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Register a new userAnomalous microwave emission from spinning nanodiamonds around stars
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Several interstellar environments produce anomalous microwave emission, with brightness-peaks at tens-of-gigahertz frequencies. The emissions origins are uncertain - rapidly-spinning nano-particles could emit electric-dipole radiation, but polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons proposed as the carrier are now found not to correlate with Galactic signals. The difficulty is to identify co-spatial sources over long lines of sight. Here we identify anomalous microwave emission in three proto-planetary discs. These are the only known systems that host hydrogenated nano-diamonds, in contrast to very common detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Spectroscopy locates the nano-diamonds close to the host-stars, at physically-constrained temperatures. Developing disc models, we reproduce the emission with diamonds 0.75-1.1 nanometres in radius, holding less than or equal to 1-2 per cent of the carbon budget. The microwave-emission:stellar-luminosity ratios are approximately constant, allowing nano-diamonds to be ubiquitous but emitting below detection thresholds in many star-systems. This can unify the findings with similar-sized diamonds found within solar system meteorites. As nano-diamond spectral absorption is seen in interstellar sightlines, these particles are also a candidate for generating galaxy-scale anomalous microwave emission.
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We calculate the emission of protoplanetary disks threaded by a poloidal magnetic field and irradiated by the central star. The radial structure of these disks was studied by Shu and collaborators and the vertical structure was studied by Lizano and collaborators. We consider disks around low mass protostars, T Tauri stars, and FU Ori stars with different mass-to-flux ratios $lambda_{rm sys}$. We calculate the spectral energy distribution and the antenna temperature profiles at 1 mm and 7 mm convolved with the ALMA and VLA beams. We find that disks with weaker magnetization (high values of $lambda_{rm sys}$) emit more than disks with stronger magnetization (low values of $lambda_{rm sys}$). This happens because the former are denser, hotter and have larger aspect ratios, receiving more irradiation from the central star. The level of magnetization also affects the optical depth at millimeter wavelengths, being larger for disks with high $lambda_{rm sys}$. In general, disks around low mass protostars and T Tauri stars are optically thin at 7 mm while disks around FU Ori are optically thick. A qualitative comparison of the emission of these magnetized disks, including heating by an external envelope, with the observed millimeter antenna temperature profiles of HL Tau indicates that large cm grains are required to increase the optical depth and reproduce the observed 7 mm emission at large radii.
Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars are evolved massive objects, previous to core-collapse supernova. LBVs are characterized by photometric and spectroscopic variability, produced by strong and dense winds, mass-loss events and very intense UV radiation. LBVs strongly disturb their surroundings by heating and shocking, and produce important amounts of dust. The study of the circumstellar material is therefore crucial to understand how these massive stars evolve, and also to characterize their effects onto the interstellar medium. The versatility of NIKA2 is a key in providing simultaneous observations of both the stellar continuum and the extended, circumstellar contribution. The NIKA2 frequencies (150 and 260 GHz) are in the range where thermal dust and free-free emission compete, and hence NIKA2 has the capacity to provide key information about the spatial distribution of circumstellar ionized gas, warm dust and nearby dark clouds; non-thermal emission is also possible even at these high frequencies. We show the results of the first NIKA2 survey towards five LBVs. We detected emission from four stars, three of them immersed in tenuous circumstellar material. The spectral indices show a complex distribution and allowed us to separate and characterize different components. We also found nearby dark clouds, with spectral indices typical of thermal emission from dust. Spectral indices of the detected stars are negative and hard to be explained only by free-free processes. In one of the sources, G79.29+0.46, we also found a strong correlation of the 1mm and 2mm continuum emission with respect to nested molecular shells at 0.1 pc from the LBV. The spectral index in this region clearly separates four components: the LBV star, a bubble characterized by free-free emission, and a shell interacting with a nearby infrared dark cloud.
Anomalous microwave emission (AME) has been observed by numerous experiments in the frequency range ~10-60 GHz. Using Planck maps and multi-frequency ancillary data, we have constructed spectra for two known AME regions: the Perseus and Rho Ophiuchi molecular clouds. The spectra are well fitted by a combination of free-free radiation, cosmic microwave background, thermal dust, and electric dipole radiation from small spinning dust grains. The spinning dust spectra are the most precisely measured to date, and show the high frequency side clearly for the first time. The spectra have a peak in the range 20-40 GHz and are detected at high significances of 17.1 sigma for Perseus and 8.4 sigma for Rho Ophiuchi. In Perseus, spinning dust in the dense molecular gas can account for most of the AME; the low density atomic gas appears to play a minor role. In Rho Ophiuchi, the ~30 GHz peak is dominated by dense molecular gas, but there is an indication of an extended tail at frequencies 50-100 GHz, which can be accounted for by irradiated low density atomic gas. The dust parameters are consistent with those derived from other measurements. We have also searched the Planck map at 28.5 GHz for candidate AME regions, by subtracting a simple model of the synchrotron, free-free, and thermal dust. We present spectra for two of the candidates; S140 and S235 are bright HII regions that show evidence for AME, and are well fitted by spinning dust models.
In light of recent observational results indicating an apparent lack of correlation between the Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) and mid-infrared emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), we assess whether rotational emission from spinning silicate and/or iron nanoparticles could account for the observed AME without violating observational constraints on interstellar abundances, ultraviolet extinction, and infrared emission. By modifying the SpDust code to compute the rotational emission from these grains, we find that nanosilicate grains could account for the entirety of the observed AME, whereas iron grains could be responsible for only a fraction, even for extreme assumptions on the amount of interstellar iron concentrated in ultrasmall iron nanoparticles. Given the added complexity of contributions from multiple grain populations to the total spinning dust emission, as well as existing uncertainties due to the poorly-constrained grain size, charge, and dipole moment distributions, we discuss generic, carrier-independent predictions of spinning dust theory and observational tests that could help identify the AME carrier(s).
We have observed the HII region RCW175 with the 64m Parkes telescope at 8.4GHz and 13.5GHz in total intensity, and at 21.5GHz in both total intensity and polarization. High angular resolution, high sensitivity, and polarization capability enable us to perform a detailed study of the different constituents of the HII region. For the first time, we resolve three distinct regions at microwave frequencies, two of which are part of the same annular diffuse structure. Our observations enable us to confirm the presence of anomalous microwave emission (AME) from RCW175. Fitting the integrated flux density across the entire region with the currently available spinning dust models, using physically motivated assumptions, indicates the presence of at least two spinning dust components: a warm component with a relatively large hydrogen number density n_H=26.3/cm^3 and a cold component with a hydrogen number density of n_H=150/cm^3. The present study is an example highlighting the potential of using high angular-resolution microwave data to break model parameter degeneracies. Thanks to our spectral coverage and angular resolution, we have been able to derive one of the first AME maps, at 13.5GHz, showing clear evidence that the bulk of the AME arises in particular from one of the source components, with some additional contribution from the diffuse structure. A cross-correlation analysis with thermal dust emission has shown a high degree of correlation with one of the regions within RCW175. In the center of RCW175, we find an average polarized emission at 21.5GHz of 2.2pm0.2(rand.)pm0.3(sys.)% of the total emission, where we have included both systematic and statistical uncertainties at 68% CL. This polarized emission could be due to sub-dominant synchrotron emission from the region and is thus consistent with very faint or non-polarized emission associated with AME.
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