A Herschel/HIFI Legacy Survey of HF and H2O in the Galaxy: Probing Diffuse Molecular Cloud Chemistry

We combine Herschel observations of a total of 12 sources to construct the most uniform survey of HF and H2O in our Galactic disk. Both molecules are detected in absorption along all sight lines. The high spectral resolution of the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) allows us to compare the HF and H2O distributions in 47 diffuse cloud components sampling the disk. We find that the HF and H2O velocity distributions follow each other almost perfectly and establish that HF and H2O probe the same gas-phase volume. Our observations corroborate theoretical predictions that HF is a sensitive tracer of H2 in diffuse clouds, down to molecular fractions of only a few percent. Using HF to trace H2 in our sample, we find that the N(H2O)-to-N(HF) ratio shows a narrow distribution with a median value of 1.51. Our results further suggest that H2O might be used as a tracer of H2 -within a factor 2.5- in the diffuse interstellar medium. We show that the measured factor of ~2.5 variation around the median is driven by true local variations in the H2O abundance relative to H2 throughout the disk. The latter variability allows us to test our theoretical understanding of the chemistry of oxygen-bearing molecules in the diffuse gas. We show that both gas-phase and grain-surface chemistry are required to reproduce our H2O observations. This survey thus confirms that grain surface reactions can play a significant role in the chemistry occurring in the diffuse interstellar medium n_H < 1000 cm^-3.Comment: 53 pages; 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ main journa

Unusually Weak Diffuse Interstellar Bands toward HD 62542

As part of an extensive survey of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs), we have obtained optical spectra of the moderately reddened B5V star HD 62542, which is known to have an unusual UV extinction curve of the type usually identified with dark clouds. The typically strongest of the commonly catalogued DIBs covered by the spectra -- those at 5780, 5797, 6270, 6284, and 6614 A -- are essentially absent in this line of sight, in marked contrast with other lines of sight of similar reddening. We compare the HD 62542 line of sight with others exhibiting a range of extinction properties and molecular abundances and interpret the weakness of the DIBs as an extreme case of deficient DIB formation in a dense cloud whose more diffuse outer layers have been stripped away. We comment on the challenges these observations pose for identifying the carriers of the diffuse bands.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures; aastex; accepted by Ap

Detection of Acetylene toward Cepheus A East with Spitzer

The first map of interstellar acetylene (C2H2) has been obtained with the infrared spectrograph onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. A spectral line map of the $\nu_5$ vibration-rotation band at 13.7 microns carried out toward the star-forming region Cepheus A East, shows that the C2H2 emission peaks in a few localized clumps where gas-phase CO2 emission was previously detected with Spitzer. The distribution of excitation temperatures derived from fits to the C2H2 line profiles ranges from 50 to 200 K, a range consistent with that derived for gaseous CO2 suggesting that both molecules probe the same warm gas component. The C2H2 molecules are excited via radiative pumping by 13.7 microns continuum photons emanating from the HW2 protostellar region. We derive column densities ranging from a few x 10^13 to ~ 7 x 10^14 cm^-2, corresponding to C2H2 abundances of 1 x 10^-9 to 4 x 10^-8 with respect to H2. The spatial distribution of the C2H2 emission along with a roughly constant N(C2H2)/N(CO2) strongly suggest an association with shock activity, most likely the result of the sputtering of acetylene in icy grain mantles.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Studies of Diffuse Interstellar Bands. V. Pairwise Correlations of Eight Strong DIBs and Neutral Hydrogen, Molecular Hydrogen, and Color Excess

