495 research outputs found
[CII] 158m and [NII] 205m emission from IC 342 - Disentangling the emission from ionized and photo-dissociated regions
Aims: We investigate how much of the [CII] emission in the nucleus of the
nearby spiral galaxy IC 342 is contributed by PDRs and by the ionized gas. We
examine the spatial variations of starburst/PDR activity and study the
correlation of the [CII] line with the [NII] 205{\textmu}m emission line coming
exclusively from the HII regions. Methods: We present small maps of [CII] and
[NII] lines recently observed with the GREAT receiver on board SOFIA. In
particular we present a super-resolution method to derive how unresolved,
kinematically correlated structures in the beam contribute to the observed line
shapes. Results: We find that the emission coming from the ionized gas shows a
kinematic component in addition to the general Doppler signature of the
molecular gas. We interpret this as the signature of two bi-polar lobes of
ionized gas expanding out of the galactic plane. We then show how this requires
an adaptation of our understanding of the geometrical structure of the nucleus
of IC~342. Examining the starburst activity we find ratios
between 400 and 1800 in energy units.
Applying predictions from numerical models of HII and PDR regions to derive the
contribution from the ionized phase to the total [CII] emission we find that
35-90% of the observed [CII] intensity stems from the ionized gas if both
phases contribute. Averaged over the central few hundred parsec we find for the
[CII] contribution a HII-to-PDR ratio of 70:30. Conclusions: The ionized gas in
the center of IC 342 contributes more strongly to the overall [CII] emission
than is commonly observed on larger scales and than is predicted. Kinematic
analysis shows that the majority of the [CII] emission is related to the strong
but embedded star formation in the nuclear molecular ring and only marginally
emitted from the expanding bi-polar lobes of ionized gas.Comment: 20 pages spectra available online:
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/ submitted to and accepted by
A&
The ionized and hot gas in M17 SW: SOFIA/GREAT THz observations of [C II] and 12CO J=13-12
With new THz maps that cover an area of ~3.3x2.1 pc^2 we probe the spatial
distribution and association of the ionized, neutral and molecular gas
components in the M17 SW nebula. We used the dual band receiver GREAT on board
the SOFIA airborne telescope to obtain a 5'.7x3'.7 map of the 12CO J=13-12
transition and the [C II] 158 um fine-structure line in M17 SW and compare the
spectroscopically resolved maps with corresponding ground-based data for low-
and mid-J CO and [C I] emission. For the first time SOFIA/GREAT allow us to
compare velocity-resolved [C II] emission maps with molecular tracers. We see a
large part of the [C II] emission, both spatially and in velocity, that is
completely non-associated with the other tracers of photon-dominated regions
(PDR). Only particular narrow channel maps of the velocity-resolved [C II]
spectra show a correlation between the different gas components, which is not
seen at all in the integrated intensity maps. These show different morphology
in all lines but give hardly any information on the origin of the emission. The
[C II] 158 um emission extends for more than 2 pc into the M17 SW molecular
cloud and its line profile covers a broader velocity range than the 12CO
J=13-12 and [C I] emissions, which we interpret as several clumps and layers of
ionized carbon gas within the telescope beam. The high-J CO emission emerges
from a dense region between the ionized and neutral carbon emissions,
indicating the presence of high-density clumps that allow the fast formation of
hot CO in the irradiated complex structure of M17 SW. The [C II] observations
in the southern PDR cannot be explained with stratified nor clumpy PDR models.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, letter accepted for the SOFIA/GREAT A&A 2012
special issu
Aperture synthesis observations of the molecular ring in the galactic center
Reported are 88 GHz aperture synthesis observations of HCN J=1 yields 0 emission and absorption in the central 5 pc of the Galaxy. The data, taken by the Hat Creek mm-interferometer at 5" to 10" spatial and 4 km/s spectral resolution, show a complete, clumpy ring of molecular gas surrounding the ionized central 2 pc of the Galaxy. The ring is the inner edge of a larger disk extending to about 5 pc. Comparison with sub-mm line data suggests that the HCN 1-0 line is slightly optically thick and originates in subthermally populated gas. The clumpy line emission distribution reflects a combination of hydrogen volume and column density variations. The new data clearly show a close physical relation between the molecular and the ionized gas in the central cavity. The western arc appears to be the ionized inner surface of the molecular ring, and the northern arm and bar may be streamers of ionized gas falling from the ring toward the center. The dominant large scale velocity pattern of the majority of the molecular gas in the inner 5 pc is rotation. No overall radial motion of the ring greater than about 20 km/s is apparent. The rotation is perturbed in several ways; (1) there is a very large local velocity dispersion, (2) the ring shows changes in position angle and inclination (warps), (3) there is a bright, redshifted cloud which appears to be located in the western part of the ring but does not participate in the rotation. These characteristics and the high degree of clumpiness indicate a non-equilibrium configuration of short (less than or approx. 