692 research outputs found
Ammonia observations in the LBV nebula G79.29+0.46. Discovery of a cold ring and some warm spots
The surroundings of Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars are excellent
laboratories to study the effects of their high UV radiation, powerful winds,
and strong ejection events onto the surrounding gas and dust. The LBV
G79.29+0.46 powered two concentric infrared rings which may interact with the
infrared dark cloud (IRDC) G79.3+0.3. The Effelsberg 100m telescope was used to
observe the NH_3 (1,1), (2,2) emission surrounding G79.29+0.46 and the IRDC. In
addition, we observed particular positions in the (3,3) transition toward the
strongest region of the IRDC. We report here the first coherent shell-like
structure of dense NH_3 gas associated with an evolved massive star. The shell,
two or three orders of magnitude more tenuous than the IRDC, is well traced in
both ammonia lines, and surrounds the ionized nebula. The NH_3 emission in the
IRDC is characterized by a low and uniform rotational temperature (T_rot ~ 10
K) and moderately high opacities in the (1,1) line. The rest of the observed
field is spotted by warm or hot zones (T_rot > 30 K) and characterized by
optically thin emission of the (1,1) line. The NH_3 abundances are about
10^{-8} in the IRDC, and 10^{-10}-10^{-9} elsewhere. The warm temperatures and
low abundances of NH_3 in the shell suggest that the gas is being heated and
photo-dissociated by the intense UV field of the LBV star. An outstanding
region is found to the south-west (SW) of the LBV star within the IRDC. The
NH_3 (3,3) emission at the centre of the SW region reveals two velocity
components tracing gas at temperatures > 30K. The northern edge of the SW
region agrees with the border of the ring nebula and a region of continuum
enhancement; here, the opacity of the (1,1) line and the NH_3 abundance do not
decrease as expected in a typical clump of an isolated cold dark cloud. This
strongly suggests some kind of interaction between the ring nebula and the
IRDC.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted by A&A. Note the change of title with
respect to previous versio
Twistable electronics with dynamically rotatable heterostructures
The electronic properties of two-dimensional materials and their
heterostructures can be dramatically altered by varying the relative angle
between the layers. This makes it theoretically possible to realize a new class
of twistable electronics in which device properties can be manipulated
on-demand by simply rotating the structure. Here, we demonstrate a new device
architecture in which a layered heterostructure can be dynamically twisted, in
situ. We study graphene encapsulated by boron nitride where at small rotation
angles the device characteristics are dominated by coupling to a large
wavelength Moir\'e superlattice. The ability to investigate arbitrary rotation
angle in a single device reveals new features in the optical, mechanical and
electronic response in this system. Our results establish the capability to
fabricate twistable electronic devices with dynamically tunable properties
A line confusion-limited millimeter survey of Orion KL. III. Sulfur oxide species
We present a study of the sulfur-bearing species detected in a line
confusion-limited survey towards Orion KL performed with the IRAM 30m telescope
in the range 80-281 GHz. The study is part of an analysis of the line survey
divided into families of molecules. Our aim is to derive accurate physical
conditions and molecular abundances in the different components of Orion KL
from observed SO and SO2 lines. First we assumed LTE conditions obtain
rotational temperatures. We then used a radiative transfer model, assuming
either LVG or LTE excitation to derive column densities of these molecules in
the different components of Orion KL. We have detected 68 lines of SO, 34SO,
33SO, and S18O and 653 lines of SO2, 34SO2, 33SO2, SO18O and SO2 v2=1. We
provide column densities for all of them and also upper limits for the column
densities of S17O, 36SO, 34S18O, SO17O and 34SO2 v2=1 and for several
undetected sulfur-bearing species. In addition, we present 2'x2' maps around
Orion IRc2 of SO2 transitions with energies from 19 to 131 K and also maps with
four transitions of SO, 34SO and 34SO2. We observe an elongation of the gas
along the NE-SW direction. An unexpected emission peak appears at 20.5 km/s in
most lines of SO and SO2. A study of the spatial distribution of this emission
feature shows that it is a new component ~5" in diameter, which lies ~4" west
of IRc2. We suggest the emission from this feature is related to shocks
associated to the BN object. The highest column densities for SO and SO2 are
found in the high-velocity plateau (a region dominated by shocks) and in the
hot core. These values are up to three orders of magnitude higher than the
results for the ridge components. We also find high column densities for their
isotopologues in both components. Therefore, we conclude that SO and SO2 are
good tracers, not only of regions affected by shocks, but also of regions with
warm dense gas.Comment: Paper (ref AA/2013/21285) accepted for publication by A&A. 52 Pages,
26 figures, 13 table
High quality electrostatically defined hall bars in monolayer graphene
Realizing graphene's promise as an atomically thin and tunable platform for
fundamental studies and future applications in quantum transport requires the
ability to electrostatically define the geometry of the structure and control
the carrier concentration, without compromising the quality of the system.