We establish correlations between equivalent widths of eight diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs), and examine their correlations with atomic hydrogen, molecular hydrogen, and EB-V . The DIBs are centered at \lambda\lambda 5780.5, 6204.5, 6283.8, 6196.0, 6613.6, 5705.1, 5797.1, and 5487.7, in decreasing order of Pearson\^as correlation coefficient with N(H) (here defined as the column density of neutral hydrogen), ranging from 0.96 to 0.82. We find the equivalent width of \lambda 5780.5 is better correlated with column densities of H than with E(B-V) or H2, confirming earlier results based on smaller datasets. We show the same is true for six of the seven other DIBs presented here. Despite this similarity, the eight strong DIBs chosen are not well enough correlated with each other to suggest they come from the same carrier. We further conclude that these eight DIBs are more likely to be associated with H than with H2, and hence are not preferentially located in the densest, most UV shielded parts of interstellar clouds. We suggest they arise from different molecules found in diffuse H regions with very little H (molecular fraction f<0.01). Of the 133 stars with available data in our study, there are three with significantly weaker \lambda 5780.5 than our mean H-5780.5 relationship, all of which are in regions of high radiation fields, as previously noted by Herbig. The correlations will be useful in deriving interstellar parameters when direct methods are not available. For instance, with care, the value of N(H) can be derived from W{\lambda}(5780.5).Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; 37 pages, 11 figures, 6 table

Sulphur-bearing molecules in diffuse molecular clouds: new results from SOFIA/GREAT and the IRAM 30 m telescope

We have observed five sulphur-bearing molecules in foreground diffuse molecular clouds lying along the sight-lines to five bright continuum sources. We have used the GREAT instrument on SOFIA to observe the 1383 GHz $^2\Pi_{3/2} J=5/2-3/2$ transitions of SH towards the star-forming regions W31C, G29.96-0.02, G34.3+0.1, W49N and W51, detecting foreground absorption towards all five sources; and the EMIR receivers on the IRAM 30m telescope at Pico Veleta to detect the H$_2$S 1(10)-1(01), CS J=2-1 and SO 3(2)-2(1) transitions. In nine foreground absorption components detected towards these sources, the inferred column densities of the four detected molecules showed relatively constant ratios, with N(SH)/N(H$_2$S) in the range 1.1 - 3.0, N(CS)/N(H$_2$S) in the range 0.32 - 0.61, and N(SO)/N(H$_2$S) in the range 0.08 - 0.30. The observed SH/H$_2$ ratios - in the range (0.5-2.6) $\times 10^{-8}$ - indicate that SH (and other sulphur-bearing molecules) account for << 1% of the gas-phase sulphur nuclei. The observed abundances of sulphur-bearing molecules, however, greatly exceed those predicted by standard models of cold diffuse molecular clouds, providing further evidence for the enhancement of endothermic reaction rates by elevated temperatures or ion-neutral drift. We have considered the observed abundance ratios in the context of shock and turbulent dissipation region (TDR) models. Using the TDR model, we find that the turbulent energy available at large scale in the diffuse ISM is sufficient to explain the observed column densities of SH and CS. Standard shock and TDR models, however, fail to reproduce the column densities of H$_2$S and SO by a factor of about 10; more elaborate shock models - in which account is taken of the velocity drift, relative to H$_2$, of SH molecules produced by the dissociative recombination of H$_3$S$^+$ - reduce this discrepancy to a factor ~ 3.Comment: 30 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Herschel observations of interstellar chloronium. II - Detections toward G29.96-0.02, W49N, W51, and W3(OH), and determinations of the ortho-to-para and 35^{35}Cl/37^{37}Cl isotopic ratios

We report additional detections of the chloronium molecular ion, H$_2$Cl$^+$, toward four bright submillimeter continuum sources: G29.96, W49N, W51, and W3(OH). With the use of the HIFI instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory, we observed the $2_{12}-1_{01}$ transition of ortho-H$_2^{35}$Cl$^+$ at 781.627 GHz in absorption toward all four sources. Much of the detected absorption arises in diffuse foreground clouds that are unassociated with the background continuum sources and in which our best estimates of the $N({\rm H_2Cl^+})/N({\rm H})$ ratio lie in the range $(0.9 - 4.8) \times 10^{-9}$. These chloronium abundances relative to atomic hydrogen can exceed the predictions of current astrochemical models by up to a factor of 5. Toward W49N, we have also detected the $2_{12}-1_{01}$ transition of ortho-H$_2^{37}$Cl$^+$ at 780.053 GHz and the $1_{11}-0_{00}$ transition of para-H$_2^{35}$Cl$^+$ at 485.418 GHz. These observations imply $\rm H_2^{35}Cl^+/H_2^{37}Cl^+$ column density ratios that are consistent with the solar system $^{35}$Cl/$^{37}$Cl isotopic ratio of 3.1, and chloronium ortho-to-para ratios consistent with 3, the ratio of spin statistical weights.Comment: 31 pages, including 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the Ap

