No Arabic abstract
N131 is a typical infrared dust bubble showing an expanding ringlike shell. We study what kinds of CO line ratios can be used to trace the interaction in the expanding bubble. We carry out new $rm CO,(3-2)$ observations towards bubble N131 using the JCMT 15-m telescope, and derive line ratios by combining with our previous $rm CO,(2-1)$ and $rm CO,(1-0)$ data from the IRAM 30-m telescope observations. To trace the interaction between the molecular gas and the ionized gas in the HII region, we use RADEX to model the dependence of CO line ratios on kinetic temperature and H$_2$ volume density, and examine the abnormal line ratios based on other simulations. We present $rm CO,(3-2)$, $rm CO,(2-1)$, and $rm CO,(1-0)$ integrated intensity maps convolved to the same angular resolution (22.5$$). The three different CO transition maps show apparently similar morphology. The line ratios of $W_{rm CO,(3-2)}$/$W_{rm CO,(2-1)}$ mostly range from 0.2 to 1.2 with a median of $0.54pm0.12$, while the line ratios of $W_{rm CO,(2-1)}$/$W_{rm CO,(1-0)}$ range from 0.5 to 1.6 with a median of $0.84pm0.15$. The high CO line ratios $W_{rm CO,(3-2)}$/$W_{rm CO,(2-1)}gtrsim 0.8 $ and $W_{rm CO,(2-1)}$/$W_{rm CO,(1-0)}gtrsim 1.2$ are beyond the threshold predicted by numerical simulations based on the assumed density-temperature structure for the inner rims of ringlike shell, where are the compressed areas in bubble N131. These high CO integrated intensity ratios, such as $W_{rm CO,(3-2)}$/$W_{rm CO,(2-1)}gtrsim0.8$ and $W_{rm CO,(2-1)}$/$W_{rm CO,(1-0)}gtrsim1.2$, can be used as a tracer of gas compressed regions with a relatively high temperature and density. This further suggests that the non-Gaussian part of the line-ratio distribution can be used to trace the interaction between the molecular gas and the hot gas in the bubble.
It is well established that the chemical structure of the Milky Way exhibits a bimodality with respect to the $alpha$-enhancement of stars at a given [Fe/H]. This has been studied largely based on a bulk $alpha$ abundance, computed as a summary of several individual $alpha$-elements. Inspired by the expected subtle differences in their nucleosynthetic origins, here we probe the higher level of granularity encoded in the inter-family [Mg/Si] abundance ratio. Using a large sample of stars with APOGEE abundance measurements, we first demonstrate that there is additional information in this ratio beyond what is already apparent in [$alpha$/Fe] and [Fe/H] alone. We then consider Gaia astrometry and stellar age estimates to empirically characterize the relationships between [Mg/Si] and various stellar properties. We find small but significant trends between this ratio and $alpha$-enhancement, age, [Fe/H], location in the Galaxy, and orbital actions. To connect these observed [Mg/Si] variations to a physical origin, we attempt to predict the Mg and Si abundances of stars with the galactic chemical evolution model Chempy. We find that we are unable to reproduce abundances for the stars that we fit, which highlights tensions between the yield tables, the chemical evolution model, and the data. We conclude that a more data-driven approach to nucleosynthetic yield tables and chemical evolution modeling is necessary to maximize insights from large spectroscopic surveys.