Here, we demonstrate the working principle of a new generation of high quality
gate defined graphene samples, where the challenge of doing so in a gapless
semiconductor is overcome by using the insulating state, which emerges
at modest applied magnetic fields. In order to verify that the quality of our
devices is not compromised by the presence of multiple gates we compare the
electronic transport response of different sample geometries, paying close
attention to fragile quantum states, such as the fractional quantum Hall (FQH)
states, that are highly susceptible to disorder. The ability to define local
depletion regions without compromising device quality establishes a new
approach towards structuring graphene-based quantum transport devices
Competing Fractional Quantum Hall and Electron Solid Phases in Graphene
We report experimental observation of the reentrant integer quantum Hall
effect in graphene, appearing in the N2 Landau level. Similar to
high-mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures, the effect is due to a competition
between incompressible fractional quantum Hall states, and electron solid
phases. The tunability of graphene allows us to measure the - phase
diagram of the electron-solid phase. The hierarchy of reentrant states suggest
spin and valley degrees of freedom play a role in determining the ground state
energy. We find that the melting temperature scales with magnetic field, and
construct a phase diagram of the electron liquid-solid transition
Unusual magneto-transport of YBa2Cu3O7-d films due to the interplay of anisotropy, random disorder and nanoscale periodic pinning
We study the general problem of a manifold of interacting elastic lines whose
spatial correlations are strongly affected by the competition between random
and ordered pinning. This is done through magneto-transport experiments with
YBa2Cu3O7-d thin films that contain a periodic vortex pinning array created via
masked ion irradiation, in addition to the native random pinning. The strong
field-matching effects we observe suggest the prevalence of periodic pinning,
and indicate that at the matching field each vortex line is bound to an
artificial pinning site. However, the vortex-glass transition dimensionality,
quasi-2D instead of the usual 3D, evidences reduced vortex-glass correlations
along the vortex line. This is also supported by an unusual angular dependence
of the magneto-resistance, which greatly differs from that of Bose-glass
systems. A quantitative analysis of the angular magnetoresistance allows us to
link this behaviour to the enhancement of the system anisotropy, a collateral
effect of the ion irradiation
Dense gas in IRAS 20343+4129: an ultracompact HII region caught in the act of creating a cavity
The intermediate- to high-mass star-forming region IRAS 20343+4129 is an
excellent laboratory to study the influence of high- and intermediate-mass
young stellar objects on nearby starless dense cores, and investigate for
possible implications in the clustered star formation process. We present 3 mm
observations of continuum and rotational transitions of several molecular
species (C2H, c-C3H2, N2H+, NH2D) obtained with the Combined Array for Research
in Millimetre-wave Astronomy, as well as 1.3 cm continuum and NH3 observations
carried out with the Very Large Array, to reveal the properties of the dense
gas. We confirm undoubtedly previous claims of an expanding cavity created by
an ultracompact HII region associated with a young B2 zero-age main sequence
(ZAMS) star. The dense gas surrounding the cavity is distributed in a filament
that seems squeezed in between the cavity and a collimated outflow associated
with an intermediate-mass protostar. We have identified 5 millimeter continuum
condensations in the filament. All of them show column densities consistent
with potentially being the birthplace of intermediate- to high-mass objects.
