No Arabic abstract
We present dust polarization and CO molecular line images of NGC 7538 IRS1. We combined data from the SMA, CARMA and JCMT telescopes to make images with 2.5 arcsec resolution at 230 and 345 GHz. The images show a remarkable spiral pattern in both the dust polarization and molecular outflow. These data dramatically illustrate the interplay between a high infall rate onto IRS1 and a powerful outflow disrupting the dense, clumpy medium surrounding the star. The images of the dust polarization and the CO outflow presented here provide observational evidence for the exchange of energy and angular momentum between the infall and the outflow. The spiral dust pattern, which rotates through over 180 degrees from IRS1, may be a clumpy filament wound up by conservation of angular momentum in the infalling material. The redshifted CO emission ridge traces the dust spiral closely through the MM dust cores, several of which may contain protostars. We propose that the CO maps the boundary layer where the outflow is ablating gas from the dense gas in the spiral.
We investigate the deuteration of methanol towards the high-mass star forming region NGC 7538-IRS1. We have carried out a multi-transition study of CH$_3$OH, $^{13}$CH$_3$OH and of the deuterated fllavors, CH$_2$DOH and CH$_3$OD, between 1.0--1.4 mm with the IRAM-30~m antenna. In total, 34 $^{13}$CH$_3$OH, 13 CH$_2$DOH lines and 20 CH$_3$OD lines spanning a wide range of upper-state energies (E$_{up}$) were detected. From the detected transitions, we estimate that the measured D/H does not exceed 1$%$, with a measured CH$_2$DOH/CH$_3$OH and CH$_3$OD/CH$_3$OH of about (32$pm$8)$times$10$^{-4}$ and (10$pm$4)$times$10$^{-4}$, respectively. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis of a short-time scale formation during the pre-stellar phase. We find a relative abundance ratio CH$_2$DOH/CH$_3$OD of 3.2 $pm$ 1.5. This result is consistent with a statistical deuteration. We cannot exclude H/D exchanges between water and methanol if water deuteration is of the order 0.1$%$, as suggested by recent Herschel observations.
We present Herschel, ALMA Compact Array (ACA), and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) observations of the prestellar core in L1689N, which has been suggested to be interacting with a molecular outflow driven by the nearby solar type protostar IRAS 16293-2422. This source is characterized by some of the highest deuteration levels seen in the interstellar medium. The change in the NH2D line velocity and width across the core provides clear evidence of an interaction with the outflow, traced by the high-velocity water emission. Quiescent, cold gas, characterized by narrow line widths is seen in the NE part of the core, while broader, more disturbed line profiles are seen in the W/SW part. Strong N2D+ and ND3 emission is detected with the ACA, extending S/SW from the peak of the single-dish NH2D emission. The ACA data also reveal the presence a compact dust continuum source, with a mean size of ~1100 au, a central density of (1-2) 10^7 cm-3, and a mass of 0.2-0.4 Msun. The dust emission peak is displaced ~5 to the south with respect to the N2D+ and ND3 emission, as well as the single-dish dust continuum peak, suggesting that the northern, quiescent part of the core is characterized by spatially extended continuum emission, which is resolved out by the interferometer. We see no clear evidence of fragmentation in this quiescent part of the core, which could lead to a second generation of star formation, although a weak dust continuum source is detected in this region in the ACA data.
The characterisation of the stellar population toward young high-mass star-forming regions allows to constrain fundamental cluster properties like distance and age. These are essential when using high-mass clusters as probes to conduct Galactic studies. NGC 7538 is a star-forming region with an embedded stellar population only unearthed in the near-infrared. We present the first near-infrared spectro-photometric study of the candidate high-mass stellar content in NGC 7538. We obtained H and K spectra of 21 sources with both the multi-object and long-slit modes of LIRIS at the WHT, and complement these data with sub-arcsecond JHKs photometry of the region using the imaging mode of the same instrument. We find a wide variety of objects within the studied stellar population of NGC 7538. Our results discriminate between a stellar population associated to the HII region, but not contained within its extent, and several pockets of more recent star formation. We report the detection of CO bandhead emission toward several sources as well as other features indicative of a young stellar nature. We infer a spectro-photometric distance of 2.7+-0.5 kpc, an age spread in the range 0.5-2.2 Myr and a total mass ~1.7x10^3 Msun for the older population.
Massive molecular outflows erupting from high-mass young stellar objects provide important clues to understanding the mechanism of high-mass star formation. Based on new CO J=3-2 and J=1-0 observations using the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) and Mopra telescope facilities, we discovered a massive bipolar outflow associated with the dense dust core AGALG337.916-00.477 (AGAL337.9-S), located 3.48 kpc from the Sun. The outflow lobes have extensions of less than 1 pc -and thus were not fully resolved in the angular resolutions of ASTE and Mopra- and masses of 35-40 M_sun. The maximum velocities of the outflow lobes are as high as 35-40 km/s. Our analysis of the infrared and sub-mm data indicates that AGAL337.9-S is in an early evolutionary stage of the high-mass star formation, having the total far-infrared luminosity of ~5x10^4 L_sun. We also found that another dust core AGALG337.922-00.456 (AGAL337.9-N) located 2 north of AGAL337.9-S is a high-mass young stellar object in an earlier evolutional stage than AGAL337.9-S, although it is less bright in the mid-infrared than AGAL337.9-S.
We present IRAM 30m observations of molecular lines of CO and its isotopologues from the massive spiral galaxy NGC 5908 selected from the CGM-MASS sample. $^{12}$CO $J=1-0$, $^{12}$CO $J=2-1$, and $^{13}$CO $J=1-0$ lines have been detected in most of the positions along the galactic disk. The total molecular gas mass of NGC 5908 is $sim7times10^9rm~M_odot$ and the total cool gas mass adding atomic hydrogen is $sim1.3times10^{10}rm~M_odot$, comparable to the upper limit of the mass of the X-ray emitting hot gas in the halo. Modeling the rotation curves constructed with all three CO lines indicates that NGC 5908 has a dark matter halo mass of $M_{rm vir}sim10^{13}rm~M_{rm odot}$, putting it among the most massive isolated spiral galaxies. The $^{12}$CO/$^{13}$CO $J=1-0$, $^{12}$CO $J=2-1$/$J=1-0$ line ratios and the estimated molecular gas temperature all indicate normal but non-negligible star formation in this fairly gas-rich massive isolated spiral galaxy, consistent with the measured star formation intensity and surface densities. The galaxy is probably at an early evolutionary stage after a fast growth stage with mergers and/or starbursts, with plenty of leftover cool gas, relatively high SFR, low hot CGM cooling rate, and low X-ray emissivity.