1,332 research outputs found
Multiscale Analysis of the Gradient of Linear Polarisation
We propose a new multiscale method to calculate the amplitude of the gradient
of the linear polarisation vector using a wavelet-based formalism. We
demonstrate this method using a field of the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey
(CGPS) and show that the filamentary structure typically seen in gradients of
linear polarisation maps depends strongly on the instrumental resolution. Our
analysis reveals that different networks of filaments are present on different
angular scales. The wavelet formalism allows us to calculate the power spectrum
of the fluctuations seen in gradients of linear polarisation maps and to
determine the scaling behaviour of this quantity. The power spectrum is found
to follow a power law with gamma ~ 2.1. We identify a small drop in power
between scales of 80 < l < 300 arcmin, which corresponds well to the overlap in
the u-v plane between the Effelsberg 100-m telescope and the DRAO 26-m
telescope data. We suggest that this drop is due to undersampling present in
the 26-m telescope data. In addition, the wavelet coefficient distributions
show higher skewness on smaller scales than at larger scales. The spatial
distribution of the outliers in the tails of these distributions creates a
coherent subset of filaments correlated across multiple scales, which trace the
sharpest changes in the polarisation vector P within the field. We suggest that
these structures may be associated with highly compressive shocks in the
medium. The power spectrum of the field excluding these outliers shows a
steeper power law with gamma ~ 2.5.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
The HII region G35.673-00.847: another case of triggered star formation?
As part of a systematic study that we are performing with the aim to increase
the observational evidence of triggered star formation in the surroundings of
HII regions, we analyze the ISM around the HII region G35.673-00.847, a poorly
studied source. Using data from large-scale surveys: Two Micron All Sky Survey,
Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE), MIPSGAL,
Galactic Ring Survey (GRS), VLA Galactic Plane Survey (VGPS), and NRAO VLA Sky
Survey (NVSS) we performed a multiwavelength study of G35.673-00.847 and its
surroundings. The mid IR emission, shows that G35.673-00.847 has an almost
semi-ring like shape with a cut towards the galactic west. The radius of this
semi-ring is about 1.5' (~1.6 pc, at the distance of ~3.7 kpc). The distance
was estimated from an HI absorption study and from the analysis of the
molecular gas. Indeed, we find a molecular shell composed by several clumps
distributed around the HII region, suggesting that its expansion is collecting
the surrounding material. We find several YSO candidates over the molecular
shell. Finally, comparing the HII region dynamical age and the fragmentation
time of the molecular shell, we discard the collect and collapse as the
mechanism responsible for the YSOs formation, suggesting other processes such
as radiative driven implosion and/or small-scale Jeans gravitational
instabilities.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 18 October 2010. Some figures were
degraded to reduce file siz
Embedded Star Formation in the Eagle Nebula with Spitzer/GLIMPSE
We present new Spitzer photometry of the Eagle Nebula (M16, containing the
optical cluster NGC 6611) combined with near-infrared photometry from 2MASS. We
use dust radiative transfer models, mid-infrared and near-infrared color-color
analysis, and mid-infrared spectral indices to analyze point source spectral
energy distributions, select candidate young stellar objects (YSOs), and
constrain their mass and evolutionary state. Comparison of the different
protostellar selection methods shows that mid-infrared methods are consistent,
but as has been known for some time, near-infrared-only analysis misses some
young objects. We reveal more than 400 protostellar candidates, including one
massive young stellar object (YSO) that has not been previously highlighted.