A Herschel/HIFI Legacy Survey of HF and H_2O in the Galaxy: Probing Diffuse Molecular Cloud Chemistry

We combine Herschel observations for a total of 12 sources to construct the most uniform survey of HF and H_2O in our Galactic disk. Both molecules are detected in absorption along all sight lines. The high spectral resolution of the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-infrared (HIFI) allows us to compare the HF and H_2O distributions in 47 diffuse cloud components sampling the disk. We find that the HF and H2O velocity distributions follow each other almost perfectly and establish that HF and H_2O probe the same gas-phase volume. Our observations corroborate theoretical predictions that HF is a sensitive tracer of H_2 in diffuse clouds, down to molecular fractions of only a few percent. Using HF to trace H_2 in our sample, we find that the N(H_2O)-to-N(HF) ratio shows a narrow distribution with a median value of 1.51. Our results further suggest that H_2O might be used as a tracer of H_2—within a factor of 2.5—in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). We show that the measured factor of ~2.5 variation around the median is driven by true local variations in the H_2O abundance relative to H_2 throughout the disk. The latter variability allows us to test our theoretical understanding of the chemistry of oxygen-bearing molecules in the diffuse gas. We show that both gas-phase and grain-surface chemistry are required to reproduce our H_2O observations. This survey thus confirms that grain surface reactions can play a significant role in the chemistry occurring in the diffuse ISM (n_H ≤ 1000 cm^(−3))

A translucent interstellar cloud at z=2.69: CO, H2 and HD in the line-of-sight to SDSS J123714.60+064759.5

We present the analysis of a sub-DLA system (log N(H^0)=20.0+/-0.15, z_abs=2.69) toward SDSS J123714+064759 (z_em=2.78). Using the VLT/UVES and X-shooter spectrographs, we detect H2, HD and CO molecules in absorption with log N(H2,HD,CO)=(19.21,14.48,14.17). The overall metallicity of the system is super-solar ([Zn/H]=+0.34) and iron is highly depleted ([Fe/Zn]=-1.39), revealing metal-rich and dusty gas. The strongest H2 component does not coincide with the centre of the HI absorption. This implies that the molecular fraction in this component, f=2N(H2)/(2N(H2)+N(H^0)), is larger than the mean molecular fraction =1/4 in the system. This is supported by the detection of Cl^0 associated with this H2-component having N(Cl^0)/N(Cl^+)>0.4. Since Cl^0 is tied up to H2 by charge exchange reactions, this means that the molecular fraction in this component is not far from unity. The size of the molecular cloud is probably smaller than 1pc. Both the CO/H2=10^-5 and CO/C^0~1 ratios for f>0.24 indicate that the cloud classifies as translucent, i.e., a regime where carbon is found both in atomic and molecular form. The corresponding extinction, Av=0.14, albeit lower than the definition of a translucent sightline (based on extinction properties), is high for the observed H^0 column density. This means that intervening clouds with similar local properties but with larger column densities could be missed by current magnitude-limited QSO surveys. The excitation of CO is dominated by radiative interaction with the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) and we derive Tex(CO)=10.5+0.8-0.6 K when TCMBR(z=2.69)=10.05 K is expected. The astration factor of deuterium -with respect to the primordial D/H ratio- is only about 3. This can be the consequence of accretion of unprocessed gas from the intergalactic medium onto the associated galaxy. [abridged]Comment: 17 pages, 21 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in A&