No Arabic abstract
Neither HI nor CO emission can reveal a significant quantity of so-called dark gas in the interstellar medium (ISM). It is considered that CO-dark molecular gas (DMG), the molecular gas with no or weak CO emission, dominates dark gas. We identified 36 DMG clouds with C$^+$ emission (data from Galactic Observations of Terahertz C+ (GOT C+) project) and HINSA features. Based on uncertainty analysis, optical depth of HI $taurm_{HI}$ of 1 is a reasonable value for most clouds. With the assumption of $taurm_{HI}=1$, these clouds were characterized by excitation temperatures in a range of 20 K to 92 K with a median value of 55 K and volume densities in the range of $6.2times10^1$ cm$^{-3}$ to $1.2times 10^3$ cm$^{-3}$ with a median value of $2.3times 10^2$ cm$^{-3}$. The fraction of DMG column density in the cloud ($frm_{DMG}$) decreases with increasing excitation temperature following an empirical relation $frm_{DMG}=-2.1times 10^{-3}T_(ex,tau_{HI}=1)$+1.0. The relation between $frm_{DMG}$ and total hydrogen column density $N_H$ is given by $frm_{DMG}$=$1.0-3.7times 10^{20}/N_H$. The values of $frm_{DMG}$ in the clouds of low extinction group ($Arm_V le 2.7$ mag) are consistent with the results of the time-dependent, chemical evolutionary model at the age of ~ 10 Myr. Our empirical relation cannot be explained by the chemical evolutionary model for clouds in the high extinction group ($Arm_V > 2.7$ mag). Compared to clouds in the low extinction group ($Arm_V le 2.7$ mag), clouds in the high extinction group ($Arm_V > 2.7$ mag) have comparable volume densities but excitation temperatures that are 1.5 times lower. Moreover, CO abundances in clouds of the high extinction group ($Arm_V > 2.7$ mag) are $6.6times 10^2$ times smaller than the canonical value in the Milky Way. #[Full version of abstract is shown in the text.]#
Modeling of the spectral line energy distribution (SLED) of the CO molecule can reveal the physical conditions (temperature, density) of molecular gas in Galactic clouds and other galaxies. Recently, the Herschel Space Observatory and ALMA have offered, for the first time, a comprehensive view of the rotational J = 4-3 through J = 13-12 lines, which arise from a complex, diverse range of physical conditions that must be simplified to one, two, or three components when modeled. Here we investigate the recoverability of physical conditions from SLEDs produced by galaxy evolution simulations containing a large dynamical range in physical properties. These simulated SLEDs were generally fit well by one component of gas whose properties largely resemble or slightly underestimate the luminosity-weighted properties of the simulations when clumping due to non-thermal velocity dispersion is taken into account. If only modeling the first three rotational lines, the median values of the marginalized parameter distributions better represent the luminosity-weighted properties of the simulations, but the uncertainties in the fitted parameters are nearly an order of magnitude, compared to approximately 0.2 dex in the best-case scenario of a fully sampled SLED through J = 10-9. This study demonstrates that while common CO SLED modeling techniques cannot reveal the underlying complexities of the molecular gas, they can distinguish bulk luminosity-weighted properties that vary with star formation surface densities and galaxy evolution, if a sufficient number of lines are detected and modeled.
Context: Atomic and molecular cloud formation is a dynamical process. However, kinematic signatures of these processes are still observationally poorly constrained. Methods: Targeting the cloud-scale environment of the prototypical infrared dark cloud G28.3, we employ spectral line imaging observations of the two atomic lines HI and [CI] as well as molecular lines observations in 13CO in the 1--0 and 3--2 transitions. The analysis comprises investigations of the kinematic properties of the different tracers, estimates of the mass flow rates, velocity structure functions, a Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) study as well as comparisons to simulations. Results: The central IRDC is embedded in a more diffuse envelope of cold neutral medium (CNM) traced by HI self-absorption (HISA) and molecular gas. The spectral line data as well as the HOG and structure function analysis indicate a possible kinematic decoupling of the HI from the other gas compounds. Spectral analysis and position-velocity diagrams reveal two velocity components that converge at the position of the IRDC. Estimated mass flow rates appear rather constant from the cloud edge toward the center. The velocity structure function analysis is consistent with gas flows being dominated by the formation of hierarchical structures. Conclusions: The observations and analysis are consistent with a picture where the IRDC G28 is formed at the center of two converging gas flows. While the approximately constant mass flow rates are consistent with a self-similar, gravitationally driven collapse of the cloud, external compression by, e.g., spiral arm shocks or supernovae explosions cannot be excluded yet. Future investigations should aim at differentiating the origin of such converging gas flows.
