No Arabic abstract
We observed the Cygnus Loop with XMM-Newton (9 pointings) and Suzaku (32 pointings) between 2002 and 2008. The total effective exposure time is 670.2 ks. By using all of the available data, we intended to improve a signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum. Accordingly, the accumulated spectra obtained by the XIS and the EPIC show some line features around 3 keV that are attributed to the S He$beta$ and Ar He$alpha$ lines, respectively. Since the Cygnus Loop is an evolved ($sim$10,000 yr) supernova remnant whose temperature is relatively low ($<$1 keV) compared with other young remnants, its spectrum is generally faint above 3.0 keV, no emission lines, such as the Ar-K line have ever been detected. The detection of the Ar-K line is the first time and we found that its abundance is significantly higher than that of the solar value; 9.0$^{+4.0}_{-3.8}$ and 8.4$^{+2.5}_{-2.7}$ (in units of solar), estimated from the XIS and the EPIC spectra, respectively. We conclude that the Ar-K line originated from the ejecta of the Cygnus Loop. Follow-up X-ray observations to tightly constrain the abundances of Ar-rich ejecta will be useful to accurately estimate the progenitors mass.
We conducted a comprehensive study on the shell structure of the Cygnus Loop using 41 observation data obtained by the Suzaku and the XMM-Newton satellites. To investigate the detailed plasma structure of the Cygnus Loop, we divided our fields of view into 1042 box regions. From the spectral analysis, the spectra obtained from the limb of the Loop are well fitted by the single-component non-equilibrium ionization plasma model. On the other hand, the spectra obtained from the inner regions are well fitted by the two-component model. As a result, we confirmed that the low-temperature and the high-temperature components originated from the surrounding interstellar matter (ISM) and the ejecta of the Loop, respectively. From the best-fit results, we showed a flux distribution of the ISM component. The distribution clearly shows the limb-brightening structure, and we found out some low-flux regions. Among them, the south blowout region has the lowest flux. We also found other large low-flux regions at slightly west and the northeast from the center. We estimated the former thin shell region to be 1.3 degrees in diameter and concluded that there exists a blowout along the line of sight in addition to the south blowout. We also calculated the emission measure distribution of the ISM component and showed that the Cygnus Loop is far from the result obtained by a simple Sedov evolution model. From the results, we support that the Cygnus Loop originated from a cavity explosion. The emission measure distribution also suggests that the cavity-wall density is higher in the northeast than that in the southwest. These results suggest that the thickness of the cavity wall surrounding the Cygnus Loop is not uniform.
(Abridged) Complex organic molecules (COMs) are commonly detected in and near star-forming regions. However, the dominant process in the release of these COMs from the icy grains - where they predominately form - to the gas phase is still an open question. We investigate the origin of COM emission in a protostellar source, CygX-N30, through high-angular-resolution interferometric observations over a continuous broad frequency range. We used 32 GHz Submillimeter Array observations with continuous frequency coverage from 329 to 361 GHz at an angular resolution of ~1 to do a line survey and obtain a chemical inventory of the source. The line emission was used to determine column densities and excitation temperatures for the COMs. We mapped out the intensity distribution of the different species and identified approximately 400 lines that can be attributed to 29 different molecular species and their isotopologues. We find that the molecular peak emission is along a linear gradient, coinciding with the axis of red- and blueshifted H2CO and CS emission. Chemical differentiation is detected along this gradient, with the O-bearing molecular species peaking towards one component of the system and the N- and S-bearing species peaking towards the other. The inferred column densities and excitation temperatures are compared to other sources where COMs are abundant. The origin of the observed COM emission is probably a combination of the young stellar sources along with accretion of infalling material onto a disc-like structure surrounding a young protostar. The low D/H ratio observed (<0.1%) likely reflects a pre-stellar phase where COMs formed on the ices at warm temperatures (~ 30 K), with inefficient deuterium fractionation. The observations and results presented here demonstrate the importance of good frequency coverage and high angular resolution when disentangling the origin of COM emission.