Line emission is strongly dependent on the local environmental conditions in which the emitting tracers reside. In this work, we focus on modelling the CO emission from simulated giant molecular clouds (GMCs), and study the variations in the resulting line ratios arising from the emission from the $J=1-0$, $J=2-1$ and $J=3-2$ transitions. We perform a set of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations with time-dependent chemistry, in which environmental conditions -- including total cloud mass, density, size, velocity dispersion, metallicity, interstellar radiation field (ISRF) and the cosmic ray ionisation rate (CRIR) -- were systematically varied. The simulations were then post-processed using radiative transfer to produce synthetic emission maps in the 3 transitions quoted above. We find that the cloud-averaged values of the line ratios can vary by up to $pm 0.3$ dex, triggered by changes in the environmental conditions. Changes in the ISRF and/or in the CRIR have the largest impact on line ratios since they directly affect the abundance, temperature and distribution of CO-rich gas within the clouds. We show that the standard methods used to convert CO emission to H$_2$ column density can underestimate the total H$_2$ molecular gas in GMCs by factors of 2 or 3, depending on the environmental conditions in the clouds.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) observations towards 27 low-redshift ($0.02< z<0.2$) star-forming galaxies taken from the Valparaiso ALMA/APEX Line Emission Survey (VALES). We perform stacking analyses of the $^{12}$CO($1-0$), $^{13}$CO($1-0$) and C$^{18}$O($1-0$) emission lines to explore the $L$ ($^{12}$CO($1-0$))/$L$($^{13}$CO($1-0$))) (hereafter $L$($^{12}$CO)/$L$($^{13}$CO)) and $L$($^{13}$CO($1-0$))/$L$(C$^{18}$O($1-0$)) (hereafter $L$($^{13}$CO)/$L$(C$^{18}$O) line luminosity ratio dependence as a function of different global galaxy parameters related to the star formation activity. The sample has far-IR luminosities $10^{10.1-11.9}$L$_{odot}$ and stellar masses of $10^{9.8-10.9}$M$_{odot}$ corresponding to typical star-forming and starburst galaxies at these redshifts. On average we find a $L$($^{12}$CO)/$L$($^{13}$CO) line luminosity ratio value of 16.1$pm$2.5. Galaxies with evidences of possible merging activity tend to show higher $L$($^{12}$CO)/$L$($^{13}$CO) ratios by a factor of two, while variations of this order are also found in galaxy samples with higher star formation rates or star formation efficiencies. We also find an average $L$($^{13}$CO)/$L$(C$^{18}$O) line luminosity ratio of 2.5$pm$0.6, which is in good agreement with those previously reported for starburst galaxies. We find that galaxy samples with high $L_{text{IR}}$, SFR and SFE show low $L$($^{13}$CO)/$L$(C$^{18}$O) line luminosity ratios with high $L$($^{12}$CO)/$L$($^{13}$CO) line luminosity ratios, suggesting that these trends are produced by selective enrichment of massive stars in young starbursts.
Recent state-of-the-art calculations of A-values and electron impact excitation rates for Fe III are used in conjunction with the Cloudy modeling code to derive emission line intensity ratios for optical transitions among the fine-structure levels of the 3d$^6$ configuration. A comparison of these with high resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra of gaseous nebulae reveals that previous discrepancies found between theory and observation are not fully resolved by the latest atomic data. Blending is ruled out as a likely cause of the discrepancies, because temperature- and density-independent ratios (arising from lines with common upper levels) match well with those predicted by theory. For a typical nebular plasma with electron temperature $T_{rm e} = 9000$ K and electron density $rm N_{e}=10^4 , cm^{-3}$, cascading of electrons from the levels $rm ^3G_5$, $rm ^3G_4$ and $rm ^3G_3$ plays an important role in determining the populations of lower levels, such as $rm ^3F_4$, which provide the density diagnostic emission lines of Fe III, such as $rm ^5D_4$ - $rm ^3F_4$ at 4658 AA. Hence further work on the A-values for these transitions is recommended, ideally including measurements if possible. However, some Fe III ratios do provide reliable $N_{rm e}$-diagnostics, such as 4986/4658. The Fe III cooling function calculated with Cloudy using the most recent atomic data is found to be significantly greater at $T_e$ $simeq$ 30000 K than predicted with the existing Cloudy model. This is due to the presence of additional emission lines with the new data, particularly in the 1000--4000 AA wavelength region.
The Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team 90 GHz (MALT90) survey has detected high-mass star-forming clumps with anomalous N$_2$H$^+$/HCO$^+$(1-0) integrated intensity ratios that are either unusually high (N$_2$H$^+$ rich) or unusually low (N$_2$H$^+$ poor). With 3 mm observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), we imaged two N$_2$H$^+$ rich clumps, G333.234-00.061 and G345.144-00.216, and two N$_2$H$^+$ poor clumps, G351.409+00.567 and G353.229+00.672. In these clumps, the N$_2$H$^+$ rich anomalies arise from extreme self-absorption of the HCO$^+$ line. G333.234-00.061 contains two of the most massive protostellar cores known with diameters of less than 0.1 pc, separated by a projected distance of only 0.12 pc. Unexpectedly, the higher mass core appears to be at an earlier evolutionary stage than the lower mass core, which may suggest that two different epochs of high-mass star formation can occur in close proximity. Through careful analysis of the ATCA observations and MALT90 clumps (including the G333, NGC 6334, and NGC 6357 star formation regions), we find that N$_2$H$^+$ poor anomalies arise at clump-scales and are caused by lower relative abundances of N$_2$H$^+$ due to the distinct chemistry of H II regions or photodissociation regions.