scholarly journals CO-to-H2 conversion and spectral column density in molecular clouds: the variability of the XCO factor

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 1851-1861
Author(s):  
Yoshiaki Sofue ◽  
Mikito Kohno
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Column Density ◽  
Conversion Factor ◽  
Galactic Plane ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Line Intensities ◽  
Empirical Constants ◽  
Spectral Conversion

ABSTRACT Analysing the Galactic plane CO survey with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope, we compared the spectral column density (SCD) of $N_{\rm H_2}$ calculated for the 12CO (J = 1–0) line using the current conversion factor $X_{\rm ^{12}CO}$ to that for the 13CO (J = 1–0) line under the LTE (local thermal equilibrium) assumption in the M16 and W43 regions. Here, SCD is defined by $\mathrm{d}N_{\rm H_2}/\mathrm{d}v$ with $N_{\rm H_2}$ and v being the column density and radial velocity, respectively. It is found that the $X_{\rm ^{12}CO}$ method significantly underestimates the H2 density in a cloud or region, where SCD exceeds a critical value (∼3 × 1021 [H2 cm−2 (km s−1)−1]), but overestimates in lower SCD regions. We point out that the actual CO-to-H2 conversion factor varies with the H2 column density or with the CO line intensity: it increases in the inner and opaque parts of molecular clouds, whereas it decreases in the low-density envelopes. However, in so far as the current $X_{^{12}{\rm CO}}$ is used combined with the integrated 12CO intensity averaged over an entire cloud, it yields a consistent value with that calculated using the 13CO intensity by LTE. Based on the analysis, we propose a new CO-to-H2 conversion relation, $N_{\rm H_2}^* = \int X^*_{\rm CO} (T_{\rm B}) T_{\rm B}\ \mathrm{d}v$, where $X^*_{\rm CO} (T_{\rm B})=(T_{\rm B}/T_{\rm B}^*)^\beta X_{\rm ^{12}CO}$ is the modified spectral conversion factor as a function of the brightness temperature, TB, of the 12CO (J = 1–0) line, and β ∼ 1–2 and $T_{\rm B}^*=12\!-\!16$ K are empirical constants obtained by fitting to the observed data. The formula corrects for the over/underestimation of the column density at low/high CO line intensities, and is applicable to molecular clouds with TB ≥ 1 K (12CO (J = 1–0) line rms noise in the data) from envelope to cores at sub-parsec scales (spatial resolution).

scholarly journals Precise Measurements of CH Maser Emission and Its Abundance in Translucent Clouds

2021 ◽  
Vol 257 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Ningyu Tang ◽  
Di Li ◽  
Gan Luo ◽  
Carl Heiles ◽  
Sheng-Li Qin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Column Density ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Excitation Temperature ◽  
Hyperfine Transitions ◽  
Visible Wavelengths ◽  
Log Normal ◽  
Log Normal Distribution

Abstract We present high-sensitivity CH 9 cm ON/OFF observations toward 18 extragalactic continuum sources that have been detected with OH 18 cm absorption in the Millennium survey with the Arecibo telescope. CH emission was detected toward 6 of the 18 sources. The excitation temperature of CH has been derived directly through analyzing all detected ON and OFF velocity components. The excitation temperature of CH 3335 MHz transition ranges from −54.5 to −0.4 K and roughly follows a log-normal distribution peaking within [−5, 0] K, which implies overestimation by 20% to more than 10 times during calculating CH column density by assuming the conventional value of −60 or −10 K. Furthermore, the column density of CH would be underestimated by a factor of 1.32 ± 0.03 when adopting local thermal equilibrium assumption instead of using the CH three hyperfine transitions. We found a correlation between the column density of CH and OH following log N(CH) = (1.80 ± 0.49) and log N(OH −11.59 ± 6.87. The linear correlation between the column density of CH and H2 is consistent with that derived from visible wavelengths studies, confirming that CH is one of the best tracers of H2 components in diffuse molecular gas.

scholarly journals The low cosmic-ray density in the Polaris Flare

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 246
Author(s):  
Zhi-Wei Cui ◽  
Rui-Zhi Yang ◽  
Bing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Cloud ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Column Density ◽  
Galactic Plane ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Giant Molecular Cloud ◽  
Large Gradient ◽  
Ray Density ◽  
Density Map

Abstract We reported the γ-ray observation towards the giant molecular cloud Polaris Flare. Together with the dust column density map, we derived the cosmic ray (CR) density and spectrum in this cloud. Compared with the CR measured locally, the CR density in the Polaris Flare is significantly lower and the spectrum is softer. Such a different CR spectrum reveals either a rather large gradient of CR distribution in the direction perpendicular to the Galactic plane or a suppression of CR inside molecular clouds.