We present an analysis of high-resolution spectroscopy of several bright T Tauri stars using the VLT/CRIRES and Keck/NIRSPEC spectrographs, revealing the first detections of emission from HCN and C2H2 in circumstellar disks at near-infrared wavelengths. Using advanced data reduction techniques we achieve a dynamic range with respect to the disk continuum of ~500 at 3 microns, revealing multiple emission features of H2O, OH, HCN, and C2H2. We also present stringent upper limits for two other molecules thought to be abundant in the inner disk, CH4 and NH3. Line profiles for the different detected molecules are broad but centrally peaked in most cases, even for disks with previously determined inclinations of greater than 20 degrees, suggesting that the emission has both a Keplerian and non-Keplerian component as observed previously for CO emission. We apply two different modeling strategies to constrain the molecular abundances and temperatures: we use a simplified single-temperature LTE slab model with a Gaussian line profile to make line identifications and determine a best-fit temperature and initial abundance ratios, and we compare these values with constraints derived from a detailed disk radiative transfer model assuming LTE excitation but utilizing a realistic temperature and density structure. Abundance ratios from both sets of models are consistent with each other and consistent with expected values from theoretical chemical models, and analysis of the line shapes suggests the molecular emission originates from within a narrow region in the inner disk (R < 1 AU).
Stars on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) lose substantial amounts of matter, to the extent that they are important for the chemical evolution of, and dust production in, the universe. The mass loss is believed to increase gradually with age on the AGB, but it may also occur in the form of bursts, possibly related to the thermal pulsing phenomenon. Detached, geometrically thin, CO shells around carbon stars are good signposts of brief and intense mass ejection. We aim to put further constraints on the physical properties of detached CO shells around AGB stars. The photodissociation of CO and other carbon-bearing species in the shells leads to the possibility of detecting lines from neutral carbon. We have therefore searched for the CI($^3P_1-,^3P_0$) line at 492 GHz towards two carbon stars, S Sct and R Scl, with detached CO shells of different ages, about 8000 and 2300 years, respectively. The CI($^3P_1-,^3P_0$) line was detected towards R Scl. The line intensity is dominated by emission from the detached shell. The detection is at a level consistent with the neutral carbon coming from the full photodissociation of all species except CO, and with only limited photoionisation of carbon. The best fit to the observed $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO line intensities, assuming a homogeneous shell, is obtained for a shell mass of about 0.002 $M_odot$, a temperature of about 100 K, and a CO abundance with respect to H$_2$ of 10$^{-3}$. The estimated CI/CO abundance ratio is about 0.3 for the best-fit model. However, a number of arguments point in the direction of a clumpy medium, and a viable interpretation of the data within such a context is provided.
We present joint observations of the Sun by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The observations were made of a solar active region on 2015 December 18 as part of the ALMA science verification effort. A map of the Suns continuum emission of size $2.4 times 2.3$ was obtained by ALMA at a wavelength of 1.25 mm (239 GHz) using mosaicing techniques. A contemporaneous map of size $1.9times 2.9$ was obtained in the Mg II h doublet line at 2803.5AA by IRIS. Both mm/submm$-lambda$ continuum emission and ultraviolet (UV) line emission are believed to originate from the solar chromosphere and both have the potential to serve as powerful and complementary diagnostics of physical conditions in this poorly understood layer of the solar atmosphere. While a clear correlation between mm-$lambda$ brightness temperature $T_B$ and the Mg II h line radiation temperature $T_{rad}$ is observed the slope is $<1$, perhaps as a result of the fact that these diagnostics are sensitive to different parts of the chromosphere and/or the Mg II h line source function includes a scattering component. There is a significant offset between the mean $T_B$(1.25 mm) and mean $T_{rad}$(Mg II), the former being $approx 35%$ greater than the latter. Partitioning the maps into sunspot, quiet regions, and plage regions we find that the slope of the scatter plots between the IRIS Mg II h line $T_{rad}$ and the ALMA brightness temperature $T_B$ is 0.4 (sunspot), 0.56 (quiet regions), and 0.66 (plage regions). We suggest that this change may be caused by the regional dependence of the formation heights of the IRIS and ALMA diagnostics, and/or the increased degree of coupling between the UV source function and the local gas temperature in the hotter, denser gas in plage regions.