The YSO distribution supports a picture of distributed low-level star
formation, with no strong evidence of triggered star formation in the
``pillars''. We confirm the youth of NGC 6611 by a large fraction of
infrared-excess sources, and reveal a younger cluster of YSOs in the nearby
molecular cloud. Analysis of the YSO clustering properties shows a possible
imprint of the molecular cloud's Jeans length. Multiwavelength mid-IR imaging
thus allows us to analyze the protostellar population, to measure the dust
temperature and column density, and to relate these in a consistent picture of
star formation in M16.Comment: 16p preprint - ApJ accepte
Mid-infrared interferometry of massive young stellar objects
The very inner structure of massive young stellar objects (YSOs) is difficult
to trace. With conventional observational methods we identify structures still
several hundreds of AU in size. However, the (proto-)stellar growth takes place
at the innermost regions (<100 AU) where the actual mass transfer onto the
forming high-mass star occurs. We present results from our programme toward
massive YSOs at the VLTI, utilising the two-element interferometer MIDI. To
date, we observed 10 well-known massive YSOs down to scales of 20 mas
(typically corresponding to 20 - 40 AU for our targets) in the 8-13 micron
region. We clearly resolve these objects which results in low visibilities and
sizes in the order of 30-50 mas. For two objects, we show results of our
modelling. We demonstrate that the MIDI data can reveal decisive structure
information for massive YSOs. They are often pivotal in order to resolve
ambiguities still immanent in model parameters derived from sole SED fitting.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, necessary style files iopams.sty, jpconf11.clo,
and jpconf.cls included; contribution for the conference "The Universe under
the Microscope" (AHAR 2008), held in Bad Honnef (Germany) in April 2008, to
be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series by Institute of Physics
Publishing, R. Schoedel, A. Eckart, S. Pfalzner, and E. Ros (eds.
Star Formation and Young Population of the HII Complex Sh2-294
The Sh2-294 HII region ionized by a single B0V star features several infrared
excess sources, a photodissociation region, and also a group of reddened stars
at its border. The star formation scenario in the region seems to be quite
complex. In this paper, we present follow-up results of Sh2-294 HII region at
3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 microns observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), coupled with H2 (2.12 microns) observation, to
characterize the young population of the region and to understand its star
formation history. We identified 36 young stellar object (YSO, Class I, Class
II and Class I/II) candidates using IRAC color-color diagrams. It is found that
Class I sources are preferentially located at the outskirts of the HII region
and associated with enhanced H2 emission; none of them are located near the
central cluster. Combining the optical to mid-infrared (MIR) photometry of the
YSO candidates and using the spectral energy distribution fitting models, we
constrained stellar parameters and the evolutionary status of 33 YSO
candidates. Most of them are interpreted by the model as low-mass (< 4 solar
masses) YSOs; however, we also detected a massive YSO (~9 solar masses) of
Class I nature, embedded in a cloud of visual extinction of ~24 mag. Present
analysis suggests that the Class I sources are indeed younger population of the
region relative to Class II sources (age ~ 4.5 x 10^6 yr). We suggest that the
majority of the Class I sources, including the massive YSOs, are
second-generation stars of the region whose formation is possibly induced by
the expansion of the HII region powered by a ~ 4 x 10^6 yr B0 main-sequence
star.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journa
IR Dust Bubbles: Probing the Detailed Structure and Young Massive Stellar Populations of Galactic HII Regions
We present an analysis of wind-blown, parsec-sized, mid-infrared bubbles and
associated star-formation using GLIMPSE/IRAC, MIPSGAL/MIPS and MAGPIS/VLA
surveys. Three bubbles from the Churchwell et al. (2006) catalog were selected.
The relative distribution of the ionized gas (based on 20 cm emission), PAH
emission (based on 8 um, 5.8 um and lack of 4.5 um emission) and hot dust (24
um emission) are compared. At the center of each bubble there is a region
containing ionized gas and hot dust, surrounded by PAHs. We identify the likely
source(s) of the stellar wind and ionizing flux producing each bubble based
upon SED fitting to numerical hot stellar photosphere models. Candidate YSOs
are also identified using SED fitting, including several sites of possible
triggered star formation.Comment: 37 pages, 17 figure
The youngest massive protostars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
We demonstrate the unique capabilities of Herschel to study very young
luminous extragalactic young stellar objects (YSOs) by analyzing a central
strip of the Large Magellanic Cloud obtained through the HERITAGE Science
Demonstration Program. We combine PACS 100 and 160, and SPIRE 250, 350, and 500
microns photometry with 2MASS (1.25-2.17 microns) and Spitzer IRAC and MIPS
(3.6-70 microns) to construct complete spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of
compact sources. From these, we identify 207 candidate embedded YSOs in the
observed region, ~40% never-before identified. We discuss their position in
far-infrared color-magnitude space, comparing with previously studied,
spectroscopically confirmed YSOs and maser emission. All have red colors
indicating massive cool envelopes and great youth. We analyze four example
YSOs, determining their physical properties by fitting their SEDs with
radiative transfer models. Fitting full SEDs including the Herschel data
requires us to increase the size and mass of envelopes included in the models.