scholarly journals Photoproduction of H3+ from gaseous methanol inside dense molecular clouds

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S251) ◽  
pp. 369-370
Author(s):  
S. Pilling ◽  
D. P. P. Andrade ◽  
A. C. F. Santos ◽  
H. M. Boechat-Roberty
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Mass Spectra ◽  
Column Density ◽  
X Rays ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Flight Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Dense Molecular Cloud ◽  
Synchrotron Light

AbstractWe present experimental results obtained from photoionization and photodissociation processes of abundant interstellar methanol (CH3OH) as an alternative route for the production of H3+ in dense clouds. The measurements were taken at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) employing soft X-ray and time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Mass spectra were obtained using the photoelectron-photoion coincidence techniques. Absolute averaged cross sections for the production of H3+ due to molecular dissociation of methanol by soft X-rays (C1s edge) were determined. The H3+'s photoproduction rate and column density were been estimated adopting a typical soft X-ray luminosity inside dense molecular and the observed column density of methanol. Assuming a steady state scenario, the highest column density value for the photoproduced H3+ was about 1011 cm2, which gives the ratio photoproduced/observed of about 0.05%, as in the case of dense molecular cloud AFGL 2591. Despite the small value, this represent a new and alternative source of H3+ into dense molecular clouds and it is not been considered as yet in interstellar chemistry models.

scholarly journals Mapping the 13CO/C18O abundance ratio in the massive star-forming region G29.96−0.02

2018 ◽  
Vol 617 ◽  
pp. A14 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Paron ◽  
M. B. Areal ◽  
M. E. Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Abundance Ratio ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Mass Star ◽  
Galactocentric Distance ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Molecular Abundances

Aims. Estimating molecular abundances ratios from directly measuring the emission of the molecules toward a variety of interstellar environments is indeed very useful to advance our understanding of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, and hence of the physical processes related to the chemistry. It is necessary to increase the sample of molecular clouds, located at different distances, in which the behavior of molecular abundance ratios, such as the 13CO/C18O ratio, is studied in detail. Methods. We selected the well-studied high-mass star-forming region G29.96−0.02, located at a distance of about 6.2 kpc, which is an ideal laboratory to perform this type of study. To study the 13CO/C18O abundance ratio (X13∕18) toward this region, we used 12CO J = 3–2 data obtained from the CO High-Resolution Survey, 13CO and C18O J = 3–2 data from the 13CO/C18O (J = 3–2) Heterodyne Inner Milky Way Plane Survey, and 13CO and C18O J = 2–1 data retrieved from the CDS database that were observed with the IRAM 30 m telescope. The distribution of column densities and X13∕18 throughout the extension of the analyzed molecular cloud was studied based on local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE methods. Results. Values of X13∕18 between 1.5 and 10.5, with an average of about 5, were found throughout the studied region, showing that in addition to the dependency of X13∕18 and the galactocentric distance, the local physical conditions may strongly affect this abundance ratio. We found that correlating the X13∕18 map with the location of the ionized gas and dark clouds allows us to suggest in which regions the far-UV radiation stalls in dense gaseous components, and in which regions it escapes and selectively photodissociates the C18O isotope. The non-LTE analysis shows that the molecular gas has very different physical conditions, not only spatially throughout the cloud, but also along the line of sight. This type of study may represent a tool for indirectly estimating (from molecular line observations) the degree of photodissociation in molecular clouds, which is indeed useful to study the chemistry in the interstellar medium.

scholarly journals A theoretical analysis of local thermal equilibrium in fibrous materials

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Mingwei Tian ◽  
Ning Pan ◽  
Lijun Qu ◽  
Xiaoqing Guo ◽  
Guangting Han
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Internal Heat ◽  
Constant Heat Flux ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Fibrous Materials ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Convective Boundary ◽  
Boundary Problems ◽  
Criterion System

The internal heat exchange between each phase and the Local Thermal Equilibrium (LTE) scenarios in multi-phase fibrous materials are considered in this paper. Based on the two-phase heat transfer model, a criterion is proposed to evaluate the LTE condition, using derived characteristic parameters. Furthermore, the LTE situations in isothermal/adiabatic boundary cases with two different heat sources (constant heat flux and constant temperature) are assessed as special transient cases to test the proposed criterion system, and the influence of such different cases on their LTE status are elucidated. In addition, it is demonstrated that even the convective boundary problems can be generally estimated using this approach. Finally, effects on LTE of the material properties (thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity of each phase, sample porosity and pore hydraulic radius) are investigated, illustrated and discussed in our study.

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