Our
purposes are 1) to generate a comprehensive NIR source catalog of these star
forming clouds, and 2) to identify the NIR counterpart of the Chandra X-ray
sources that have no counterpart in the 2MASS catalog. Our J-, H-, and K-band
observations are about 2 mag deeper than those of 2MASS, and well match the
current Chandra observation. We detected 1448 NIR sources, for which we derived
the position, the J-, H-, and K-band magnitude, and the 2MASS counterpart.
Using this catalog, we identified the NIR counterpart for about 42% of the
2MASS-unIDed Chandra sources. The nature of these Chandra sources are discussed
using their NIR colors and spatial distributions, and a dozen protostar and
brown dwarf candidates are identified.Comment: 39 pages, 9 postscript figures, accepted for publication in A
The Large-scale J=3-2 and J=2-1 CO Emission from M17 and its Implications for Extragalactic CO Observations
We observed a 10x20 pc region of the molecular cloud M17 in the 12CO and 13CO
J=3-2 and J=2-1 transitions to determine their global behavior and to assess
the reliability of using ratios of CO line intensities integrated over an
entire cloud to determine the physical conditions within the cloud. Both the
12CO/13CO J=2-1 and J=3-2 line ratios correlate with the 13CO integrated
intensity, with smaller line ratios observed at locations with large integrated
intensities. This correlation is likely due to variations in the column density
from one position to another within M17. The 12CO and 13CO (J=3-2/J=2-1) line
ratios show no significant variation from place to place within M17, even on
the peak of the photon-dominated region. A Large Velocity Gradient analysis of
globally averaged line ratios gives results in reasonable agreement with the
results obtained for individual lines-of-sight through the cloud, which
suggests that the typical physical conditions in a molecular cloud can be
determined using CO line ratios integrated over the entire cloud. There appears
to be a clear trend of increasing 12CO/13CO J=2-1 and J=3-2 line ratios as one
moves from Galactic molecular cloud cores to entire Galactic molecular clouds
to normal galaxies. The most likely explanation of the high line ratios for
normal galaxies is a significant contribution to the CO emission by low column
density material, such as diffuse molecular clouds or the outer envelopes of
giant molecular clouds.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap
Effect of randomness and anisotropy on Turing patterns in reaction-diffusion systems
We study the effect of randomness and anisotropy on Turing patterns in
reaction-diffusion systems. For this purpose, the Gierer-Meinhardt model of
pattern formation is considered. The cases we study are: (i)randomness in the
underlying lattice structure, (ii)the case in which there is a probablity p
that at a lattice site both reaction and diffusion occur, otherwise there is
only diffusion and lastly, the effect of (iii) anisotropic and (iv) random
diffusion coefficients on the formation of Turing patterns. The general
conclusion is that the Turing mechanism of pattern formation is fairly robust
in the presence of randomness and anisotropy.Comment: 11 pages LaTeX, 14 postscript figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.
