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Register a new userThe 21-SPONGE HI Absorption Survey I: Techniques and Initial Results
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We present methods and results from 21-cm Spectral Line Observations of Neutral Gas with the EVLA (21-SPONGE), a large survey for Galactic neutral hydrogen (HI) absorption with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). With the upgraded capabilities of the VLA, we reach median root-mean-square (RMS) noise in optical depth of $sigma_{tau}=9times 10^{-4}$ per $0.42rm,km,s^{-1}$ channel for the 31 sources presented here. Upon completion, 21-SPONGE will be the largest HI absorption survey with this high sensitivity. We discuss the observations and data reduction strategies, as well as line fitting techniques. We prove that the VLA bandpass is stable enough to detect broad, shallow lines associated with warm HI, and show that bandpass observations can be combined in time to reduce spectral noise. In combination with matching HI emission profiles from the Arecibo Observatory ($sim3.5$ angular resolution), we estimate excitation (or spin) temperatures ($rm T_s$) and column densities for Gaussian components fitted to sightlines along which we detect HI absorption (30/31). We measure temperatures up to $rm T_ssim1500rm,K$ for individual lines, showing that we can probe the thermally unstable interstellar medium (ISM) directly. However, we detect fewer of these thermally unstable components than expected from previous observational studies. We probe a wide range in column density between $sim10^{16}$ and $>10^{21}rm,cm^{-2}$ for individual HI clouds. In addition, we reproduce the trend between cold gas fraction and average $rm T_s$ found by synthetic observations of a hydrodynamic ISM simulation by Kim et al. (2014). Finally, we investigate methods for estimating HI $rm T_s$ and discuss their biases.
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We present 21-cm Spectral Line Observations of Neutral Gas with the VLA (21-SPONGE), a Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) large project (~600 hours) for measuring the physical properties of Galactic neutral hydrogen (HI). 21-SPONGE is distinguished among previous Galactic HI studies as a result of: (1) exceptional optical depth sensitivity ($sigma_{tau} < 10^{-3}$ per $0.42rm,km,s^{-1}$ channels over 57 lines of sight); (2) matching 21 cm emission spectra with highest-possible angular resolution (~4) from the Arecibo Observatory; (3) detailed comparisons with numerical simulations for assessing observational biases. We autonomously decompose 21 cm spectra and derive the physical properties (i.e., spin temperature, $T_s$, column density) of the cold neutral medium (CNM; $T_s<250rm,K$), thermally unstable medium (UNM; $250< T_s < 1000rm,K$) and warm neutral medium (WNM; $T_s > 1000rm,K$) simultaneously. We detect 50% of the total HI mass in absorption, the majority of which is CNM (56 +/- 10%, corresponding to 28% of the total HI mass). Although CNM is detected ubiquitously, the CNM fraction along most lines of sight is <50%. We find that 20% of the total HI mass is thermally unstable (41 +/- 10% of HI detected in absorption), with no significant variation with Galactic environment. Finally, although the WNM comprises 52% of the total HI mass, we detect little evidence for WNM absorption with $1000<T_s<4000rm,K$. Following spectral modeling, we detect a stacked residual absorption feature corresponding to WNM with $T_ssim10^4rm,K$. We conclude that excitation in excess of collisions likely produces significantly higher WNM $T_s$ than predicted by steady-state models.
We present a neutral hydrogen-selected absorption-line survey of gas with HI column densities 15<log N(HI)<19 at z<1 using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. Our main aim is to determine the metallicity distribution of these absorbers. Our sample consists of 224 absorbers selected on the basis of their HI absorption strength. Here we discuss the properties of our survey and the immediate empirical results. We find singly and doubly ionized metal species and HI typically have similar velocity profiles, implying they probe gas in the same or similar environments. The column density ionic ratios (e.g., CII/CIII, OI/CII) indicate the gas in these absorbers is largely ionized, and the ionization conditions are quite comparable across the sampled N(HI) range. The Doppler parameters of the HI imply T<50,000 K on average, consistent with the gas being photoionized. The MgII column densities span >2 orders of magnitude at any given N(HI), indicating a wide range of metallicities (from solar to <1/100 solar). In the range 16.2<log N(HI)<17, there is a gap in the N(MgII) distribution corresponding to gas with ~10% solar metallicity, consistent with the gap seen in the previously identified bimodal metallicity distribution in this column density regime. Less than 3% of the absorbers in our sample show no detectable metal absorption, implying truly-pristine gas at z<1 is uncommon. We find [FeII/MgII] = -0.4+/-0.3, and since alpha-enhancement can affect this ratio, dust depletion is extremely mild.
