Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userArecibo Multi-Epoch HI Absorption Measurements Against Pulsars: Tiny-Scale Atomic Structure
125
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
Snezana Stanimirovic
Publication date
2010
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present results from multi-epoch neutral hydrogen (HI) absorption observations of six bright pulsars with the Arecibo telescope. Moving through the interstellar medium (ISM) with transverse velocities of 10--150 AU/yr, these pulsars have swept across 1--200 AU over the course of our experiment, allowing us to probe the existence and properties of the tiny scale atomic structure (TSAS) in the cold neutral medium (CNM). While most of the observed pulsars show no significant change in their HI absorption spectra, we have identified at least two clear TSAS-induced opacity variations in the direction of B1929+10. These observations require strong spatial inhomogeneities in either the TSAS clouds physical properties themselves or else in the clouds galactic distribution. While TSAS is occasionally detected on spatial scales down to 10 AU, it is too rare to be characterized by a spectrum of turbulent CNM fluctuations on scales of 10-1000 AU, as previously suggested by some work. In the direction of B1929+10, an apparent correlation between TSAS and interstellar clouds inside the warm Local Bubble (LB) indicates that TSAS may be tracing the fragmentation of the LB wall via hydrodynamic instabilities. While similar fragmentation events occur frequently throughout the ISM, the warm medium surrounding these cold cloudlets induces a natural selection effect wherein small TSAS clouds evaporate quickly and are rare, while large clouds survive longer and become a general property of the ISM.
rate research
Read More
We present global VLBI observations of the 21-cm transition of atomic hydrogen seen in absorption against the radio source J0855+5751. The foreground absorber (SDSS~J085519.05+575140.7) is a dwarf galaxy at $z$ = 0.026. As the background source is heavily resolved by VLBI, the data allow us to map the properties of the foreground HI gas with a spatial resolution of 2pc. The absorbing gas corresponds to a single coherent structure with an extent $>$35pc, but we also detect significant and coherent variations, including a change in the HI optical depth by a factor of five across a distance of $leq$6pc. The large size of the structure provides support for the Heiles & Troland model of the ISM, as well as its applicability to external galaxies. The large variations in HI optical depth also suggest that caution should be applied when interpreting $T_S$ measurements from radio-detected DLAs. In addition, the distorted appearance of the background radio source is indicative of a strong jet-cloud interaction in its host galaxy. We have measured its redshift ($z$ = 0.54186) using optical spectroscopy on the William Herschel Telescope and this confirms that J0855+5751 is a FRII radio source with a physical extent of $<$1kpc and supports the previous identification of this source as a Compact Symmetric Object. These sources often show absorption associated with the host galaxy and we suggest that both HI and OH should be searched for in J0855+5751.
We have used the Arecibo telescope to measure the HI absorption spectra of eight pulsars. We show how kinematic distance measurements depend upon the values of the galactic constants R_o and Theta_o, and we select our preferred current values from the literature. We then derive kinematic distances for the low-latitude pulsars in our sample and electron densities along their lines of sight. We combine these measurements with all others in the inner galactic plane visible from Arecibo to study the electron density in this region. The electron density in the interarm range 48 degrees < l < 70 degrees is [0.017 (-0.007,+0.012) (68% c.l.)] cm^(-3). This is 0.75 (-0.22,+0.49) (68% c.l.) of the value calculated by the Cordes & Lazio (2002) galactic electron density model. The model agrees more closely with electron density measurements toward Arecibo pulsars lying closer to the galactic center, at 30 degrees<l<48 degrees. Our analysis leads to the best current estimate of the distance of the relativistic binary pulsar B1913+16: d=(9.0 +/- 3) kpc. We use the high-latitude pulsars to search for small-scale structure in the interstellar hydrogen observed in absorption over multiple epochs. PSR B0301+19 exhibited significant changes in its absorption spectrum over 22 yr, indicating HI structure on a ~500 AU scale.
Optical depth variations in the Galactic neutral interstellar medium (ISM) with spatial scales from hundreds to thousands of astronomical units have been observed through HI absorption against pulsars and continuum sources, while extremely small structures with spatial scales of tens of astronomical units remain largely unexplored. The nature and formation of such tiny-scale atomic structures (TSAS) need to be better understood. We report a tentative detection of TSAS with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.2 toward PSR B1557$-$50 in the second epoch of two Parkes sessions just 0.36 yr apart, which are the closest-spaced spectral observations toward this pulsar. One absorption component showing marginal variations has been identified. Based on the pulsars proper motion of 14 mas $rm yr^{-1}$ and the components kinematic distance of 3.3 kpc, the corresponding characteristic spatial scale is 17 au, which is among the smallest sizes of known TSAS. Assuming a similar line-of-sight (LOS) depth, the tentative TSAS cloud detected here is overdense and overpressured relative to the cold neutral medium (CNM), and can radiatively cool fast enough to be in thermal equilibrium with the ambient environment. We find that turbulence is not sufficient to confine the overpressured TSAS. We explore the LOS elongation that would be required for the tentative TSAS to be at the canonical CNM pressure, and find that it is $sim5000$ -- much larger than filaments observed in the ISM. We see some evidence of line width and temperature variations in the CNM components observed at the two epochs, as predicted by models of TSAS-like cloud formation colliding warm neutral medium flows.
We compare Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) and Redshift Space Distortion (RSD) measurements from recent galaxy surveys with their Fisher matrix based predictions. Measurements of the position of the BAO signal lead to constraints on the comoving angular diameter distance $D_{M}$ and the Hubble distance $D_{H}$ that agree well with their Fisher matrix based expectations. However, RSD-based measurements of the growth rate $f sigma_{8}$ do not agree with the predictions made before the surveys were undertaken, even when repeating those predictions using the actual survey parameters. We show that this is due to a combination of effects including degeneracies with the geometric parameters $D_{M}$ and $D_{H}$, and optimistic assumptions about the scale to which the linear signal can be extracted. We show that measurements using current data and large-scale modelling techniques extract an equivalent amount of signal to that in the linear regime for $k < 0.08 ,h,{rm Mpc}^{-1}$, remarkably independent of the sample properties and redshifts covered.
We present the first results from the Small Magellanic Cloud portion of a new Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) HI absorption survey of both of the Magellanic Clouds, comprising over 800 hours of observations. Our new HI absorption line data allow us to measure the temperature and fraction of cold neutral gas in a low metallicity environment. We observed 22 separate fields, targeting a total of 55 continuum sources against 37 of which we detected HI absorption; from this we measure a column density weighted mean average spin temperature of $<T_{s}>=150$ K. Splitting the spectra into individual absorption line features, we estimate the temperatures of different gas components and find an average cold gas temperature of $sim{30}$ K for this sample, lower than the average of $sim{40}$ K in the Milky Way. The HI appears to be evenly distributed throughout the SMC and we detect absorption in $67%$ of the lines of sight in our sample, including some outside the main body of the galaxy ($N_{text{HI}}>2times{10^{21}}$ cm$^{-2}$). The optical depth and temperature of the cold neutral atomic gas shows no strong trend with location spatially or in velocity. Despite the low metallicity environment, we find an average cold gas fraction of $sim{20%}$, not dissimilar from that of the Milky Way.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
