Odin observations of ammonia in the Sgr A +50 km/s Cloud and Circumnuclear Disk

Context. The Odin satellite is now into its sixteenth year of operation, much surpassing its design life of two years. One of the sources which Odin has observed in great detail is the Sgr A Complex in the centre of the Milky Way. Aims. To study the presence of NH3 in the Galactic Centre and spiral arms. Methods. Recently, Odin has made complementary observations of the 572 GHz NH3 line towards the Sgr A +50 km/s Cloud and Circumnuclear Disk (CND). Results. Significant NH3 emission has been observed in both the +50 km/s Cloud and the CND. Clear NH3 absorption has also been detected in many of the spiral arm features along the line of sight from the Sun to the core of our Galaxy. Conclusions. The very large velocity width (80 km/s) of the NH3 emission associated with the shock region in the southwestern part of the CND may suggest a formation/desorption scenario similar to that of gas-phase H2O in shocks/outflows.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 3 table

Structure and kinematics of the molecular spiral arms in M51

Mapping of the CO(1-0) emission from the spiral galaxy was made with the Onsala 20 m antenna. The observations show that the emission is considerably enhanced in spiral arms which appear to originate as intense ridges of emission about 1 kpc from the nucleus. One of the main objectives for the 1986 observations was to study the variations of the tangential velocity component of molecular gas across a spiral arm. The radial velocity was found to have a velocity shift similar to that predicted by the density wave theory. The present (1986) observations of the inner southern spiral arm of M51 show that the tangential velocity component also behaves in a way which conforms with the density wave model. The molecular arms were compared with the H alpha ionized gas arms of Tully (1974) and it was found that the ionized gas appears to have its maximum intensity slightly outside the molecular arm

Statistical Analysis When the Data is an Image: Eliciting Student Thinking About Sampling and Variability

Within statistics education, there is a growing interest in understanding students\u27 application of understanding about variability and sampling given the relative lack of research in either area (Shaughnessy, 2007). The task examined in this paper elicited students\u27 knowledge of these concepts within a small-group problem solving task completed by teams of first-year engineering students. In the Nanoroughness task, teams of students designed a procedure for quantifying the roughness of a material surface using digital images generated by atomic force microscopy. The procedure required students to apply statistical methods in order to aggregate the data. The focus of this article is the subsequent analysis of the responses to the task and the questions raised by that analysis. The Nanoroughness task is unique but critical as a statistical modeling task for two reasons. First, the students needed to use statistical measures to develop a measure that would describe a qualitative characteristic (roughness) without any prompting as to what statistical procedures were relevant. There are different ways to conceptualize roughness of a surface. Sandpaper’s roughness depends on the grain size of the sand. A road may be rough if it has randomly occurring large holes but smoother if the bumps are evenly distributed. The challenge in developing quantitative measures to define qualitative characteristics is that different quantitative analyses emphasize different variables and the students needed to both analyze and apply statistical procedures relevant to the context. For instance, determining which member of a set is the most rough or the least rough will depend on what measurements were selected, and how those measures were analyzed. The second unique characteristic of the task is that the students also needed to define a sampling procedure for an image that would facilitate quantifying the variability in the surface portrayed in the digital image. Usually when students need to take measurements of a population, the population is a discrete set of objects. In this case, the data set was a continuous surface. From the data set, the students need to determine the relevant population (e.g., every point on the surface, every peak on the surface, peaks and valleys). Such continuous populations are not unique within engineering and the sciences and occur in a variety of contexts where characteristics need to be measured and operationally defined. The task was implemented in a first-year engineering course that served as an introduction to basic tools of engineering with an emphasis on MatLab® and Excel® as technological tools. The Nanoroughness task was used in the course to introduce students to the real work of engineers who must not only calculate statistics but also analyze and interpret the results. Our research asked a two-part question. First, what is the quality of student responses to the Nanoroughness task? To answer this we looked at the viability of the model they had created and how well they had explained their procedure for comparing the roughness of images. Second, what statistical models were elicited by the task? We specifically looked at the sampling methods students used and then how the students analyzed the data set they had created. In this paper, we describe the quantitative and qualitative analyses we completed of a sample of student responses

Organic molecules in the spectral line survey of Orion KL with the Odin Satellite from 486492 GHz and 541577 GHz

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 2008, v. 4 n. S251, p. 29-30A spectral line survey of Orion KL has been performed over the frequency range of 486492 GHz and 541577 GHz using the Odin satellite. Over 1000 lines have been identified from 40 different molecular species, including several organic compounds such as methyl cyanide (CH3CN), methanol (CH3OH, 13CH3OH), and dimethyl ether (CH3OCH3). © 2008 International Astronomical Union.published_or_final_versio

Improved Energy Model for Membrane Electroporation in Biological Cells Subjected to Electrical Pulses

A self-consistent model analysis of electroporation in biological cells has been carried out based on an improved energy model. The simple energy model used in the literature is somewhat incorrect and unphysical for a variety of reasons. Our model for the pore formation energy E(r) includes a dependence on pore population and density. It also allows for variable surface tension, incorporates the effects of finite conductivity on the electrostatic correction term, and is dynamic in nature. Self-consistent calculations, based on a coupled scheme involving the Smoluchowski equation and the improved energy model, are presented. It is shown that E(r) becomes self-adjusting with variations in its magnitude and profile, in response to pore population, and inhibits uncontrolled pore growth and expansion. This theory can be augmented to include pore-pore interactions to move beyond the independent pore picture

On the accretion process in a high-mass star forming region - A multitransitional THz Herschel-HIFI study of ammonia toward G34.26+0.15

[Abridged] Our aim is to explore the gas dynamics and the accretion process in the early phase of high-mass star formation. The inward motion of molecular gas in the massive star forming region G34.26+0.15 is investigated by using high-resolution profiles of seven transitions of ammonia at THz frequencies observed with Herschel-HIFI. The shapes and intensities of these lines are interpreted in terms of radiative transfer models of a spherical, collapsing molecular envelope. An accelerated Lambda Iteration (ALI) method is used to compute the models. The seven ammonia lines show mixed absorption and emission with inverse P-Cygni-type profiles that suggest infall onto the central source. A trend toward absorption at increasingly higher velocities for higher excitation transitions is clearly seen in the line profiles. The $J = 3\leftarrow2$ lines show only very weak emission, so these absorption profiles can be used directly to analyze the inward motion of the gas. This is the first time a multitransitional study of spectrally resolved rotational ammonia lines has been used for this purpose. Broad emission is, in addition, mixed with the absorption in the $1_0-0_0$ ortho-NH$_3$ line, possibly tracing a molecular outflow from the star forming region. The best-fitting ALI model reproduces the continuum fluxes and line profiles, but slightly underpredicts the emission and absorption depth in the ground-state ortho line $1_0-0_0$. The derived ortho-to-para ratio is approximately 0.5 throughout the infalling cloud core similar to recent findings for translucent clouds in sight lines toward W31C and W49N. We find evidence of two gas components moving inwards toward the central region with constant velocities: 2.7 and 5.3 km$\,$s$^{-1}$, relative to the source systemic velocity. The inferred mass accretion rates derived are sufficient to overcome the expected radiation pressure from G34.26+0.15.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, accepted by A&A 3 October 201