Context. Bulge globular clusters (BGCs) are exceptional tracers of the formation and chemodynamical evolution of this oldest Galactic component. However, until now, observational difficulties have prevented us from taking full advantage of these powerful Galactic archeological tools. Aims. CAPOS, the bulge Cluster APOgee Survey, addresses this key topic by observing a large number of BGCs, most of which have only been poorly studied previously. Even their most basic parameters, such as metallicity, [{alpha}/Fe], and radial velocity, are generally very uncertain. We aim to obtain accurate mean values for these parameters, as well as abundances for a number of other elements, and explore multiple populations. In this first paper, we describe the CAPOS project and present initial results for seven BGCs. Methods. CAPOS uses the APOGEE-2S spectrograph observing in the H band to penetrate obscuring dust toward the bulge. For this initial paper, we use abundances derived from ASPCAP, the APOGEE pipeline. Results. We derive mean [Fe/H] values of $-$0.85$pm$0.04 (Terzan 2), $-$1.40$pm$0.05 (Terzan 4), $-$1.20$pm$0.10 (HP 1), $-$1.40$pm$0.07 (Terzan 9), $-$1.07$pm$0.09 (Djorg 2), $-$1.06$pm$0.06 (NGC 6540), and $-$1.11$pm$0.04 (NGC 6642) from three to ten stars per cluster. We determine mean abundances for eleven other elements plus the mean [$alpha$/Fe] and radial velocity. CAPOS clusters significantly increase the sample of well-studied Main Bulge globular clusters (GCs) and also extend them to lower metallicity. We reinforce the finding that Main Bulge and Main Disk GCs, formed in situ, have [Si/Fe] abundances slightly higher than their accreted counterparts at the same metallicity. We investigate multiple populations and find our clusters generally follow the light-element (anti)correlation trends of previous studies of GCs of similar metallicity. We finally explore the abundances ...
We present the initial results of a 40 night contiguous ground-based campaign of time series photometric observations of a 1.39 sq. deg field located within the NASA Kepler mission field of view. The goal of this pre-launch survey was to search for transiting extrasolar planets and to provide independent variability information of stellar sources. We have gathered a data set containing light curves of 54,687 stars from which we have created a statistical sub-sample of 13,786 stars between 14< r <18.5 and have statistically examined each light curve to test for variability. We present a summary of our preliminary photometric findings including the overall level and content of stellar variability in this portion of the Kepler field and give some examples of unusual variable stars found within. We present a preliminary catalog of 2,457 candidate variable stars, of which 776 show signs of periodicity. We also present three potential exoplanet candidates, all of which should be observable in detail by the Kepler mission.
We have developed a method to make a spectral-line-based survey of hot cores, which represent an important stage of high-mass star formation, and applied the method to the data of the FUGIN (FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope) survey. First, we select hot core candidates by searching the FUGIN data for the weak hot core tracer lines (HNCO and CH$_3$CN) by stacking, and then we conduct follow-up pointed observations on these candidates in C$^{34}$S, SO, OCS, HC$_3$N, HNCO, CH$_3$CN, and CH$_3$OH $J=2-1$ and $J=8-7$ lines to confirm and characterize them. We applied this method to the $l = 10^circ-20^circ$ portion of the FUGIN data and identified 22 Hot Cores (compact sources with more than two significant detection of the hot core tracer lines, i.e., SO, OCS, HC$_3$N, HNCO, CH$_3$CN, or CH$_3$OH $J=8-7$ lines) and 14 Dense Clumps (sources with more than two significant detection of C$^{34}$S, CH$_3$OH $J=2-1$, or the hot core tracer lines). The identified Hot Cores are found associated with signposts of high-mass star formation such as ATLASGAL clumps, WISE HII regions, and Class II methanol masers. For those associated with ATLASGAL clumps, their bolometric luminosity to clump mass ratios are consistent with the star formation stages centered at the hot core phase. The catalog of FUGIN Hot Cores provides a useful starting point for further statistical studies and detailed observations of high-mass star forming regions.
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