10 to the 4th power to 10 to the 5th power y) dynamical lifetime. The warping and tilting of the structure and the short dynamical lifetime make an accurate determination of equilibrium rotation velocity uncertain
A 492 GHz cooled Schottky receiver for radio-astronomy
We developed a 492 GHz cooled GaAs Schottky receiver driven by a solid state local oscillator with a DSB noise temperature of 550 K measured at the telescope. The receiver-bandwidth is approx. equal to 1.0 GHz. Quasi-optical mirrors focus the sky and local oscillator radiation into the mixer. Stability analysis via the Allan variance method shows that the total system including a 1 GHz bandwidth acousto-optical spectrometer built in Cologne allows integration times up to 100 sec per half switching cycle. We successfully used the receiver at the KOSMA 3 m telescope on Gornergrat (3150m) located in the central Swiss Alps near Zermatt during January-February 1992 for observations of the 492 GHz, (CI) (3)P1 to (3)P0 fine structure line in several galactic sources. These observations confirm that Gornergrat is an excellent winter submillimeter site in accordance with previous predictions based on the atmospheric opacity from KOSMA 345 GHz measurements
Detection of a large fraction of atomic gas not associated with star-forming material in M17 SW
We probe the column densities and masses traced by the ionized and neutral
atomic carbon with spectrally resolved maps, and compare them to the diffuse
and dense molecular gas traced by [C I] and low- CO lines toward the
star-forming region M17SW. We mapped a 4.1pc x 4.7pc region in the [C I] 609
m line using the APEX telescope, as well as the CO isotopologues with the
IRAM 30m telescope. We analyze the data based on velocity channel maps that are
1 km/s wide. We correlate their spatial distribution with that of the [C II]
map obtained with SOFIA/GREAT. Optically thin approximations were used to
estimate the column densities of [C I] and [C II] in each velocity channel. The
spatial distribution of the [C I] and all CO isotopologues emission was found
to be associated with that of [C II] in about 20%-80% of the mapped region,
with the high correlation found in the central (15-23 km/s ) velocity channels.
The excitation temperature of [C I] ranges between 40 K and 100 K in the inner
molecular region of M17 SW. Column densities in 1 km/s channels between
~10 and ~10 cm were found for [C I]. Just ~20% of the
velocity range (~40 km/s) that the [C II] line spans is associated with the
star-forming material traced by [C I] and CO. The total gas mass estimated from
the [C II] emission gives a lower limit of ~4.4x10 . At least
64% of this mass is not associated with the star-forming material in M17SW. We
also found that about 36%, 17%, and 47% of the [C II] emission is associated
with the HII, HI, and H_2 regimes, respectively. Comparisons with the
H41 line shows an ionization region mixed with the neutral and part of
the molecular gas, in agreement with the clumped structure and dynamical
processes at play in M17SW. These results are also relevant to extra-galactic
studies in which [C II] is often used as a tracer of star-forming material.Comment: 21 pages + 6 pages of appendix, 32 figures in total, accepted for
publication on A&A (10/12/2014) Relevant calibrated data cubes are available
on CD
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 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
The molecular environment of massive star forming cores associated with Class II methanol maser emission
Methanol maser emission has proven to be an excellent signpost of regions
undergoing massive star formation (MSF). To investigate their role as an
evolutionary tracer, we have recently completed a large observing program with
the ATCA to derive the dynamical and physical properties of molecular/ionised
gas towards a sample of MSF regions traced by 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission.
We find that the molecular gas in many of these regions breaks up into multiple
sub-clumps which we separate into groups based on their association
with/without methanol maser and cm continuum emission. The temperature and
dynamic state of the molecular gas is markedly different between the groups.
