scholarly journals On the scarcity of redshifted OH and millimetre-band molecular absorption

2021 ◽  
Vol 508 (1) ◽  
pp. 1165-1173
Author(s):  
S J Curran

ABSTRACT Despite much searching, redshifted decimetre- and millimetre-band absorption by molecular gas remains very rare, limited to just six systems at zabs ≳ 0.05. Detection of these transitions can yield precise diagnostics of the conditions of the star-forming gas in the earlier Universe, the hydroxyl (OH) radical being of particular interest as in the λ = 18 cm ground state there are four different transitions located close to neutral hydrogen 21- cm and thus detectable with the Square Kilometre Array and its pathfinders. The four transitions of OH have very different dependences on the fundamental constants, thus having much potential in testing for any evolution in these over large look-back times. By collating the photometry in a uniform manner, we confirm our previous hypothesis that the normalized OH absorption strength is correlated with the optical–near-infrared red colour of the sightline. Applying this to the published searches, we find that all, but one (J0414+054), have simply not been searched sufficiently deeply. We suggest that this is due to the standard selection of sources with reliable optical redshifts introducing a bias against those with enough dust with which to shield the molecular gas. For the single source searched to sufficient depth, we have reason to suspect that the high degree of reddening arises from another system along the sightline, thus not being inconsistent with our hypothesis. We also show that the same optical redshift bias can account for the scarcity of millimetre-band absorption.

1987 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 181-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adair P. Lane ◽  
John Bally

Near infrared (2 micron) emission lines from molecular hydrogen provide a powerful probe of the morphology and energetics of outflows associated with stellar birth. The H2 emission regions trace the location of shock waves formed when the high velocity outflow from young stars encounters dense quiescent gas. Since H2 is the dominant coolant of the hot post-shock molecular gas, the H2 lines provide a measure of the fraction of the total mechanical luminosity radiated away from the cloud.


2019 ◽  
Vol 623 ◽  
pp. A43 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bolmer ◽  
C. Ledoux ◽  
P. Wiseman ◽  
A. De Cia ◽  
J. Selsing ◽  
...  

Context. Damped Lyman-α (DLA) absorption-line systems at the redshifts of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows offer a unique way to probe the physical conditions within star-forming galaxies in the early Universe. Aims. Here we built up a large sample of 22 GRBs at redshifts z > 2 observed with VLT/X-shooter in order to determine the abundances of hydrogen, metals, dust, and molecular species. This allows us to study the metallicity and dust depletion effects in the neutral interstellar medium at high redshift and to answer the question of whether (and why) there might be a lack of H2 in GRB-DLAs. Methods. We developed new methods based on the Bayesian inference package, PyMC, to FIT absorption lines and measure the column densities of different metal species as well as atomic and molecular hydrogen. The derived relative abundances are used to FIT dust depletion sequences and determine the dust-to-metals ratio and the host-galaxy intrinsic visual extinction. Additionally, we searched for the absorption signatures of vibrationally-excited H2 and carbon monoxide. Results. We find that there is no lack of H2-bearing GRB-DLAs. We detect absorption lines from molecular hydrogen in 6 out of 22 GRB afterglow spectra, with molecular fractions ranging between f ≃ 5 × 10−5 and f ≃ 0.04, and claim tentative detections in three additional cases. For the remainder of the sample, we measure, depending on S/N, spectral coverage and instrumental resolution, more or less stringent upper limits. The GRB-DLAs in our sample have on average low metallicities, [X/H]¯ ≈ −1.3, comparable to the population of extremely-strong QSO-DLAs (log N(H I) > 21.5). Furthermore, H2-bearing GRB-DLAs are found to be associated with significant dust extinction, AV > 0.1 mag, and dust-to-metals ratios DTM > 0.4, confirming the importance of dust grains for the production of molecules. All these systems exhibit neutral hydrogen column densities log N(H I) > 21.7. The overall fraction of H2 detections in GRB-DLAs is ≥ 27% (41% including tentative detections), which is three to four times larger than in the general QSO-DLA population. For 2 < z < 4, and considering column densities log N(H I) > 21.7, the H2 detection fraction is 60–80% in GRB-DLAs and in extremely strong QSO-DLAs. This is likely due to the fact that both GRB- and QSO-DLAs with high neutral hydrogen column densities are probed by sight-lines with small impact parameters, indicating that the absorbing gas is associated with the inner regions of the absorbing galaxy, where the gas pressure is higher and the conversion of H I to H2 takes place. In the case of GRB hosts, this diffuse molecular gas is located at distances ≳ 500 pc from the GRB and hence is unrelated to the star-forming region where the event occurred.