These cores appear different from those observed in low-mass clustered
environments in sereval observational aspects (kinematics, temperature,
chemical gradients), indicating a strong influence of the most massive and
evolved members of the protocluster. We suggest a possible scenario in which
the B2 ZAMS star driving the cavity has compressed the surrounding gas,
perturbed its properties and induced the star formation in its immediate
surroundings.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Society (Main Journal
The NH2D/NH3 ratio toward pre-protostellar cores around the UCHII region in IRAS 20293+3952
The deuterium fractionation, Dfrac, has been proposed as an evolutionary
indicator in pre-protostellar and protostellar cores of low-mass star-forming
regions. We investigate Dfrac, with high angular resolution, in the cluster
environment surrounding the UCHII region IRAS 20293+3952. We performed high
angular resolution observations with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer
(PdBI) of the ortho-NH2D 1_{11}-1_{01} line at 85.926 GHz and compared them
with previously reported VLA NH3 data. We detected strong NH2D emission toward
the pre-protostellar cores identified in NH3 and dust emission, all located in
the vicinity of the UCHII region IRAS 20293+3952. We found high values of
Dfrac~0.1-0.8 in all the pre-protostellar cores and low values, Dfrac<0.1,
associated with young stellar objects. The high values of Dfrac in
pre-protostellar cores could be indicative of evolution, although outflow
interactions and UV radiation could also play a role.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics Letter
A search for water maser emission toward obscured post-AGB star and planetary nebula candidates
Water maser emission at 22 GHz is a useful probe to study the transition
between the nearly spherical mass-loss in the AGB to a collimated one in the
post-AGB phase. In their turn, collimated jets in the post-AGB phase could
determine the shape of planetary nebulae (PNe) once photoionization starts. We
intend to find new cases of post-AGB stars and PNe with water maser emission,
including water fountains or water-maser-emitting PNe. We observed water maser
emission in a sample of 133 objects, with a significant fraction being post-AGB
and young PN candidate sources with strong obscuration. We detected this
emission in 15 of them, of which seven are reported here for the first time. We
identified three water fountain candidates: IRAS 17291-2147, with a total
velocity spread of ~96 km/s in its water maser components and two sources (IRAS
17021-3109 and IRAS 17348-2906) that show water maser emission outside the
velocity range covered by OH masers. We have also identified IRAS 17393-2727 as
a possible new water-maser-emitting PN. The detection rate is higher in
obscured objects (14%) than in those with optical counterparts (7%), consistent
with previous results. Water maser emission seems to be common in objects that
are bipolar in the near-IR (43% detection rate). The water maser spectra of
water fountain candidates like IRAS 17291-2147 show significantly less maser
components than others (e.g., IRAS 18113-2503). We speculate that most
post-AGBs may show water maser emission with wide enough velocity spread (> 100
km/s) when observed with enough sensitivity and/or for long enough periods of
time. Therefore, it may be necessary to single out a special group of "water
fountains", probably defined by their high maser luminosities. We also suggest
that the presence of both water and OH masers in a PN is a better tracer of its
youth, rather than the presence of just one of these species.Comment: To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 16 pages, 1 figure
(spanning 5 pages). This version includes some minor language corrections and
fixes some errors in Table
A combined IRAM and Herschel/HIFI study of cyano(di)acetylene in Orion KL: tentative detection of DC3N
We present a study of cyanoacetylene (HC3N) and cyanodiacetylene (HC5N) in
Orion KL, through observations from two line surveys performed with the IRAM
30m telescope and the HIFI instrument on board the Herschel telescope. The
frequency ranges covered are 80-280 GHz and 480-1906 GHz. We model the observed
lines of HC3N, HC5N, their isotopologues (including DC3N), and vibrational
modes, using a non-LTE radiative transfer code. To investigate the chemical
origin of HC3N and DC3N in Orion KL, we use a time-dependent chemical model. We
detect 40 lines of the ground state of HC3N and 68 lines of its 13C
isotopologues. We also detect 297 lines of six vibrational modes of this
molecule (nu_7, 2nu_7, 3nu_7, nu_6, nu_5, and nu_6+nu_7) and 35 rotational
lines of the ground state of HC5N. We report the first tentative detection of
DC3N in a giant molecular cloud with a DC3N/HC3N abundance ratio of 0.015. We
provide column densities and isotopic and molecular abundances. We also perform
a 2x2" map around Orion IRc2 and we present maps of HC3N lines and maps of
lines of the HC3N vibrational modes nu_6 and nu_7. In addition, a comparison of
our results for HC3N with those in other clouds allows us to derive
correlations between the column density, the FWHM, the mass, and the luminosity
of the clouds. The high column densities of HC3N obtained in the hot core, make
this molecule an excellent tracer of hot and dense gas. In addition, the large
frequency range covered reveals the need to consider a temperature and density
gradient in the hot core in order to obtain better line fits. The high D/H
ratio (comparable to that obtained in cold clouds) that we derive suggests a
deuterium enrichment. Our chemical models indicate that the possible deuterated
HC3N present in Orion KL is formed during the gas-phase. This fact provides new
hints concerning the processes leading to deuteration.Comment: 50 pages, 33 figures, 13 tables. Accepted for publication in A&
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