No Arabic abstract
We investigate the gas dynamics and the physical properties of photodissociation regions (PDRs) in IC1396A, which is an illuminated bright-rimmed globule with internal structures created by young stellar objects. Our mapping observations of the [CII] emission in IC1396A with GREAT onboard SOFIA revealed the detailed velocity structure of this region. We combined them with observations of the [CI] 3P_1 - 3P_0 and CO(4-3) emissions to study the dynamics of the different tracers and physical properties of the PDRs. The [CII] emission generally matches the IRAC 8 micron, which traces the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emissions. The CO(4-3) emission peaks inside the globule, and the [CI] emission is strong in outer regions, following the 8 micron emission to some degree, but its peak is different from that of [CII]. The [CII] emitting gas shows a clear velocity gradient within the globule, which is not significant in the [CI] and CO(4-3) emission. Some clumps that are prominent in [CII] emission appear to be blown away from the rim of the globule. The observed ratios of [CII]/[CI] and [CII]/CO(4-3) are compared to the KOSMA-tau PDR model, which indicates a density of 10^4-10^5 cm-3.
Recent Herschel and ALMA observations of Photodissociation Regions (PDRs) have revealed the presence of a high thermal pressure (P ~ 10^7-10^8 K cm-3) thin compressed layer at the PDR surface where warm molecular tracer emission (e.g. CH+, SH+, high-J CO, H2,...) originate. These high pressures (unbalanced by the surrounding environment) and a correlation between pressure and incident FUV field (G0) seem to indicate a dynamical origin with the radiation field playing an important role in driving the dynamics. We investigate whether photoevaporation of the illuminated edge of a molecular cloud could explain these high pressures and pressure-UV field correlation. We developed a 1D hydrodynamical PDR code coupling hydrodynamics, EUV and FUV radiative transfer and time-dependent thermo-chemical evolution. We applied it to a 1D plane-parallel photoevaporation scenario where a UV-illuminated molecular cloud can freely evaporate in a surrounding low-pressure medium. We find that photoevaporation can produce high thermal pressures and the observed P-G0 correlation, almost independently from the initial gas density. In addition, we find that constant-pressure PDR models are a better approximation to the structure of photoevaporating PDRs than constant-density PDR models, although moderate pressure gradients are present. Strong density gradients from the molecular to the neutral atomic region are found, which naturally explain the large density contrasts (1-2 orders of magnitude) derived from observations of different tracers. The photoevaporating PDR is preceded by a low velocity shock (a few km/s) propagating into the molecular cloud. Photoevaporating PDR models offer a promising explanation to the recent observational evidence of dynamical effects in PDRs.
More complete knowledge of galaxy evolution requires understanding the process of star formation and interaction between the interstellar radiation field and the interstellar medium in galactic environments traversing a wide range of physical parameter space. Here we focus on the impact of massive star formation on the surrounding low metallicity ISM in 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. A low metal abundance, as is the case of some galaxies of the early universe, results in less ultra-violet shielding for the formation of the molecular gas necessary for star formation to proceed. The half-solar metallicity gas in this region is strongly irradiated by the super star cluster R136, making it an ideal laboratory to study the structure of the ISM in an extreme environment. Our spatially resolved study investigates the gas heating and cooling mechanisms, particularly in the photo-dissociation regions where the chemistry and thermal balance are regulated by far-ultraviolet photons (6 eV< h u <13.6 eV). We present Herschel observations of far-infrared fine-structure lines obtained with PACS and SPIRE/FTS. We have combined atomic fine-structure lines from Herschel and Spitzer observations with ground-based CO data to provide diagnostics on the properties and the structure of the gas by modeling it with the Meudon PDR code. We derive the spatial distribution of the radiation field, the pressure, the size, and the filling factor of the photodissociated gas and molecular clouds. We find a range of pressure of ~ 10^5 - 1.7x10^6 cm^{-3} K and a range of incident radiation field G_UV ~ 10^2 - 2.5x10^4 through PDR modeling. Assuming a plane-parallel geometry and a uniform medium, we find a total extinction of 1-3 mag , which correspond to a PDR cloud size of 0.2 to 3pc, with small CO depth scale of 0.06 to 0.5pc. We also determine the three dimensional structure of the gas. (Abridged)
We investigate the physical conditions of the gas, atomic and molecular, in the filaments in the context of Photo-Dissociation Regions (PDRs) using the KOSMA-PDR mode of clumpy clouds. We also compare the [CII] vs. [NII] integrated intensity predictions in Abel et al. 2005 for HII regions and adjacent PDRs in the Galactic disk, and check for their applicability under the extreme physical conditions present in the GC. Our preliminary results show that observed integrated intensities are well reproduced by the PDR model. The gas is exposed to a relatively low Far-UV field between 10^2 - 10^3 Draine fields. The total volume hydrogen density is well constrained between 10^4 - 10^5 cm^-3. The hydrogen ionization rate due to cosmic-rays varies between 10^-15 and 4x10^-15 s^-1, with the highest value ~ 10^-14 s^-1 found towards G0.07+0.04. Our results show that the line-of-sight contribution to the total distance of the filaments to the Arches Cluster is not negligible. The spatial distribution of the [CII]/[NII] ratio shows that the integrated intensity ratios are fairly homogeneously distributed for values below 10 in energy units. Calculations including variation on the [C/N] abundance ratio show that tight constraints on this ratio are needed to reproduce the observations.
Photon-dominated regions (PDRs) are powerful molecular line emitters in external galaxies. They are expected in galaxies with high rates of massive star formation due to either starburst (SB) events or starburst coupled with active galactic nuclei (AGN) events. We have explored the PDR chemistry for a range of physical conditions representing a variety of galaxy types. Our main result is a demonstration of the sensitivity of the chemistry to changes in the physical conditions. We adopt crude estimates of relevant physical parameters for several galaxy types and use our models to predict suitable molecular tracers of those conditions. The set of recommended molecular tracers differs from that which we recommended for use in galaxies with embedded massive stars. Thus, molecular observations can in principle be used to distinguish between excitation by starburst and by SB+AGN in distant galaxies. Our recommendations are intended to be useful in preparing Herschel and ALMA proposals to identify sources of excitation in galaxies.
As part of a far-infrared (FIR) spectral scan with Herschel/PACS, we present the first detection of the hydroxyl radical (OH) towards the Orion Bar photodissociation region (PDR). Five OH rotational Lambda-doublets involving energy levels out to E_u/k~511 K have been detected (at ~65, ~79, ~84, ~119 and ~163um). The total intensity of the OH lines is I(OH)~5x10^-4 erg s^-1 cm^-2 sr^-1. The observed emission of rotationally excited OH lines is extended and correlates well with the high-J CO and CH^+ J=3-2 line emission (but apparently not with water vapour), pointing towards a common origin. Nonlocal, non-LTE radiative transfer models including excitation by the ambient FIR radiation field suggest that OH arises in a small filling factor component of warm (Tk~160-220 K) and dense (n_H~10^{6-7} cm^-3) gas with source-averaged OH column densities of ~10^15 cm^-2. High density and temperature photochemical models predict such enhanced OH columns at low depths (A_V<1) and small spatial scales (~10^15 cm), where OH formation is driven by gas-phase endothermic reactions of atomic oxygen with molecular hydrogen. We interpret the extended OH emission as coming from unresolved structures exposed to far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation near the Bar edge (photoevaporating clumps or filaments) and not from the lower density interclump medium. Photodissociation leads to OH/H2O abundance ratios (>1) much higher than those expected in equally warm regions without enhanced FUV radiation fields.