2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (1) ◽  
pp. 681-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Loiacono ◽  
Margherita Talia ◽  
Filippo Fraternali ◽  
Andrea Cimatti ◽  
Enrico M Di Teodoro ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWe report a multiwavelength study of the massive ($M_{\star } \gtrsim 10^{11} \rm {M}_{\odot }$), z ∼ 2 star-forming galaxy GMASS 0953, which hosts an obscured AGN. We combined near-infrared observations of the GNIRS, SINFONI and KMOS spectrographs to study the kinematics of the [O  iii] λ5007 and H α emission lines. Our analysis shows that GMASS 0953 may host an ionized disc extending up to 13 kpc, which rotates at a velocity of $V_{\rm {ion}} = 203^{+17}_{-20}$  km s−1 at the outermost radius. Evidence of rotation on a smaller scale (R ∼ 1 kpc) arises from the CO(J = 6–5) line. The central velocity $V_{\rm {CO}} = 320^{+ 92}_{-53}$  km s−1 traced by the molecular gas is higher than Vion, suggesting that the galaxy harbours a multiphase disc with a rotation curve that peaks in the very central regions. The galaxy appears well located on the z = 0 baryonic Tully–Fisher relation. We also discuss the possibility that the [O  iii] λ5007 and H α velocity gradients are due to a galactic-scale wind. Besides, we found evidence of an AGN-driven outflow traced by a broad blueshifted wing affecting the [O  iii] λ5007 line, which presents a velocity offset Δv = −535 ± 152  km s−1 from the systemic velocity. Because of the short depletion time-scale (τdep ∼ 108 yr) due to gas ejection and gas consumption by star formation activity, GMASS 0953 may likely evolve into a passive galaxy. However, the role of the AGN in depleting the gas reservoir of the galaxy is quite unclear because of the uncertainties affecting the outflow rate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 638 ◽  
pp. A36
Author(s):  
Nastaran Fazeli ◽  
Andreas Eckart ◽  
Gerold Busch ◽  
Madeleine Yttergren ◽  
Françoise Combes ◽  
...  

We present our near-infrared, integral-field spectroscopy observations of the central 550 × 550 pc2 (10″ × 10″) of the local galaxy NGC 1672. Our aim is to investigate the morphology and kinematics of gas and stars to probe evidence for feeding and feedback phenomena. For this purpose the near-infrared wavelength regime and integral-field unit technique provide a vast amount of useful information. The narrow emission line ratios suggest that the galaxy hosts a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus. From the MBH − σ* relation, we find a black hole mass of a few 107 M⊙. The total reservoir of hot molecular and ionised gas is estimated, using flux of H2 and Brγ emission lines, to be 258 M⊙ and 2.3 × 106 M⊙ respectively. The most striking feature in the emission line flux maps is the star-forming ring at a radius of ∼3″. The stellar and gaseous kinematics both show a rotation pattern in a disc that is blue-shifted in the north-west and red-shifted in the south-east. However, unlike the stellar kinematics, gas kinematics show various complexities, such as higher amplitudes in the central region (within the star-forming ring). The molecular gas velocity-field map shows deviations from pure disc motion in the form of an S-shaped zero-velocity line. In particular the position angle of the zero-velocity line changes in the central arcsecond, resembling the decoupled nuclear disc or molecular torus found in CO(3–2). There is an offset of 0.″5 between the nuclear continuum barycentre and kinematic centre of molecular gas towards the north-west. The velocity field of Brγ emitting gas on the other hand, is highly red-shifted in the centre and offset from the continuum emission peak by about 1″. Investigating the spectra of this region we detect a doubled-horn Brγ emission line in the nucleus and north-west. This region is also luminous in radio 3 cm emission connecting the nucleus to the star-forming ring.


2020 ◽  
Vol 638 ◽  
pp. A53
Author(s):  
Nastaran Fazeli ◽  
Gerold Busch ◽  
Andreas Eckart ◽  
Françoise Combes ◽  
Persis Misquitta ◽  
...  

Gas inflow processes in the vicinity of galactic nuclei play a crucial role in galaxy evolution and supermassive black hole growth. Exploring the central kiloparsec of galaxies is essential to shed more light on this subject. We present near-infrared H- and K-band results of the nuclear region of the nearby galaxy NGC 1326, observed with the integral-field spectrograph SINFONI mounted on the Very Large Telescope. The field of view covers 9″ × 9″ (650 × 650 pc2). Our work is concentrated on excitation conditions, morphology, and stellar content. The nucleus of NGC 1326 was classified as a LINER, however in our data we observed an absence of ionised gas emission in the central r ∼ 3″. We studied the morphology by analysing the distribution of ionised and molecular gas, and thereby detected an elliptically shaped, circum-nuclear star-forming ring at a mean radius of 300 pc. We estimate the starburst regions in the ring to be young with dominating ages of < 10 Myr. The molecular gas distribution also reveals an elongated east to west central structure about 3″ in radius, where gas is excited by slow or mild shock mechanisms. We calculate the ionised gas mass of 8 × 105 M⊙ completely concentrated in the nuclear ring and the warm molecular gas mass of 187 M⊙, from which half is concentrated in the ring and the other half in the elongated central structure. The stellar velocity fields show pure rotation in the plane of the galaxy. The gas velocity fields show similar rotation in the ring, but in the central elongated H2 structure they show much higher amplitudes and indications of further deviation from the stellar rotation in the central 1″ aperture. We suggest that the central 6″ elongated H2 structure might be a fast-rotating central disc. The CO(3–2) emission observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array reveal a central 1″ torus. In the central 1″ of the H2 velocity field and residual maps, we find indications for a further decoupled structure closer to a nuclear disc, which could be identified with the torus surrounding the supermassive black hole.


