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Register a new userWater vapor in nearby infrared galaxies as probed by Herschel
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Chentao Yang
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We report the first systematic study of the submillimeter water vapor rotational emission lines in infrared (IR) galaxies based on the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) data of {it Herschel} SPIRE. Among the 176 galaxies with publicly available FTS data, 45 have at least one H$_2$O emission line detected. The H$_2$O line luminosities range from $sim 1 times 10^5$ $L_{odot}$ to $sim 5 times 10^7 L_{odot}$ while the total IR luminosities ($L_mathrm{IR}$) have a similar spread ($sim 1-300 times 10^{10} L_{odot}$). In addition, emission lines of H$_2$O$^+$ and H$_2^{18}$O are also detected. H$_2$O is found, for most galaxies, to be the strongest molecular emitter after CO in FTS spectra. The luminosity of the five most important H$_2$O lines is near-linearly correlated with $L_mathrm{IR}$, no matter whether strong active galactic nucleus signature is present or not. However, the luminosity of H$_2$O($2_{11}-2_{02}$) and H$_2$O($2_{20}-2_{11}$) appears to increase slightly faster than linear with $L_mathrm{IR}$. Although the slope turns out to be slightly steeper when $zsim 2-4$ ULIRGs are included, the correlation is still closely linear. We find that $L_mathrm{H_2O}/L_mathrm{IR}$ decreases with increasing $f_{25}/f_{60}$, but see no dependence on $f_{60}/f_{100}$, possibly indicating that very warm dust contributes little to the excitation of the submillimeter H$_2$O lines. The average spectral line energy distribution (SLED) of the entire sample is consistent with individual SLEDs and the IR pumping plus collisional excitation model, showing that the strongest lines are H$_2$O($2_{02}-1_{11}$) and H$_2$O($3_{21}-3_{12}$).
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We set out to determine the ratio, q(IR), of rest-frame 8-1000um flux, S(IR), to monochromatic radio flux, S(1.4GHz), for galaxies selected at far-IR and radio wavelengths, to search for signs that the ratio evolves with redshift, luminosity or dust temperature, and to identify any far-IR-bright outliers - useful laboratories for exploring why the far-IR/radio correlation is generally so tight when the prevailing theory suggests variations are almost inevitable. We use flux-limited 250-um and 1.4-GHz samples, obtained in GOODS-N using Herschel (HerMES; PEP) and the VLA. We determine bolometric IR output using ten bands spanning 24-1250um, exploiting data from PACS and SPIRE, as well as Spitzer, SCUBA, AzTEC and MAMBO. We also explore the properties of an L(IR)-matched sample, designed to reveal evolution of q(IR) with z, spanning log L(IR) = 11-12 L(sun) and z=0-2, by stacking into the radio and far-IR images. For 1.4-GHz-selected galaxies, we see tentative evidence of a break in the flux ratio, q(IR), at L(1.4GHz) ~ 10^22.7 W/Hz, where AGN are starting to dominate the radio power density, and of weaker correlations with z and T(d). From our 250-um-selected sample we identify a small number of far-IR-bright outliers, and see trends of q(IR) with L(1.4GHz), L(IR), T(d) and z, noting that some of these are inter-related. For our L(IR)-matched sample, there is no evidence that q(IR) changes significantly as we move back into the epoch of galaxy formation: we find q(IR) goes as (1+z)^gamma, where gamma = -0.04 +/- 0.03 at z=0-2; however, discounting the least reliable data at z<0.5 we find gamma = -0.26 +/- 0.07, modest evolution which may be related to the radio background seen by ARCADE2, perhaps driven by <10uJy radio activity amongst ordinary star-forming galaxies at z>1.
(abridged) Data and results from the WISH key program are summarized, designed to provide a legacy data set to address its physics and chemistry. WISH targeted ~80 sources along the two axes of luminosity and evolutionary stage: from low- to high-mass protostars and from pre-stellar cores to protoplanetary disks. Lines of H2O, HDO, OH, CO and [O I] were observed with the HIFI and PACS instruments, complemented by molecules that probe UV, X-ray or grain chemistry. Most of the far-infrared water emission from protostars is found to be compact, originating from warm outflowing and shocked gas at high density and temperature in at least two physical components. This gas is not probed by low-J CO lines, only by J>14. Water is a significant, but not dominant, coolant. Its abundance is universally low, of order H2O/H2=2E-6, pointing to shock and outflow cavity models that include UV radiation at 100-1000 times the ISRF. In cold quiescent pre-stellar cores and envelopes, the water abundance structure is accurately probed through velocity-resolved line profiles, confirming basic chemistry networks. The gaseous HDO/H2O ratio of 0.025, much higher than that of bulk ice, is representative of the outer photodesorbed ice layers and cold chemistry. Water abundances in the inner hot cores are high, but with variations from 5E-6 to 2E-4. Combined analyses of water gas and ice show that up to 50% of the oxygen budget may be missing, with possible explanations discussed. Water vapor emission from disks is weak, indicating that water ice is locked up in larger pebbles early on and that these pebbles have settled and drifted inward by the Class II stage. Quantitatively, many oceans of water ice are available. Extragalactic low-J H2O emission is mostly compact and collisionally excited. Prospects for future mid- to far-infrared missions are given.