Based on these differences, we attempt to assess the evolutionary state of the
cores in the groups and thus investigate the role of class II methanol masers
as a tracer of MSF.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, IAU Symposium 242 Conference Proceeding
The Fractal Dimension of Projected Clouds
The interstellar medium seems to have an underlying fractal structure which
can be characterized through its fractal dimension. However, interstellar
clouds are observed as projected two-dimensional images, and the projection of
a tri-dimensional fractal distorts its measured properties. Here we use
simulated fractal clouds to study the relationship between the tri-dimensional
fractal dimension (D_f) of modeled clouds and the dimension resulting from
their projected images. We analyze different fractal dimension estimators: the
correlation and mass dimensions of the clouds, and the perimeter-based
dimension of their boundaries (D_per). We find the functional forms relating
D_f with the projected fractal dimensions, as well as the dependence on the
image resolution, which allow to estimatethe "real" D_f value of a cloud from
its projection. The application of these results to Orion A indicates in a
self-consistent way that 2.5 < D_f < 2.7 for this molecular cloud, a value
higher than the result D_per+1 = 2.3 some times assumed in literature for
interstellar clouds.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Minor
change
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CI emission from the outflow and PDR in S140
We present high resolution maps (10-14 arcsec FWHM) of the atomic carbon (CI) 3P1 → 3P0(492.1607 GHz) fine structure line and the C17O J = 3 → 2 (337.0611 GHz) rotational line from the outflow and photon-dominated region (PDR) in S 140. These observations reveal remarkable, previously unresolved structure.
There is a marked variation in CI line profiles across the mapped region. Towards the outflow the lines are broad (FWHM ~5-6 km s-1) with peak values of Tmb ~10-12K, yet towards the PDR the lines are distinctly narrower (~3-4 km s-1) with higher values of peak Tmb up to 18K.
Both the CI and C17O intergrated intensity maps show a similar morphology. The emision peak lies towards the molecular outflow source, and there is an arc of emission extending from the peak towards the South. The CI and C17O arcs are offset, with the CI arc offset to the northeast. This CI arc feature is observed at blue and redshifted velocities, while the C17 arc feature is only observed in blueshifted emission. This implies the CI emission lies on the inner edge of the blueshifted molecular outflow wall (traced by the C17O emission). Towards the molecular outflow source the abundance ratio N(CI)/N(CO) = 0.14, with a similar ratio found for the blue wing and core velocity intervals (0.12). The red wing has a particularly high abundance, N(CI)/N(CO) = 0.67. The most plausible mechanism for producing the CI emission is the effect of shocks on the chemical and physical processes at the interface between the stellar wind and the blueshifted outflow cavity wall.
The PDR is a clumpy, narrow (approximately 0.1-0.15pc) elongated ridge-like feature, adjacent to the south-western edge of the molecular cloud. Emission from the PDR is observed across a relatively narrow velocity range, -10 to -6 km s-1. There is a localized intergrated emission peak (at offset position -28, -42 arcsec), which we have designated PDRc1 (PDR clump 1). The abundance of CI is particularly high, N(CI)/N(CO) = 0.29 at the position of PDRc1. The observed column density (9.7±0.8 x 10¹⁷cm-2) and emergent intensity (8.7±0.7 x 10⁻⁶ erg cm-2 s-1 sr-1) towards PDRc1 are in close agreement with recent modelling of low-density PDRs
Disentangling the excitation conditions of the dense gas in M17 SW
We probe the chemical and energetic conditions in dense gas created by
radiative feedback through observations of multiple CO, HCN and HCO
transitions toward the dense core of M17 SW. We used the dual band receiver
GREAT on board the SOFIA airborne telescope to obtain maps of the ,
, and transitions of CO. We compare these maps with
corresponding APEX and IRAM 30m telescope data for low- and mid- CO, HCN and
HCO emission lines, including maps of the HCN and HCO
transitions. The excitation conditions of CO, HCO and HCN are
estimated with a two-phase non-LTE radiative transfer model of the line
spectral energy distributions (LSEDs) at four selected positions. The energy
balance at these positions is also studied. We obtained extensive LSEDs for the
CO, HCN and HCO molecules toward M17 SW. The LSED shape, particularly the
high- tail of the CO lines observed with SOFIA/GREAT, is distinctive for the
underlying excitation conditions. The critical magnetic field criterion implies
that the cold cloudlets at two positions are partially controlled by processes
that create and dissipate internal motions. Supersonic but sub-Alfv\'enic
velocities in the cold component at most selected positions indicates that
internal motions are likely MHD waves. Magnetic pressure dominates thermal
pressure in both gas components at all selected positions, assuming random
orientation of the magnetic field. The magnetic pressure of a constant magnetic
field throughout all the gas phases can support the total internal pressure of
the cold components, but it cannot support the internal pressure of the warm
components. If the magnetic field scales as , then the
evolution of the cold cloudlets at two selected positions, and the warm
cloudlets at all selected positions, will be determined by ambipolar diffusion.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, A&A accepte
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