A search for symbiotic behaviour amongst OH/IR colour mimics

Recent maser surveys have shown that many potential OH/IR stars have no OH masers in their circumstellar envelopes, despite the modest requirements which should be implicitly met by IRAS colour-selected candidates. It has been suggested that these OH/IR colour mimics must have a degenerate companion which dissociates OH molecules and disrupts the masing action, ie. that they are related to symbiotic Miras. Coincidentally, there is a paucity of long-period symbiotic Miras and symbiotic OH/IR stars. Phenomonologically, those that are known seem to cluster in the zone where field Miras transform into OH/IR stars. If it could be proven that OH/IR colour mimics contain a degenerate star, that observable evidence of this star is hidden from view by CS dust whilst it slowly accretes from the wind of its Mira companion, then we have an excellent explanation for not only the existence of OH/IR colour mimics, but also for the low observed frequency of symbiotic OH/IR stars and the common occurrence of very slow novae in long-period symbiotic Miras. Here, we employ radio continuum radiation (which should escape unhindered from within the dust shells) as a simple probe of the postulated hot degenerate companions which would inevitably ionize a region of their surrounding gas. We compare the radio and infrared properties of the colour mimics with those of normal symbiotic Miras, using the strong correlation between radio and mid-IR emission in symbiotic stars. We show that if a hot companion exists then, unlike their symbiotic counterparts, they must produce radiation-bounded nebulae. Our observations provide no support for the above scenario for the lack of observed masers, but neither do they permit a rejection of this scenario.Comment: 6 pages; no figures attached; LaTeX (MN style); postscript figures via anonymous ftp in users/ers/mimic-figs on astro.caltech.edu; University of Toronto pre-print; ERSRJI

Discovery of hydroxyl and water masers in R Aquarii and H1-36 Arae

We present the first results from an all-sky maser-line survey of symbiotic Miras. Interferometric spectral-line observations of R Aqr and H1-36 Arae have revealed a 22-GHz water maser in the former and 1612-MHz hydroxyl and weak 22-GHz water maser emission from the latter. H1-36 has thus become the first known symbiotic OH/IR star. We have also detected weak OH line emission from the vicinity of R Aqr, but we note that there are small discrepencies between the OH- and H2O-line velocities and positions. These detections demonstrate unequivocally that dust can shield some circumstellar hydroxyl and water molecules from dissociation, even in systems which possess intense local sources of UV. Finally, we discuss some of the implications of these observations. The narrow profile of the water maser in R Aqr means that there may finally be an opportunity to determine the system's orbital parameters. We also point out that high resolution synthesis observations may trace the distribution of dust in H1-36 and R Aqr, possibly throwing light on the mass-loss process in symbiotic Miras and placing constraints on the amount of collimation experienced by UV radiation from their hot, compact companions.Comment: 7 pages; no figures attached; LaTex (MN style); postscript figures via anonymous ftp in /users/ers on astro.caltech.edu; University of Toronto pre-print; ERSRJI

Extended dust emission and atomic hydrogen, a reservoir of diffuse H_2 in NGC 1068

We report on sensitive sub-mm imaging observations of the prototype Seyfert~2/starburst galaxy NGC 1068 at 850 $\mu$m and 450 $\mu$m using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). We find clear evidence of dust emission associated with the extended HI component which together with the very faint $^{12}$CO J=1--0 emission give a gas-to-dust ratio of $\rm M_{\rm gas}/M_{\rm dust} \sim 70-150$. This contrasts with the larger ratio $\rm M_{\rm gas}/M_{\rm dust}\sim 330$ estimated within a galactocentric radius of $r\leq 1.36$ kpc, where the gas is mostly molecular and starburst activity occurs. The large gas-to-dust ratio found for the starburst region is attributed to a systematic overestimate of the molecular gas mass in starburst environments when the luminosity of the $^{12}$CO J=1--0 line and a standard galactic conversion factor is used. On the other hand sub-mm imaging proves to be a more powerful tool than conventional CO imaging for revealing the properties of the diffuse $\rm H_2$ that coexists with HI. This molecular gas phase is characterized by low densities ($\rm n(H_2)<10^3$ cm$^{-3}$), very faint emission from sub-thermally excited CO, and contains more mass than HI, namely $\rm M(H_2)/M(HI)\sim 5$.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Extended Molecular Gas in the Nearby Starburst Galaxy Maffei 2

We present a 9'x9' fully-sampled map of the CO J=1-0 emission in the nearby starburst galaxy Maffei 2 obtained at the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory. The map reveals previously known strong CO emission in the central starburst region as well as an extended asymmetric distribution with bright CO lines at the ends of the bar and in a feature at the north-east edge of the molecular disk. This northern feature, proposed previously to be an interacting companion galaxy, could be a dwarf irregular galaxy, although the CO data are also consistent with the feature being simply an extension of one of the spiral arms. We estimate the total molecular gas mass of Maffei 2 to be (1.4-1.7)x10^9 Mo or ~3-4% of its dynamical mass. Adopting the recently determined lower value for the CO-to-H2 conversion factor in the central region, our data lead to the surprising result that the largest concentrations of molecular gas in Maffei 2 lie at the bar ends and in the putative dwarf companion rather than in the central starburst. A gravitational stability analysis reveals that the extended disk of Maffei 2 lies above the critical density for star formation; however, whether the central region is also gravitationally unstable depends both on the details of the rotation curve and the precise value of the CO-to-H2 conversion factor in this region.Comment: accepted to ApJ (Sept 10 2004 issue

Star Formation Across the Taffy Bridge: UGC 12914/15

We present BIMA two-field mosaic CO(1-0) images of the Taffy galaxies (UGC 12914/15), which show the distinct taffy-like radio continuum emission bridging the two spiral disks. Large amounts of molecular gas (1.4 x 10^{10} Msun, using the standard Galactic CO-to-H$_2$ conversion applicable to Galactic disk giant molecular clouds [GMCs]) were clearly detected throughout the taffy bridge between the two galaxies, which, as in the more extreme case of HI, presumably results from a head-on collision between the two galaxies. The highest CO concentration between the two galaxies corresponds to the H_alpha source in the taffy bridge near the intruder galaxy UGC 12915. This HII region is also associated with the strongest source of radio continuum in the bridge, and shows both morphological and kinematic connections to UGC 12915. The overall CO distribution of the entire system agrees well with that of the radio continuum emission, particularly in the taffy bridge. This argues for the star formation origin of a significant portion of the radio continuum emission. Compared to the HI morphology and kinematics, which are strongly distorted owing to the high-speed collision, CO better defines the orbital geometry and impact parameter of the interaction, as well as the disk properties (e.g., rotation, orientation) of the progenitor galaxies. Based on the 20cm-to-CO ratio maps, we conclude that the starburst sites are primarily located in UGC 12915 and the H_alpha source in the bridge and show that the molecular gas in the taffy bridge is forming into stars with star formation efficiency comparable to that of the target galaxy UGC 12914 and similar to that in the Galactic disk.Comment: Minor typo/style corrections to match with the published version (AJ, Nov. issue). A single .ps.gz file of the entire paper can be downloaded from http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/gao/Taffy/all.ps.g