Efficient radiative transfer in dust grain mixtures

The influence of a dust grain mixture consisting of spherical dust grains with different radii and/or chemical composition on the resulting temperature structure and spectral energy distribution of a circumstellar shell is investigated. The comparison with the results based on an approximation of dust grain parameters representing the mean optical properties of the corresponding dust grain mixture reveal that (1) the temperature dispersion of a real dust grain mixture decreases substantially with increasing optical depth, converging towards the temperature distribution resulting from the approximation of mean dust grain parameters, and (2) the resulting spectral energy distributions do not differ by more than 10% if >= 2^5 grain sizes are considered which justifies the mean parameter approximation and the many results obtained under its assumption so far. Nevertheless, the dust grain temperature dispersion at the inner boundary of a dust shell may amount to >>100K and has therefore to be considered in the correct simulation of, e.g., chemical networks. In order to study the additional influence of geometrical effects, a two-dimensional configuration -- the HH30 circumstellar disk -- was considered, using model parameters from Cotera et al. (2001) and Wood et al. (2002). A drastic inversion of the large to small grain temperature distribution was found within the inner approx. 1AU of the disk.Comment: ApJ, accepte

A catalogue of dense cores and young stellar objects in the Lupus complex based on Herschel Gould Belt Survey observations

Context. How the diffuse medium of molecular clouds condenses in dense cores and how many of these cores will evolve in protostars is still a poorly understood step of the star formation process. Much progress is being made in this field, thanks to the extensive imaging of star-forming regions carried out with the Herschel Space Observatory. Aims. The Herschel Gould Belt Survey key project mapped the bulk of nearby star-forming molecular clouds in five far-infrared bands with the aim of compiling complete census of prestellar cores and young, embedded protostars. From the complete sample of prestellar cores, we aim at defining the core mass function and studying its relationship with the stellar initial mass function. Young stellar objects (YSOs) with a residual circumstellar envelope are also detected. Methods. In this paper, we present the catalogue of the dense cores and YSOs/protostars extracted from the Herschel maps of the Lupus I, III, and IV molecular clouds. The physical properties of the detected objects were derived by fitting their spectral energy distributions. Results. A total of 532 dense cores, out of which 103 are presumably prestellar in nature, and 38 YSOs/protostars have been detected in the three clouds. Almost all the prestellar cores are associated with filaments against only about one third of the unbound cores and YSOs/protostars. Prestellar core candidates are found even in filaments that are on average thermally subcritical and over a background column density lower than that measured in other star-forming regions so far. The core mass function of the prestellar cores peaks between 0.2 and 0.3 M⊙, and it is compatible with the log-normal shape found in other regions. Herschel data reveal several, previously undetected, protostars and new candidates of Class 0 and Class II with transitional disks. We estimate the evolutionary status of the YSOs/protostars using two independent indicators: the α index and the fitting of the spectral energy distribution from near- to far-infrared wavelengths. For 70% of the objects, the evolutionary stages derived with the two methods are in agreement. Conclusions. Lupus is confirmed to be a very low-mass star-forming region, in terms of both the prestellar condensations and the diffuse medium. Noticeably, in the Lupus clouds we have found star formation activity associated with interstellar medium at low column density, usually quiescent in other (more massive) star-forming regions

National scientific conference with international participation Biological rehabilitation of disturbed lands

The 10th national scientific conference with international participation Biological Rehabilitation of Disturbed Lands was held in the city of Yekaterinburg on September 4–7, 2017. More than 180 participants attended the conference from various institutions of 39 Russian cities of Russia and 7 countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Turkey, and Ukraine). Participation in the conference of a wide range of researchers and specialists is an indicator that the problem of rehabilitation is not becoming obsolete, but, on the contrary, it is growing more urgent. This problem is among the priority tasks of many regions of Russia and foreign countries in which oil and gas production, various mining industries are developed and the transformation of natural landscapes into post-industrial ones takes place. These problems are discussed at the conference, which takes place every 5 years in Yekaterinburg. Thanks to an active exchange of experience between specialists from different countries and due to analysis and discussion of the results, the prospects of cooperation aimed at improving the ecological situation and rational use of natural resources in the industrialized regions are developing. The publications of proceedings of the conference are of great scientific and practical value for scientists and specialists dealing with the problem of rehabilitation and monitoring of disturbed lands. Evaluating the global character of the problems of the conference, an appeal was addressed to the Governments of the regions of the Russian Federation for targeted financing of basic research in industrial regions with a high concentration of disturbed lands. To protect public health and preserve the gene pool of animals and plants, the need of assessing the quality of products obtained in the regions that undergo biological rehabilitation is emphasized. The published collection of conference proceedings presents the results of the research of the last decade

From forced collapse to H ii region expansion in Mon R2: Envelope density structure and age determination with Herschel

International audienceThe surroundings of HII regions can have a profound influence on their development, morphology, and evolution. This paper explores the effect of the environment on H II regions in the MonR2 molecular cloud. We aim to investigate the density structure of envelopes surrounding HII regions and to determine their collapse and ionisation expansion ages. The Mon R2 molecular cloud is an ideal target since it hosts an H II region association. Column density and temperature images derived from Herschel data were used together to model the structure of HII bubbles and their surrounding envelopes. The resulting observational constraints were used to follow the development of the Mon R2 ionised regions with analytical calculations and numerical simulations. The four hot bubbles associated with H II regions are surrounded by dense, cold, and neutral gas envelopes. The radial density profiles are reminiscent of those of low-mass protostellar envelopes. The inner parts of envelopes of all four HII regions could be free-falling because they display shallow density profiles. As for their outer parts, the two compact HII regions show a density profile, which is typical of the equilibrium structure of an isothermal sphere. In contrast, the central UCHii region shows a steeper outer profile, that could be interpreted as material being forced to collapse. The size of the heated bubbles, the spectral type of the irradiating stars, and the mean initial neutral gas density are used to estimate the ionisation expansion time, texp, 0.1Myr,for the dense UCHII and compact HII regions and 0.35 Myr for the extended HII region. The envelope transition radii between the shallow and steeper density profiles are used to estimate the time elapsed since the formation of the first proto stellar embryo, Tinf : 1Myr, for the ultra-compact, 1.5 / 3Myr for the compact, and greater than 6Myr for the extended HII regions

Herschel-SPIRE observations of the Polaris flare : structure of the diffuse interstellar medium at the sub-parsec scale

International audienceWe present a power spectrum analysis of the Herschel-SPIRE observations of the Polaris flare, a high Galactic latitude cirrus cloud midway between the diffuse and molecular phases. The SPIRE images of the Polaris flare reveal for the first time the structure of the diffuse interstellar medium down to 0.01 parsec over a 10 square degrees region. These exceptional observations highlight the highly filamentary and clumpy structure of the interstellar medium even in diffuse regions of the map. The power spectrum analysis shows that the structure of the interstellar medium is well described by a single power law with an exponent of -2.7 +- 0.1 at all scales from 30" to 8 degrees. That the power spectrum slope of the dust emission is constant down to the SPIRE angular resolution is an indication that the inertial range of turbulence extends down to the 0.01 pc scale. The power spectrum analysis also allows the identification of a Poissonian component at sub-arcminute scales in agreement with predictions of the cosmic infrared background level at SPIRE wavelengths. Finally, the comparison of the SPIRE and IRAS 100 micron data of the Polaris flare clearly assesses the capability of SPIRE in maping diffuse emission over large areas