This implies higher accretion rates (greater than or equal to 0.0001 M_sun/yr),
in agreement with previous outflow studies of high-mass protostars. Our results
show that Herschel provides reliable longwave SEDs of large samples of
high-mass YSOs; discovers the youngest YSOs whose SEDs peak in Herschel bands;
and constrains the physical properties and evolutionary stages of YSOs more
precisely than was previously possible.Comment: Main text: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; Online material: 3 figures, 1
table; to appear in the A&A Herschel Special Issu
Star formation triggered by HII regions in our Galaxy: First results for N49 from the Herschel infrared survey of the Galactic plane
It has been shown that by means of different physical mechanisms the
expansion of HII regions can trigger the formation of new stars of all masses.
This process may be important to the formation of massive stars but has never
been quantified in the Galaxy. We use Herschel-PACS and -SPIRE images from the
Herschel Infrared survey of the Galactic plane, Hi-GAL, to perform this study.
We combine the Spitzer-GLIMPSE and -MIPSGAL, radio-continuum and sub-millimeter
surveys such as ATLASGAL with Hi-GAL to study Young Stellar Objects (YSOs)
observed towards Galactic HII regions. We select a representative HII region,
N49, located in the field centered on l=30 degr observed as part of the Hi-GAL
Science Demonstration Phase, to demonstrate the importance Hi-GAL will have to
this field of research. Hi-GAL PACS and SPIRE images reveal a new population of
embedded young stars, coincident with bright ATLASGAL condensations. The Hi-GAL
images also allow us, for the first time, to constrain the physical properties
of the newly formed stars by means of fits to their spectral energy
distribution. Massive young stellar objects are observed at the borders of the
N49 region and represent second generation massive stars whose formation has
been triggered by the expansion of the ionized region. Hi-GAL enables us to
detect a population of young stars at different evolutionary stages, cold
condensations only being detected in the SPIRE wavelength range. The far IR
coverage of Hi-GAL strongly constrains the physical properties of the YSOs. The
large and unbiased spatial coverage of this survey offers us a unique
opportunity to lead, for the first time, a global study of star formation
triggered by HII regions in our Galaxy.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by A&A (Special issue on Herschel first
results
Direct Estimate of Cirrus Noise in Herschel Hi-GAL Images
In Herschel images of the Galactic plane and many star forming regions, a
major factor limiting our ability to extract faint compact sources is cirrus
confusion noise, operationally defined as the "statistical error to be expected
in photometric measurements due to confusion in a background of fluctuating
surface brightness". The histogram of the flux densities of extracted sources
shows a distinctive faint-end cutoff below which the catalog suffers from
incompleteness and the flux densities become unreliable. This empirical cutoff
should be closely related to the estimated cirrus noise and we show that this
is the case. We compute the cirrus noise directly, both on Herschel images from
which the bright sources have been removed and on simulated images of cirrus
with statistically similar fluctuations. We connect these direct estimates with
those from power spectrum analysis, which has been used extensively to predict
the cirrus noise and provides insight into how it depends on various
statistical properties and photometric operational parameters. We report
multi-wavelength power spectra of diffuse Galactic dust emission from Hi-GAL
observations at 70 to 500 microns within Galactic plane fields at l= 30 degrees
and l= 59 degrees. We find that the exponent of the power spectrum is about -3.
At 250 microns, the amplitude of the power spectrum increases roughly as the
square of the median brightness of the map and so the expected cirrus noise
scales linearly with the median brightness. Generally, the confusion noise will
be a worse problem at longer wavelengths, because of the combination of lower
angular resolution and the rising power spectrum of cirrus toward lower spatial
frequencies, but the photometric signal to noise will also depend on the
relative spectral energy distribution of the source compared to the cirrus.Comment: 4 pages (in journal), 3 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, accepted
for publication 13 May 201
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