CH radio emission from heiles cloud 2 as a tracer of molecular cloud evolution

A mapping observation of the $J=1/2$ $\Lambda$-type doubling transition (3.3 GHz) of CH has been conducted toward Heiles Cloud 2 (HCL2) in the Taurus molecular cloud complex to reveal its molecular cloud-scale distribution. The observations were carried out with the Effelsberg 100 m telescope. The CH emission is found to be extended over the whole region of HCL2. It is brighter in the southeastern part, which encloses the TMC-1 cyanopolyyne peak than in the northwestern part. Its distribution extends continuously from the peak of the neutral carbon emission (CI peak) to the TMC-1 ridge, as if it were connecting the distributions of the [C I] and C$^{18}$O emissions. Since CH is an intermediate in gas-phase chemical reactions from C to CO, its emission should trace the transition region. The above distribution of the CH emission is consistent with this chemical behavior. Since the CH abundance is subject to the chemical evolutionary effect, the CH column density in HCL2 no longer follows a linear correlation wit the H$_2$ column density reported for diffuse and translucent clouds. More importantly, the CH line profile is found to be composed of the narrow and broad components. Although the broad component is dominant around the CI peak, the narrow component appears in the TMC-1 ridge and dense core regions such as L1527 and TMC-1A. This trend seems to reflect a narrowing of the line width during the formation of dense cores. These results suggest that the 3.3 GHz CH line is a useful tool for tracing the chemical and physical evolution of molecular clouds.Comment: 8 page

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Association of IceCube neutrinos with radio sources observed at Owens Valley and Metsahovi Radio Observatories

Context. Identifying the most likely sources for high-energy neutrino emission has been one of the main topics in high-energy astrophysics ever since the first observation of high-energy neutrinos by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets, also known as blazars, have been considered to be one of the main candidates because of their ability to accelerate particles to high energies.Aims. We study the connection between radio emission and IceCube neutrino events using data from the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) and Metsahovi Radio Observatory blazar monitoring programs.Methods. We identify sources in our radio monitoring sample that are positionally consistent with IceCube high-energy neutrino events. We estimate their mean flux density and variability amplitudes around the neutrino arrival time, and compare these with values from random samples to establish the significance of our results.Results. We find radio source associations within our samples with 15 high-energy neutrino events detected by IceCube. Nearly half of the associated sources are not detected in the gamma-ray energies, but their radio variability properties and Doppler boosting factors are similar to the gamma-ray detected objects in our sample, meaning that they could still be potential neutrino emitters. We find that the number of strongly flaring objects in our statistically complete OVRO samples is unlikely to be a random coincidence (at 2 sigma level).Conclusions. Based on our results, we conclude that although it is clear that not all neutrino events are associated with strong radio flaring blazars, observations of large-amplitude radio flares in a blazar at the same time as a neutrino event are unlikely to be a random coincidence

CH abundance gradient in TMC-1

We observed the 9-cm Lambda-doubling lines of CH along the dense filament of TMC-1. The CH column densities were compared with the total H2 column densities derived using the 2MASS NIR data and previously published SCUBA maps and with OH column densities derived using previous observations with Effelsberg. We also modelled the chemical evolution of TMC-1 adopting physical conditions typical of dark clouds using the UMIST Database for Astrochemistry gas-phase reaction network to aid the interpretation of the observed OH/CH abundance ratios. The CH column density has a clear peak in the vicinity of the cyanopolyyne maximum of TMC-1. The fractional CH abundance relative to H2 increases steadily from the northwestern end of the filament where it lies around 1.0e-8, to the southeast where it reaches a value of 2.0e-8. The OH and CH column densities are well correlated, and we obtained OH/CH abundance ratios of ~ 16 - 20. These values are clearly larger than what has been measured recently in diffuse interstellar gas and is likely to be related to C to CO conversion at higher densities. The good correlation between CH and OH can be explained by similar production and destruction pathways. We suggest that the observed CH and OH abundance gradients are mainly due to enhanced abundances in a low-density envelope which becomes more prominent in the southeastern part and seems to continue beyond the dense filament. An extensive envelope probably signifies an early stage of dynamical evolution, and conforms with the detection of a large CH abundance in the southeastern part of the cloud. The implied presence of other simple forms of carbon in the gas phase provides a natural explanation for the observation of "early-type" molecules in this region.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure

