Sports imaging for the general practitioner

No Abstract

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Observations of the Evolution of Massive Star-forming Regions

We present the results of a mid-infrared survey of 11 outer Galaxy massive star-forming regions and 3 open clusters with data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Using a newly developed photometric scheme to identify young stellar objects and exclude extragalactic contamination, we have studied the distribution of young stars within each region. These data tend to support the hypothesis that latter generations may be triggered by the interaction of winds and radiation from the first burst of massive star formation with the molecular cloud material leftover from that earlier generation of stars. We dub this process the "fireworks hypothesis" since star formation by this mechanism would proceed rapidly and resemble a burst of fireworks. We have also analyzed small cutout WISE images of the structures around the edges of these massive star-forming regions. We observe large (1-3 pc size) pillar and trunk-like structures of diffuse emission nebulosity tracing excited polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules and small dust grains at the perimeter of the massive star-forming regions. These structures contain small clusters of emerging Class I and Class II sources, but some are forming only a single to a few new stars

Prevalence of X-ray variability in the Chandra Deep Field South

We studied the X-ray variability of sources detected in the Chandra Deep Field South (Giacconi et al. 2002), nearly all of which are low to moderate z AGN (Tozzi et al. 2001). We find that 45% of the sources with >100 counts exhibit significant variability on timescales ranging from a day up to a year. The fraction of sources found to be variable increases with observed flux, suggesting that >90% of all AGNs possess intrinsic variability. We also find that the fraction of variable sources appears to decrease with increasing intrinsic absorption; a lack of variability in hard, absorbed AGNs could be due to an increased contribution of reflected X-rays to the total flux. We do not detect significant spectral variability in the majority (~70%) of our sources. In half of the remaining 30%, the hardness ratio is anti-correlated with flux, mimicking the high/soft-low/hard states of galactic sources. The X-ray variability appears anti-correlated with the luminosity of the sources, in agreement with previous studies. High redshift sources, however, have larger variability amplitudes than expected from extrapolations of their low-z counterparts, suggesting a possible evolution in the accretion rate and/or size of the X-ray emitting region. Finally, we discuss some effects that may produce the observed decrease in the fraction of variable sources from z=0.5 out to z=2.Comment: 24 pages, including 15 figures and 1 table. In press on Ap

Shocked and Scorched: The Tail of a Tadpole in an Interstellar Pond

We report multi-wavelength observations of the far-infrared source IRAS 20324+4057, including high-resolution optical imaging with HST, and ground-based near-infrared, millimeter-wave and radio observations. These data show an extended, limb-brightened, tadpole-shaped nebula with a bright, compact, cometary nebula located inside the tadpole head. Our molecular line observations indicate that the Tadpole is predominantly molecular, with a total gas mass exceeding 3.7 Msun. Our radio continuum imaging, and archival Spitzer IRAC images, show the presence of additional tadpole-shaped objects in the vicinity of IRAS 20324+4057 that share a common E-W head-tail orientation: we propose that these structures are small, dense molecular cores that originated in the Cygnus cloud and are now being (i) photoevaporated by the ultraviolet radiation field of the Cyg OB2 No. 8 cluster located to the North-West, and (ii) shaped by ram pressure of a distant wind source or sources located to the West, blowing ablated and photoevaporated material from their heads eastwards. The ripples in the tail of the Tadpole are interpreted in terms of instabilities at the interface between the ambient wind and the dense medium of the former.Comment: (accepted by the Astrophysical Journal

ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy: VI. Kinetic temperature and spatial density measured with formaldehyde

We aim to directly determine the kinetic temperature and spatial density with formaldehyde for the $\sim$100 brightest ATLASGAL-selected clumps at 870 $\mu$m representing various evolutionary stages of high-mass star formation. Ten transitions ($J$ = 3-2 and 4-3) of ortho- and para-H$_2$CO near 211, 218, 225, and 291 GHz were observed with the APEX 12 m telescope. Using non-LTE models with RADEX, we derive the gas kinetic temperature and spatial density using the measured p-H$_2$CO 3$_{21}$-2$_{20}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$, 4$_{22}$-3$_{21}$/4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$, and 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$ ratios. The gas kinetic temperatures derived from the p-H$_2$CO 3$_{21}$-2$_{20}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$ and 4$_{22}$-3$_{21}$/4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$ line ratios are high, ranging from 43 to $>$300 K with an unweighted average of 91 $\pm$ 4 K. Deduced $T_{\rm kin}$ values from the $J$ = 3-2 and 4-3 transitions are similar. Spatial densities of the gas derived from the p-H$_2$CO 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$/3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$ line ratios yield 0.6-8.3 $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$ with an unweighted average of 1.5 ($\pm$0.1) $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$. A comparison of kinetic temperatures derived from p-H$_2$CO, NH$_3$, and the dust emission indicates that p-H$_2$CO traces a distinctly higher temperature than the NH$_3$ (2,2)/(1,1) transitions and the dust, tracing heated gas more directly associated with the star formation process. The H$_2$CO linewidths are found to be correlated with bolometric luminosity and increase with the evolutionary stage of the clumps, which suggests that higher luminosities tend to be associated with a more turbulent molecular medium. It seems that the spatial densities measured with H$_2$CO do not vary significantly with the evolutionary stage of the clumps. However, averaged gas kinetic temperatures derived from H$_2$CO increase with time through the evolution of the clumps.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&