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Register a new userHalpha emission-line stars in molecular clouds III. Canis Major
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A deep objective-prism survey for H-alpha emission stars towards the Canis Major star-forming clouds was performed. A total of 398 Halpha emitters were detected, 353 of which are new detections. There is a strong concentration of these H-alpha emitters towards the molecular clouds surrounding the CMa~OB1 association, and it is likely that these stars are young stellar objects recently born in the clouds. An additional population of H-alpha emitters is scattered all across the region, and probably includes unrelated foreground dMe stars and background Be stars. About 90% of the H-alpha emitters are detected by WISE, of which 75% was detected with usable photometry. When plotted in a WISE colour-colour diagram it appears that the majority are Class II YSOs. Coordinates and finding charts are provided for all the new stars, and coordinates for all the detections. We searched the Gaia-DR2 catalogue and from 334 Halpha emission stars with useful parallaxes, we selected a subset of 98 stars that have parallax errors of less than 20% and nominal distances in the interval 1050 to 1350 pc that surrounds a strong peak at 1185 pc in the distance distribution. Similarly, Gaia distances were obtained for 51 OB-stars located towards Canis Major and selected with the same parallax errors as the H-alpha stars. We find a median distance for the OB stars of 1182 pc, in excellent correspondence with the distance from the H-alpha stars. Two known runaway stars are confirmed as members of the association. Finally, two new Herbig-Haro objects are identified.
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We investigate the spectral correlations between different species used to observe molecular clouds. We use hydrodynamic simulations and a full chemical network to study the abundances of over 150 species in typical Milky Way molecular clouds. We perform synthetic observations in order to produce emission maps of a subset of these tracers. We study the effects of different lines of sight and spatial resolution on the emission distribution and perform a robust quantitative comparison of the species to each other. We use the Spectral Correlation Function (SCF), which quantifies the root mean squared difference between spectra separated by some length scale, to characterize the structure of the simulated cloud in position-position-velocity (PPV) space. We predict the observed SCF for a broad range of observational tracers, and thus, identify homologous species. In particular, we show that the pairs C and CO, C$^{+}$ and CN, NH$_3$ and H$_2$CS have very similar SCFs. We measure the SCF slope variation as a function of beam size for all species and demonstrate that the beam size has a distinct effect on different species emission. However, for beams of up to 10, placing the cloud at 1 kpc, the change is not large enough to move the SCF slopes into different regions of parameter space. The results from this study provide observational guidance for choosing the best tracer to probe various cloud length scales.
This is the first paper in a series dealing with optical Nitrogen spectroscopy of O-type stars, aiming at the analysis of Nitrogen abundances. We implemented a new Nitrogen model atom into the NLTE atmosphere/spectrum synthesis code FASTWIND, and compare the resulting optical NIII lines at 4634/40/42 A with other predictions, mostly from Mihalas & Hummer (1973, ApJ 179, 827,`MH), and from the alternative code CMFGEN. Using similar model atmospheres as MH (not blanketed and wind-free), we are able to reproduce their results, in particular the triplet emission lines. According to MH, these should be strongly related to dielectronic recombination (DR) and the drain by certain two-electron transitions. However, using realistic, fully line-blanketed atmospheres at solar abundances, the key role of DR controlling these emission features is superseded -- for O-star conditions -- by the strength of the stellar wind and metallicity. In the case of wind-free models, the resulting lower ionizing EUV-fluxes severely suppress the emission. As the mass-loss rate is increased, pumping through the NIII resonance line(s) in the presence of a near-photospheric velocity field results in a net optical triplet line emission. A comparison with results from CMFGEN is mostly satisfactory, except for the range 30 kK < Teff < 35 kK, where CMFGEN triggers the triplet emission at lower Teff than FASTWIND. This effect could be traced down to line overlap effects between the NIII and OIII resonance lines that so far cannot be simulated by FASTWIND. Since the efficiency of DR and `two electron drain strongly depends on the degree of line-blanketing/-blocking, we predict the emission to become stronger in a metal-poor environment, though lower wind-strengths and Nitrogen abundances might counteract this effect. Weak winded stars should display less triplet emission than stars with `normal winds.
Dust and gas energetics are incorporated into a cluster-scale simulation of star formation in order to study the effect of heating and cooling on the star formation process. We build on our previous work by calculating separately the dust and gas temperatures. The dust temperature is set by radiative equilibrium between heating by embedded stars and radiation from dust. The gas temperature is determined using an energy-rate balance algorithm which includes molecular cooling, dust-gas collisional energy transfer, and cosmic-ray ionization. The fragmentation proceeds roughly similarly to simulations in which the gas temperature is set to the dust temperature, but there are differences. The structure of regions around sink particles have properties similar to those of Class 0 objects, but the infall speeds and mass accretion rates were, on average, higher than those seen for regions forming only low-mass stars. The gas and dust temperature have complex distributions not well modeled by approximations that ignore the detailed thermal physics. There is no simple relationship between density and kinetic temperature. In particular, high density regions have a large range of temperatures, determined by their location relative to heating sources. The total luminosity underestimates the star formation rate at these early stages, before ionizing sources are included, by an order of magnitude. As predicted in our previous work, a larger number of intermediate mass objects form when improved thermal physics is included, but the resulting IMF still has too few low mass stars. However, if we consider recent evidence on core-to-star efficiencies, the match to the IMF is improved.
Our multi-epoch survey of ~20 sq. deg. of the Canis Major overdensity has detected only 10 RR Lyrae stars (RRLS). We show that this number is consistent with the number expected from the Galactic halo and thick disk populations alone, leaving no excess that can be attributed to the dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy that some authors have proposed as the origin of the CMa overdensity. If this galaxy resembles the dSph satellites of the Milky Way and of M31 and has the putative Mv~-14.5, our survey should have detected several tens of RRLS. Even if Mv<-12, the expected excess is >10, which is not observed. Either the old stellar population of this galaxy has unique properties or, as others have argued before, the CMa overdensity is produced by the thin and thick disk and spiral arm populations of the Milky Way and not by a collision with a dSph satellite galaxy.
For the past three years we have been conducting a survey for WR stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC, SMC). Our previous work has resulted in the discovery of a new type of WR star in the LMC, which we are calling WN3/O3. These stars have the emission-line properties of a WN3 star (strong N V but no N IV), plus the absorption-line properties of an O3 star (Balmer hydrogen plus Pickering He II but no He I). Yet these stars are 15x fainter than an O3 V star would be by itself, ruling out these being WN3+O3 binaries. Here we report the discovery of two more members of this class, bringing the total number of these objects to 10, 6.5% of the LMCs total WR population. The optical spectra of nine of these WN3/O3s are virtually indistinguishable from each other, but one of the newly found stars is significantly different, showing a lower excitation emission and absorption spectrum (WN4/O4-ish). In addition, we have newly classified three unusual Of-type stars, including one with a strong C III 4650 line, and two rapidly rotating Oef stars. We also rediscovered a low mass x-ray binary, RX J0513.9-6951, and demonstrate its spectral variability. Finally, we discuss the spectra of ten low priority WR candidates that turned out not to have He II emission. These include both a Be star and a B[e] star.
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