Reconstructing the density and temperature structure of prestellar cores from <i>Herschel</i> data: a case study for B68 and L1689B

Utilizing multiwavelength dust emission maps acquired with Herschel, we reconstruct local volume density and dust temperature profiles for the prestellar cores B68 and L1689B using an inverse-Abel transform-based technique. We present intrinsic radial dust temperature profiles of starless cores directly from dust continuum emission maps disentangling the effect of temperature variations along the line of sight, which were previously limited to the radiative transfer calculations. The reconstructed dust temperature profiles show a significant drop in the core center, a flat inner part, and a rising outward trend until the background cloud temperature is reached. The central beam-averaged dust temperatures obtained for B68 and L1689B are 9.3 ± 0.5 K and 9.8 ± 0.5 K, respectively, which are lower than the temperatures of 11.3 K and 11.6 K obtained from direct SED fitting. The best mass estimates derived by integrating the volume density profiles of B68 and L1689B are 1.6 M⊙ and 11 M⊙, respectively. Comparing our results for B68 with the near-infrared extinction studies, we find that the dust opacity law adopted by the HGBS project, κλ = 0.1 × (λ/300 μm)-2 cm2 g-1 agrees to within 50% with the dust extinction constraints

The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package

The Astropy project supports and fosters the development of open-source and openly-developed Python packages that provide commonly-needed functionality to the astronomical community. A key element of the Astropy project is the core package Astropy, which serves as the foundation for more specialized projects and packages. In this article, we provide an overview of the organization of the Astropy project and summarize key features in the core package as of the recent major release, version 2.0. We then describe the project infrastructure designed to facilitate and support development for a broader ecosystem of inter-operable packages. We conclude with a future outlook of planned new features and directions for the broader Astropy project

Linking ice and gas in the λ Orionis Barnard 35A cloud

Context. Dust grains play an important role in the synthesis of molecules in the interstellar medium, from the simplest species, such as H2, to complex organic molecules. How some of these solid-state molecules are converted into gas-phase species is still a matter of debate. Aims. Our aim is to directly compare ice and gas abundances of methanol (CH3OH) and carbon monoxide (CO) obtained from near-infrared (2.5-5 μm) and millimetre (1.3 mm) observations and to investigate the relationship between ice, dust, and gas in low-mass protostellar envelopes. Methods. We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) and Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) observations of gas-phase CH3OH (JK = 5K-4K), 13CO, and C18O (J = 2-1) towards the multiple protostellar system IRAS 05417+0907, which is located in the B35A cloud, λ Orionis region. We use archival IRAM 30 m data and AKARI H2O, CO, and CH3OH ice observations towards the same target to compare ice and gas abundances and directly calculate CH3OH and CO gas-to-ice ratios. Results. The CO isotopologue emissions are extended, whereas the CH3OH emission is compact and traces the giant molecular outflow emanating from IRAS 05417+0907. A discrepancy between sub-millimetre dust emission and H2O ice column density is found for B35A-4 and B35A-5, similar to what has previously been reported. B35A-2 and B35A-3 are located where the sub-millimetre dust emission peaks and show H2O column densities lower than that of B35A-4. Conclusions. The difference between the sub-millimetre continuum emission and the infrared H2O ice observations suggests that the distributions of dust and H2O ice differ around the young stellar objects in this dense cloud. The reason for this may be that the four sources are located in different environments resolved by the interferometric observations: B35A-2, B35A-3, and, in particular, B35A-5 are situated in a shocked region that is plausibly affected by sputtering and heating, which in turn impacts the sub-millimetre dust emission pattern, while B35A-4 is situated in a more quiescent part of the cloud. Gas and ice maps are essential for connecting small-scale variations in the ice composition with the large-scale astrophysical phenomena probed by gas observations

The design of access paths of mobile machinery - an interview study.

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