564 research outputs found
CBI limits on 31 GHz excess emission in southern HII regions
We have mapped four regions of the southern Galactic plane at 31 GHz with the
Cosmic Background Imager. From the maps, we have extracted the flux densities
for six of the brightest \hii regions in the southern sky and compared them
with multi-frequency data from the literature. The fitted spectral index for
each source was found to be close to the theoretical value expected for
optically thin free-free emission, thus confirming that the majority of flux at
31 GHz is due to free-free emission from ionised gas with an electron
temperature of K.
We also found that, for all six sources, the 31 GHz flux density was slightly
higher than the predicted value from data in the literature. This excess
emission could be due to spinning dust or another emission mechanism.
Comparisons with m data indicate an average dust emissivity of
K (MJy/sr), or a 95 per cent confidence limit of K (MJy/sr). This is lower than that found in diffuse clouds at high
Galactic latitudes by a factor of . The most significant detection
() was found in (RCW49) and may account for up to
per cent of the total flux density observed at 31 GHz. Here, the
dust emissivity of the excess emission is K (MJy/sr) and
is within the range observed at high Galactic latitudes.
Low level polarised emission was observed in all six sources with
polarisation fractions in the range per cent. This is likely to be
mainly due to instrumental leakage and is therefore upper an upper limit to the
free-free polarisation. It corresponds to an upper limit of per cent
for the polarisation of anomalous emission.Comment: Accepted in MNRAS. 12 pages, 10 figures, 5 table
A multiwavelength study of young massive star forming regions: II. The dust environment
We present observations of 1.2-mm dust continuum emission, made with the
Swedish ESO Submillimeter Telescope, towards eighteen luminous IRAS point
sources, all with colors typical of compact HII regions and associated with
CS(2-1) emission, thought to be representative of young massive star forming
regions. Emission was detected toward all the IRAS objects. We find that the
1.2-mm sources associated with them have distinct physical parameters, namely
sizes of 0.4 pc, dust temperatures of 30 K, masses of 2x10^3 Msun, column
densities of 3x10^23 cm^-2, and densities of 4x10^5 cm^-3. We refer to these
dust structures as massive and dense cores. Most of the 1.2-mm sources show
single-peaked structures, several of which exhibit a bright compact peak
surrounded by a weaker extended envelope. The observed radial intensity
profiles of sources with this type of morphology are well fitted with power-law
intensity profiles with power-law indices in the range 1.0-1.7. This result
indicates that massive and dense cores are centrally condensed, having radial
density profiles with power-law indices in the range 1.5-2.2. We also find that
the UC HII regions detected with ATCA towards the IRAS sources investigated
here (Paper I) are usually projected at the peak position of the 1.2-mm dust
continuum emission, suggesting that massive stars are formed at the center of
the centrally condensed massive and dense cores.Comment: 6 figures, accepted by Ap
Automatic Detection of Expanding HI Shells Using Artificial Neural Networks
The identification of expanding HI shells is difficult because of their
variable morphological characteristics. The detection of HI bubbles on a global
scale therefore never has been attempted. In this paper, an automatic detector
for expanding HI shells is presented. The detection is based on the more stable
dynamical characteristics of expanding shells and is performed in two stages.
The first one is the recognition of the dynamical signature of an expanding
bubble in the velocity spectra, based on the classification of an artificial
neural network. The pixels associated with these recognized spectra are
identified on each velocity channel. The second stage consists in looking for
concentrations of those pixels that were firstly pointed out, and to decide if
they are potential detections by morphological and 21-cm emission variation
considerations. Two test bubbles are correctly detected and a potentially new
case of shell that is visually very convincing is discovered. About 0.6% of the
surveyed pixels are identified as part of a bubble. These may be false
detections, but still constitute regions of space with high probability of
finding an expanding shell. The subsequent search field is thus significantly
reduced. We intend to conduct in the near future a large scale HI shells
detection over the Perseus Arm using our detector.Comment: 39 pages, 11 figures, accepted by PAS
Search for starless clumps in the ATLASGAL survey
In this study, we present an unbiased sample of the earliest stages of
massive star formation across 20 square-degree of the sky. Within the region
10deg < l < 20deg and |b| < 1deg, we search the ATLASGAL survey at 870 micron
for dense gas condensations. These clumps are carefully examined for
indications of ongoing star formation using YSOs from the GLIMPSE source
catalog as well as sources in the 24 micron MIPSGAL images, to search for
starless clumps. We calculate the column densities as well as the kinematic
distances and masses for sources where the v_lsr is known from spectroscopic
observations. Within the given region, we identify 210 starless clumps with
peak column densities > 1 x 10e23 cm^(-2). In particular, we identify potential
starless clumps on the other side of the Galaxy. The sizes of the clumps range
between 0.1 pc and 3 pc with masses between a few tens of solar masses up to
several ten thousands of solar masses. Most of them may form massive stars, but
in the 20 square-degree we only find 14 regions massive enough to form stars
more massive than 20 solar masses and 3 regions with the potential to form
stars more massive than 40 40 solar masses. The slope of the high-mass tail of
the clump mass function for clumps on the near side of the Galaxy is 2.2 and,
therefore, Salpeter-like. We estimate the lifetime of the most massive starless
clumps to be 60000 yr. The sample offers a uniform selection of starless
clumps. In the large area surveyed, we only find a few potential precursors of
stars in the excess of 40 solar masses. It appears that the lifetime of these
clumps is somewhat shorter than their free-fall times, although both values
agree within the errors. In addition, these are ideal objects for detailed
studies and follow-up observations.Comment: 15 pages plus appendix, in total 44 pages, accepted for publication
in Astronomy & Astrophysics, full tables will be added soo
Star Formation in the Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
We review progress over the past decade in observations of large-scale star
formation, with a focus on the interface between extragalactic and Galactic
studies. Methods of measuring gas contents and star formation rates are
discussed, and updated prescriptions for calculating star formation rates are
provided. We review relations between star formation and gas on scales ranging
from entire galaxies to individual molecular clouds.Comment: 55 pages, 15 figures, in press for Annual Reviews of Astronomy and
Astrophysics; Updated with corrected equation 5, improved references, and
other minor change
High-Mass Proto-Stellar Candidates - I : The Sample and Initial Results
We describe a systematic program aimed at identifying and characterizing
candidate high-mass proto-stellar objects (HMPOs). Our candidate sample
consists of 69 objects selected by criteria based on those established by
Ramesh & Sridharan (1997) using far-infrared, radio-continuum and molecular
line data. Infrared-Astronomical-Satellite (IRAS) and
Midcourse-Space-Experiment (MSX) data were used to study the larger scale
environments of the candidate sources and to determine their total luminosities
and dust temperatures. To derive the physical and chemical properties of our
target regions, we observed continuum and spectral line radiation at millimeter
and radio wavelengths. We imaged the free-free and dust continuum emission at
wavelengths of 3.6 cm and 1.2 mm, respectively, searched for H2O and CH3OH
maser emission and observed the CO 2-1 and several NH3 lines toward all sources
in our sample. Other molecular tracers were observed in a subsample. The
presented results indicate that a substantial fraction of our sample harbors
HMPOs in a pre-UCHII region phase, the earliest known stage in the high-mass
star formation process.Comment: 16 pages, 11 eps-figures. Astrophysical Journal, in pres
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