We report the detection of far-infrared (FIR) CO rotational emission from nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) and starburst galaxies, as well as several merging systems and Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs). Using Herschel-PACS, we have detected transitions in the J$_{upp}$ = 14 - 20 range ($lambda sim$ 130 - 185 $mu$m, $ u sim$ 1612 - 2300 GHz) with upper limits on (and in two cases, detections of) CO line fluxes up to J$_{upp}$ = 30. The PACS CO data obtained here provide the first well-sampled FIR extragalactic CO SLEDs for this range, and will be an essential reference for future high redshift studies. We find a large range in the overall SLED shape, even amongst galaxies of similar type, demonstrating the uncertainties in relying solely on high-J CO diagnostics to characterize the excitation source of a galaxy. Combining our data with low-J line intensities taken from the literature, we present a CO ratio-ratio diagram and discuss its potential diagnostic value in distinguishing excitation sources and physical properties of the molecular gas. The position of a galaxy on such a diagram is less a signature of its excitation mechanism, than an indicator of the presence (or absence) of warm, dense molecular gas. We then quantitatively analyze the CO emission from a subset of the detected sources with Large Velocity Gradient (LVG) radiative transfer models to fit the CO SLEDs. Using both single-component and two-component LVG models to fit the kinetic temperature, velocity gradient, number density and column density of the gas, we derive the molecular gas mass and the corresponding CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor, $alpha_{CO}$, for each respective source. For the ULIRGs we find $alpha$ values in the canonical range 0.4 - 5 M$_odot$/(K kms$^{-1}$pc$^2$), while for the other objects, $alpha$ varies between 0.2 and 14.} Finally, we compare our best-fit LVG model ..
Submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at $zgtrsim1$ are luminous in the far-infrared and have star-formation rates, SFR, of hundreds to thousands of solar masses per year. However, it is unclear whether they are true analogs of local ULIRGs or whether the mode of their star formation is more similar to that in local disk galaxies. We target these questions by using Herschel-PACS to examine the conditions in the interstellar medium (ISM) in far-infrared luminous SMGs at z~1-4. We present 70-160 micron photometry and spectroscopy of the [OIV]26 micron, [FeII]26 micron, [SIII]33 micron, [SiII]34 micron, [OIII]52 micron, [NIII]57 micron, and [OI]63 micron fine-structure lines and the S(0) and S(1) hydrogen rotational lines in 13 lensed SMGs identified by their brightness in early Herschel data. Most of the 13 targets are not individually spectroscopically detected and we instead focus on stacking these spectra with observations of an additional 32 SMGs from the herschel archive -- representing a complete compilation of PACS spectroscopy of SMGs. We detect [OI]63 micron, [SiII]34 micron, and [NIII]57 micron at >3sigma in the stacked spectra, determining that the average strengths of these lines relative to the far-IR continuum are $(0.36pm0.12)times10^{-3}$, $(0.84pm0.17)times10^{-3}$, and $(0.27pm0.10)times10^{-3}$, respectively. Using the [OIII]52/[NIII]57 emission line ratio we show that SMGs have average gas-phase metallicities $gtrsim Z_{rm sun}$. By using PDR modelling and combining the new spectral measurements with integrated far-infrared fluxes and existing [CII]158 micron data we show that SMGs have average gas densities, n, of $sim10^{1-3}{rm cm^{-3}}$ and FUV field strengths, $G_0sim10^{2.2-4.5}$ (in Habing units: $1.6times10^{-3}{rm erg~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}}$), consistent with both local ULIRGs and lower luminosity star-forming galaxies.
SWAS and Odin provided stringent upper limits on the gas phase water abundance of dark clouds (x(H2O) < 7x10^-9). We investigate the chemistry of water vapor in starless cores beyond the previous upper limits using the highly improved angular resolution and sensitivity of Herschel and measure the abundance of water vapor during evolutionary stages just preceding star formation. High spectral resolution observations of the fundamental ortho water (o-H2O) transition (557 GHz) were carried out with Herschel HIFI toward two starless cores: B68, a Bok globule, and L1544, a prestellar core embedded in the Taurus molecular cloud complex. The rms in the brightness temperature measured for the B68 and L1544 spectra is 2.0 and 2.2 mK, respectively, in a velocity bin of 0.59 km s^-1. The continuum level is 3.5+/-0.2 mK in B68 and 11.4+/-0.4 mK in L1544. No significant feature is detected in B68 and the 3 sigma upper limit is consistent with a column density of o-H2O N(o-H2O) < 2.5x10^13 cm^-2, or a fractional abundance x(o-H2O) < 1.3x10^-9, more than an order of magnitude lower than the SWAS upper limit on this source. The L1544 spectrum shows an absorption feature at a 5 sigma level from which we obtain the first value of the o-H2O column density ever measured in dark clouds: N(o-H2O) = (8+/-4)x10^12 cm^-2. The corresponding fractional abundance is x(o-H2O) ~ 5x10^-9 at radii > 7000 AU and ~2x10^-10 toward the center. The radiative transfer analysis shows that this is consistent with a x(o-H2O) profile peaking at ~10^-8, 0.1 pc away from the core center, where both freeze-out and photodissociation are negligible. Herschel has provided the first measurement of water vapor in dark regions. Prestellar cores such as L1544 (with their high central densities, strong continuum, and large envelopes) are very promising tools to finally shed light on the solid/vapor balance of water in molecular clouds.
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