Submillimeter spectroscopy of southern hot cores: NGC6334(I) and G327.3-0.6
High-mass star-forming regions are known to have a rich molecular spectrum
from many species. Some of the very highly excited lines are emitted from very
hot and dense gas close to the central object(s). The physics and chemistry of
the inner cores of two high mass star forming regions, NGC6334(I) and
G327.3-0.6, shall be characterized. Submillimeter line surveys with the APEX
telescope provide spectra which sample many molecular lines at high excitation
stages. Partial spectral surveys were obtained, the lines were identified,
physical parameters were determined through fitting of the spectra. Both
sources show similar spectra that are comparable to that of the only other high
mass star forming region ever surveyed in this frequency range}, Orion-KL, but
with an even higher line density. Evidence for very compact, very hot sources
is found.Comment: APEX A&A special issue, accepte
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Large atomic oxygen abundance towards the molecular cloud L1689N
We present spectroscopic ISO-LWS observations of the [OI] (63 Όm and 145 Όm), the [CII] (158 Όm) and the H2O (179 Όm) lines towards the molecular cloud L1689N. From the observed ratio of the two [OI] lines, we deduce a mean gas temperature of (26±0.5) K, an H2 density ℠3 x 104 cm-3 and an [OI] column density ℠5 x 1019 cm-2. Combining these observations with previous CO observations, we obtain [OI]/[CO] ~ 50. This ratio implies that up to 98% of oxygen abundance is in atomic form in the gas phase. Furthermore, assuming all the gaseous carbon is locked into the CO, carbon has to be depleted by more than a factor 24. Finally, the upper limit derived for the H2O (179 Όm) line (3 x 10-13 erg s-1 cm-2 ) implies that the water abundance in this region is less than 6 x 10-7 with respect to H nuclei
A map of OMC-1 in CO 9-8
The distribution of 12C16O J=9-8 (1.037 THz) emission has been mapped in
OMC-1 at 35 points with 84" resolution. This is the first map of this source in
this transition and only the second velocity-resolved ground-based observation
of a line in the terahertz frequency band. There is emission present at all
points in the map, a region roughly 4' by 6' in size, with peak antenna
temperature dropping only near the edges. Away from the Orion KL outflow, the
velocity structure suggests that most of the emission comes from the OMC-1
photon-dominated region, with a typical linewidthof 3-6 km/s. Large velocity
gradient modeling of the emission in J=9-8 and six lower transitions suggests
that the lines originate in regions with temperatures around 120 K and
densities of at least 10^(3.5) cm^(-3) near theta^(1) C Ori and at the Orion
Bar, and from 70 K gas at around 10^(4) cm^(-3) southeast and west of the bar.
These observations are among the first made with the 0.8 m Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory Receiver Lab Telescope, a new instrument designed to
observe at frequencies above 1 THz from an extremely high and dry site in
northern Chile.Comment: Minor changes to references, text to match ApJ versio
Submillimeter mapping and analysis of cold dust condensations in the Orion M42 star forming complex
We present here the continuum submillimeter maps of the molecular cloud
around the M42 Nebula in the Orion region. These have been obtained in four
wavelength bands (200, 260, 360 and 580 microns) with the ProNaOS two meter
balloon-borne telescope. The area covered is 7 parsecs wide (50 arcmin at a
distance of 470 pc) with a spatial resolution of about 0.4 parsec. Thanks to
the high sensitivity to faint surface brightness gradients, we have found
several cold condensations with temperatures ranging from 12 to 17 K, within 3
parsecs of the dense ridge. The statistical analysis of the temperature and
spectral index spatial distribution shows an evidence of an inverse correlation
between these two parameters. Being invisible in the IRAS 100 micron survey,
some cold clouds are likely to be the seeds for future star formation activity
going on in the complex. We estimate their masses and we show that two of them
have masses higher than their Jeans masses, and may be gravitationally
unstable.Comment: 4 figures, The Astrophysical Journal, Main Journal, in pres
CO(1-0), CO(2-1) and Neutral Gas in NGC 6946: Molecular Gas in a Late-Type, Gas Rich, Spiral Galaxy
We present "On The Fly" maps of the CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) emission covering a
10' X 10' region of the NGC 6946. Using our CO maps and archival VLA HI
observations we create a total gas surface density map, Sigma_gas, for NGC
6946. The predominantly molecular inner gas disk transitions smoothly into an
atomic outer gas disk, with equivalent atomic and molecular gas surface
densities at R = 3.5' (6 kpc). We estimate that the total H2 mass is 3 X 10^9
Mo, roughly 1/3 of the interstellar hydrogen gas mass, and about 2% of the
dynamical mass of the galaxy at our assumed distance of 6 Mpc. The value of the
CO(2-1)/CO(1-0) line ratio ranges from 0.35 to 2; 50% of the map is covered by
very high ratio, >1, gas. The very high ratios are predominantly from interarm
regions and appear to indicate the presence of wide-spread optically thin gas.
