Recent studies have confirmed the presence of buckminsterfullerene (C$_{60}$) in different interstellar and circumstellar environments. However, several aspects regarding C$_{60}$ in space are not well understood yet, such as the formation and excita
tion processes, and the connection between C$_{60}$ and other carbonaceous compounds in the interstellar medium, in particular polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In this paper we study several photodissociation regions (PDRs) where C$_{60}$ and PAHs are detected and the local physical conditions are reasonably well constrained, to provide observational insights into these questions. C$_{60}$ is found to emit in PDRs where the dust is cool ($T_d = 20-40$ K) and even in PDRs with cool stars. These results exclude the possibility for C$_{60}$ to be locked in grains at thermal equilibrium in these environments. We observe that PAH and C$_{60}$ emission are spatially uncorrelated and that C$_{60}$ is present in PDRs where the physical conditions (in terms of radiation field and hydrogen density) allow for full dehydrogenation of PAHs, with the exception of Ced 201. We also find trends indicative of an increase in C$_{60}$ abundance within individual PDRs, but these trends are not universal. These results support models where the dehydrogenation of carbonaceous species is the first step towards C$_{60}$ formation. However, this is not the only parameter involved and C$_{60}$ formation is likely affected by shocks and PDR age.
Using the IRAM 30m telescope we have surveyed a $1times0.8^{circ}$ part of the Orion molecular cloud in the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO (2-1) lines with a maximal spatial resolution of $sim$11 and spectral resolution of $sim$ 0.4 km~s$^{-1}$. The cloud a
ppears filamentary, clumpy and with a complex kinematical structure. We derive an estimated mass of the cloud of 7700 M$_{text{Sun}}$ (half of which is found in regions with visual extinctions $A_V$ below $sim$10) and a dynamical age for the nebula of the order of 0.2 Myrs. The energy balance suggests that magnetic fields play an important role in supporting the cloud, at large and small scales. According to our analysis, the turbulent kinetic energy in the molecular gas due to outflows is comparable to turbulent kinetic energy resulting from the interaction of the cloud with the HII region. This latter feedback appears negative, i.e. the triggering of star formation by the HII region is inefficient in Orion. The reduced data as well as additional products such as the column density map are made available online at http://userpages.irap.omp.eu/~oberne/Olivier_Berne/Data.
In the early 90s, C60+ was proposed as the carrier of two diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) at 957.7 and 963.2 nm, but a firm identification still awaits gas-phase spectroscopic data. Neutral C60, on the other hand, was recently detected through its
infrared emission bands in the interstellar medium and evolved stars. In this contribution, we present the detection of C60+ through its infrared vibrational bands in the NGC 7023 nebula, based on spectroscopic observations with the Spitzer space telescope, quantum chemistry calculation, and laboratory data from the literature. This detection supports the idea that C60+ could be a DIB carrier, and provides robust evidence that fullerenes exist in the gas-phase in the interstellar medium. Modeling efforts to design specific observations, combined with new gas-phase data, will be essential to confirm this proposal. A definitive attribution of the 957.7 and 963.2 nm DIBs to C60+ would represent a significant step forward in the field.
Large spatial-spectral surveys are more and more common in astronomy. This calls for the need of new methods to analyze such mega- to giga-pixel data-cubes. In this paper we present a method to decompose such observations into a limited and comprehen
sive set of components. The original data can then be interpreted in terms of linear combinations of these components. The method uses non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) to extract latent spectral end-members in the data. The number of needed end-members is estimated based on the level of noise in the data. A Monte-Carlo scheme is adopted to estimate the optimal end-members, and their standard deviations. Finally, the maps of linear coefficients are reconstructed using non-negative least squares. We apply this method to a set of hyperspectral data of the NGC 7023 nebula, obtained recently with the HIFI instrument onboard the Herschel space observatory, and provide a first interpretation of the results in terms of 3-dimensional dynamical structure of the region.
We present the detection and characterization of a peculiar low-mass protostar (IRAS 22129+7000) located ~0.4 pc from Ced 201 Photodissociation Region (PDR) and ~0.2 pc from the HH450 jet. The cold circumstellar envelope surrounding the object has be
en mapped through its 1.2 mm dust continuum emission with IRAM-30m/MAMBO. The deeply embedded protostar is clearly detected with Spitzer/MIPS (70 um), IRS (20-35 um) and IRAC (4.5, 5.8, and 8 um) but also in the K_s band (2.15 um). Given the large near- and mid-IR excess in its spectral energy distribution, but large submillimeter-to-bolometric luminosity ratio (~2%), IRAS 22129+7000 must be a transition Class 0/I source and/or a multiple stellar system. Targeted observations of several molecular lines from CO, 13CO, C18O, HCO+ and DCO+ have been obtained. The presence of a collimated molecular outflow mapped with the CSO telescope in the CO J=3-2 line suggests that the protostar/disk system is still accreting material from its natal envelope. Indeed, optically thick line profiles from high density tracers such as HCO+ J=1-0 show a red-shifted-absorption asymmetry reminiscent of inward motions. We construct a preliminary physical model of the circumstellar envelope (including radial density and temperature gradients, velocity field and turbulence) that reproduces the observed line profiles and estimates the ionization fraction. The presence of both mechanical and (non-ionizing) FUV-radiative input makes the region an interesting case to study triggered star formation.