We report the results from a new, highly sensitive ($Delta T_{mb} sim 3 $mK) survey for thermal OH emission at 1665 and 1667 MHz over a dense, 9 x 9-pixel grid covering a $1deg$ x $1deg$ patch of sky in the direction of $l = 105deg, b = +2.50deg$ towards the Perseus spiral arm of our Galaxy. We compare our Green Bank Telescope (GBT) 1667 MHz OH results with archival CO J=1-0 observations from the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory (FCRAO) Outer Galaxy Survey within the velocity range of the Perseus Arm at these galactic coordinates. Out of the 81 statistically-independent pointings in our survey area, 86% show detectable OH emission at 1667 MHz, and 19% of them show detectable CO emission. We explore the possible physical conditions of the observed features using a set of diffuse molecular cloud models. In the context of these models, both OH and CO disappear at current sensitivity limits below an A$_{rm v}$ of 0.2, but the CO emission does not appear until the volume density exceeds 100-200 cm$^{-3}$. These results demonstrate that a combination of low column density A$_{rm v}$ and low volume density $n_{H}$ can explain the lack of CO emission along sight lines exhibiting OH emission. The 18-cm OH main lines, with their low critical density of $n^{*}$ $ sim 1 $ cm$^{-3}$, are collisionally excited over a large fraction of the quiescent galactic environment and, for observations of sufficient sensitivity, provide an optically-thin radio tracer for diffuse H$_2$.
We have obtained 12CO(1--0) data of the nearby barred spiral galaxy M83 from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and Nobeyama 45m observations. By combining these two data sets, the total CO flux has been recovered, and a high angular resolution (2 corresponding to ~40 pc at the distance of M83) has been achieved. The field of view is 3 corresponding to ~3.4 kpc and covers the galactic center, bar, and spiral arm regions. In order to investigate how these galactic structures affect gas properties, we have created a probability distribution function (PDF) of the CO integrated intensity (I_CO), peak temperature, and velocity dispersion for a region with each structure. We find that the I_CO PDF for the bar shows a bright-end tail while that for the arm does not. Since the star formation efficiency is lower in the bar, this difference in PDF shape is contrary to the trend in Milky Way studies where the bright-end tail is found for star-forming molecular clouds. While the peak temperature PDFs are similar for bar and arm regions, velocity dispersion in bar is systematically larger than in arm. This large velocity dispersion is likely a major cause of the bright-end tail and of suppressed star formation. We also investigate an effect of stellar feedback to PDF profiles and find that the different I_CO PDFs between bar and arm regions cannot be explained by the feedback effect, at least at the current spatial scale.
Bursts of localized star formation in galaxies can levitate material from their midplanes. Spiral galaxies that are edge-on allow clear distinction of material that is levitated off the galaxies midplanes. We used SOFIA to measure the vertical distribution of [C II] 157.7 micron line emission for two nearby, edge-on galaxies, NGC 891 and NGC 5907. We find that for the central region and actively-star-forming regions in the northern portion of NGC 891, and for NGC 5907, a thin (0.3 kpc) disk is supplemented by a thick disk with an exponential scale height of about 2 kpc. The [C II] is far more extended than mid-infrared emission (0.1 kpc, tracing present-day massive star formation) but not as extended as the H I (100 kpc, tracing low-metallicity circum/inter-galactic matter). The extraplanar [C II] may arise in walls of chimneys that connect the disk to the halo.