Star formation tracers are better correlated with the total neutral gas disk
than with the molecular gas by itself implying SFR is proportional to
Sigma_gas. Using the 100 FIR and 21 cm continuum from NGC 6946 as star
formation tracers, we arrive at a gas consumption timescale of 2.8 Gyr, which
is relatively uniform across the disk. The high star formation rate at the
nucleus appears to be due to a large accumulation of molecular gas rather than
a large increase in the star formation efficiency. The mid-plane gas pressure
in the outer (R > 10 kpc) HI arms of NGC 6946 is close to the value at the
radial limit (10 kpc) of our observed CO disk. If the mid-plane gas pressure is
a factor for the formation of molecular clouds, these outer HI gas arms should
contain molecular gas which we do not see because they are beyond our detection
limit
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Water line emission in low-mass protostars
Using the Long Wavelength Specrometer aboard ISO, we have detected far infrared rotational H2O emission lines in five low-mass young stellar objects in a survey of seven such sources. The total H2O fluxes are well correlated with the 1.3 mm continuum fluxes, but - surprisingly - not with the SiO millimeter emission originating in the outflows, suggesting that the water emission arises in the circumstellar envelopes rather than in the outflows. In two of the sources, NGC1333-IRAS4 and IRAS16293-2422, we measured about ten H2O lines, and used their fluxes to put stringent constraints on the physical conditions (temperature, density and column density) of the emitting gas. Simple LVG modelling implies that the emission originates in a very small ( ~ 200 AU), dense (â„ 107) cm-3) and warm ( ~ 100 K) region, with a column density larger than about 1016 cm-2. The detected H2O emission may be well accounted for by thermal emission from a collapsing envelope, and we derive constraints on the accretion rate and central mass of NGC1333-IRAS4. We also discuss an alternative scenario in which the H2O emission arises in an extremely dense shock very close to the central object, perhaps caused by the interaction of the outflow with the inner regions of the circumstellar envelope
Deuterated water in the solar-type protostars NGC 1333 IRAS 4A and IRAS 4B
Aims. The aim of this paper is to study deuterated water in the solar-type
protostars NGC1333 IRAS4A and IRAS4B, to compare their HDO abundance
distribution with other star-forming regions, and to constrain their HDO/H2O
ratios. Methods. Using the Herschel/HIFI instrument as well as ground-based
telescopes, we observed several HDO lines covering a large excitation range
(Eup/k=22-168 K) towards these protostars and an outflow position. Non-LTE
radiative transfer codes were then used to determine the HDO abundance profiles
in these sources. Results. The HDO fundamental line profiles show a very broad
component, tracing the molecular outflows, in addition to a narrower emission
component and a narrow absorbing component. In the protostellar envelope of
NGC1333 IRAS4A, the HDO inner (T>100 K) and outer (T<100 K) abundances with
respect to H2 are estimated at 7.5x10^{-9} and 1.2x10^{-11}, respectively,
whereas, in NGC1333 IRAS4B, they are 1.0x10^{-8} and 1.2x10^{-10},
respectively. Similarly to the low-mass protostar IRAS16293-2422, an absorbing
outer layer with an enhanced abundance of deuterated water is required to
reproduce the absorbing components seen in the fundamental lines at 465 and 894
GHz in both sources. This water-rich layer is probably extended enough to
encompass the two sources as well as parts of the outflows. In the outflows
emanating from NGC1333 IRAS4A, the HDO column density is estimated at about
(2-4)x10^{13} cm^{-2}, leading to an abundance of about (0.7-1.9)x10^{-9}. An
HDO/H2O ratio between 7x10^{-4} and 9x10^{-2} is derived in the outflows. In
the warm inner regions of these two sources, we estimate the HDO/H2O ratios at
about 1x10^{-4}-4x10^{-3}. This ratio seems higher (a few %) in the cold
envelope of IRAS4A, whose possible origin is discussed in relation to formation
processes of HDO and H2O.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figure
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