Author(s):  
Manish M. Kayasth ◽  
Bharat C. Patel

The entire character recognition system is logically characterized into different sections like Scanning, Pre-processing, Classification, Processing, and Post-processing. In the targeted system, the scanned image is first passed through pre-processing modules then feature extraction, classification in order to achieve a high recognition rate. This paper describes mainly on Feature extraction and Classification technique. These are the methodologies which play an important role to identify offline handwritten characters specifically in Gujarati language. Feature extraction provides methods with the help of which characters can identify uniquely and with high degree of accuracy. Feature extraction helps to find the shape contained in the pattern. Several techniques are available for feature extraction and classification, however the selection of an appropriate technique based on its input decides the degree of accuracy of recognition. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Savoia ◽  
Andrea Albera ◽  
Alberto Brugiapaglia ◽  
Liliana Di Stasio ◽  
Alessio Cecchinato ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The possibility of assessing meat quality traits over the meat chain is strongly limited, especially in the context of selective breeding which requires a large number of phenotypes. The main objective of this study was to investigate the suitability of portable infrared spectrometers for phenotyping beef cattle aiming to genetically improving the quality of their meat. Meat quality traits (pH, color, water holding capacity, tenderness) were appraised on rib eye muscle samples of 1,327 Piemontese young bulls using traditional (i.e., reference/gold standard) laboratory analyses; the same traits were also predicted from spectra acquired at the abattoir on the intact muscle surface of the same animals 1 d after slaughtering. Genetic parameters were estimated for both laboratory measures of meat quality traits and their spectra-based predictions. Results The prediction performances of the calibration equations, assessed through external validation, were satisfactory for color traits (R2 from 0.52 to 0.80), low for pH and purge losses (R2 around 0.30), and very poor for cooking losses and tenderness (R2 below 0.20). Except for lightness and purge losses, the heritability estimates of most of the predicted traits were lower than those of the measured traits while the genetic correlations between measured and predicted traits were high (average value 0.81). Conclusions Results showed that NIRS predictions of color traits, pH, and purge losses could be used as indicator traits for the indirect genetic selection of the reference quality phenotypes. Results for cooking losses were less effective, while the NIR predictions of tenderness were affected by a relatively high uncertainty of estimate. Overall, genetic selection of some meat quality traits, whose direct phenotyping is difficult, can benefit of the application of infrared spectrometers technology.


Photonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Steve Kamau ◽  
Safaa Hassan ◽  
Khadijah Alnasser ◽  
Hualiang Zhang ◽  
Jingbiao Cui ◽  
...  

It is challenging to realize the complete broadband absorption of near-infrared in thin optical devices. In this paper, we studied high light absorption in two devices: a stack of Au-pattern/insulator/Au-film and a stack of Au-pattern/weakly-absorbing-material/Au-film where the Au-pattern was structured in graded photonic super-crystal. We observed multiple-band absorption, including one near 1500 nm, in a stack of Au-pattern/spacer/Au-film. The multiple-band absorption is due to the gap surface plasmon polariton when the spacer thickness is less than 30 nm. Broadband absorption appears in the near-infrared when the insulator spacer is replaced by a weakly absorbing material. E-field intensity was simulated and confirmed the formation of gap surface plasmon polaritons and their coupling with Fabry–Pérot resonance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 501 (2) ◽  
pp. 2305-2315
Author(s):  
Alice Zurlo ◽  
Lucas A Cieza ◽  
Megan Ansdell ◽  
Valentin Christiaens ◽  
Sebastián Pérez ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present results from a near-infrared (NIR) adaptive optics (AO) survey of pre-main-sequence stars in the Lupus molecular cloud with NACO at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to identify (sub)stellar companions down to ∼20-au separation and investigate the effects of multiplicity on circumstellar disc properties. We observe for the first time in the NIR with AO a total of 47 targets and complement our observations with archival data for another 58 objects previously observed with the same instrument. All 105 targets have millimetre Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) data available, which provide constraints on disc masses and sizes. We identify a total of 13 multiple systems, including 11 doubles and 2 triples. In agreement with previous studies, we find that the most massive (Mdust &gt; 50 M⊕) and largest (Rdust &gt; 70 au) discs are only seen around stars lacking visual companions (with separations of 20–4800 au) and that primaries tend to host more massive discs than secondaries. However, as recently shown in a very similar study of &gt;200 PMS stars in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud, the distributions of disc masses and sizes are similar for single and multiple systems for Mdust &lt; 50 M⊕ and radii Rdust &lt; 70 au. Such discs correspond to ∼80–90 per cent of the sample. This result can be seen in the combined sample of Lupus and Ophiuchus objects, which now includes more than 300 targets with ALMA imaging and NIR AO data, and implies that stellar companions with separations &gt;20 au mostly affect discs in the upper 10${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the disc mass and size distributions.


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