| 1. |
- Lis, D. C., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel/HIFI discovery of interstellar chloronium (H2Cl+)
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the first detection of chloronium, H_2Cl^+, in the interstellar medium, using the HIFI instrument aboard the Herschel Space Observatory. The 2_12-1_01 lines of ortho-H\_2^35Cl^+ and ortho-H\_2^37Cl^+ are detected in absorption towards NGC 6334I, and the 1_11-0_00 transition of para-H\_2^35Cl^+ is detected in absorption towards NGC 6334I and Sgr B2(S). The H_2Cl^+ column densities are compared to those of the chemically-related species HCl. The derived HCl/H_2Cl^+ column density ratios, ~1-10, are within the range predicted by models of diffuse and dense photon dominated regions (PDRs). However, the observed H_2Cl^+ column densities, in excess of 10^13 cm^-2, are significantly higher than the model predictions. Our observations demonstrate the outstanding spectroscopic capabilities of HIFI for detecting new interstellar molecules and providing key constraints for astrochemical models.
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| 2. |
- de Graauw, Th., et al.
(författare)
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The Herschel-Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI)
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 518, s. L6-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: This paper describes the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) that was launched onboard ESA's Herschel Space Observatory in May 2009. Methods: The instrument is a set of 7 heterodyne receivers that are electronically tuneable, covering 480-1250 GHz with SIS mixers and the 1410-1910 GHz range with hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers. The local oscillator (LO) subsystem comprises a Ka-band synthesizer followed by 14 chains of frequency multipliers and 2 chains for each frequency band. A pair of auto-correlators and a pair of acousto-optical spectrometers process the two IF signals from the dual-polarization, single-pixel front-ends to provide instantaneous frequency coverage of 2 × 4 GHz, with a set of resolutions (125 kHz to 1 MHz) that are better than 0.1 km s-1. Results: After a successful qualification and a pre-launch TB/TV test program, the flight instrument is now in-orbit and completed successfully the commissioning and performance verification phase. The in-orbit performance of the receivers matches the pre-launch sensitivities. We also report on the in-orbit performance of the receivers and some first results of HIFI's operations. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.
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| 3. |
- Gupta, H., et al.
(författare)
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Detection of OH+ and H2O+ towards Orion KL
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L47-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report observations of the reactive molecular ions OH+, H2O+, and H3O+ towards Orion KL with Herschel/HIFI. All three N = 1-0 fine-structure transitions of OH+ at 909, 971, and 1033 GHz and both fine-structure components of the doublet ortho-H2O+ 111-000 transition at 1115 and 1139 GHz were detected; an upper limit was obtained for H3O+. OH+ and H2O+ are observed purely in absorption, showing a narrow component at the source velocity of 9 km s-1, and a broad blueshifted absorption similar to that reported recently for HF and para-H218O, and attributed to the low velocity outflow of Orion KL. We estimate column densities of OH+ and H2O+ for the 9 km s-1 component of 9 ± 3 × 1012 cm-2 and 7 ± 2 × 1012 cm-2, and those in the outflow of 1.9 ± 0.7 × 1013 cm-2 and 1.0 ± 0.3 × 1013 cm-2. Upper limits of 2.4 × 1012 cm-2 and 8.7 × 1012 cm-2 were derived for the column densities of ortho and para-H3O+ from transitions near 985 and 1657 GHz. The column densities of the three ions are up to an order of magnitude lower than those obtained from recent observations of W31C and W49N. The comparatively low column densities may be explained by a higher gas density despite the assumption of a very high ionization rate.
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| 4. |
- Liseau, René, 1949, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-line detection of O2 toward rho Ophiuchi A
- 2012
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 541
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Models of pure gas-phase chemistry in well-shielded regions of molecular clouds predict relatively high levels of molecular oxygen, O-2, and water, H2O. These high abundances imply high cooling rates, leading to relatively short timescales for the evolution of gravitationally unstable dense cores, forming stars and planets. Contrary to expectations, the dedicated space missions SWAS and Odin typically found only very small amounts of water vapour and essentially no O-2 in the dense star-forming interstellar medium. Aims. Only toward rho OphA did Odin detect a very weak line of O-2 at 119 GHz in a beam of size 10 arcmin. The line emission of related molecules changes on angular scales of the order of some tens of arcseconds, requiring a larger telescope aperture such as that of the Herschel Space Observatory to resolve the O-2 emission and pinpoint its origin. Methods. We use the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) aboard Herschel to obtain high resolution O-2 spectra toward selected positions in the rho Oph A core. These data are analysed using standard techniques for O2 excitation and compared to recent PDR-like chemical cloud models. Results. The N-J = 3(3)-1(2) line at 487.2 GHz is clearly detected toward all three observed positions in the rho Oph A core. In addition, an oversampled map of the 5(4)-3(4) transition at 773.8 GHz reveals the detection of the line in only half of the observed area. On the basis of their ratios, the temperature of the O-2 emitting gas appears to vary quite substantially, with warm gas (greater than or similar to 50 K) being adjacent to a much colder region, of temperatures lower than 30 K. Conclusions. The exploited models predict that the O-2 column densities are sensitive to the prevailing dust temperatures, but rather insensitive to the temperatures of the gas. In agreement with these models, the observationally determined O-2 column densities do not seem to depend strongly on the derived gas temperatures, but fall into the range N(O-2) = 3 to greater than or similar to 6 x 10(15) cm(-2). Beam-averaged O-2 abundances are about 5 x 10(-8) relative to H-2. Combining the HIFI data with earlier Odin observations yields a source size at 119 GHz in the range of 4 to 5 arcmin, encompassing the entire rho Oph A core. We speculate that one of the reasons for the generally very low detection rate of O-2 is the short period of time during which O-2 molecules are reasonably abundant in molecular clouds.
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| 5. |
- Bruderer, S., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel/HIFI detections of hydrides towards AFGL 2591. Envelope emission versus tenuous cloud absorption
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L44-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) onboard the Herschel Space Observatory allows the first observations of light diatomic molecules at high spectral resolution and in multiple transitions. Here, we report deep integrations using HIFI in different lines of hydrides towards the high-mass star forming region AFGL 2591. Detected are CH, CH+, NH, OH+, H2O+, while NH+ and SH+ have not been detected. All molecules except for CH and CH+ are seen in absorption with low excitation temperatures and at velocities different from the systemic velocity of the protostellar envelope. Surprisingly, the CH(JF,P = 3/22,- - 1/21,+ ) and CH+(J = 1-0, J = 2-1) lines are detected in emission at the systemic velocity. We can assign the absorption features to a foreground cloud and an outflow lobe, while the CH and CH+ emission stems from the envelope. The observed abundance and excitation of CH and CH+ can be explained in the scenario of FUV irradiated outflow walls, where a cavity etched out by the outflow allows protostellar FUV photons to irradiate and heat the envelope at larger distances driving the chemical reactions that produce these molecules. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Apppendices and Table 1 (pages 6 to 7) are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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| 6. |
- Ceccarelli, C., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel spectral surveys of star- forming regions Overview of the 555-636 GHz range
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L22-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High resolution line spectra of star-forming regions are mines of information: they provide unique clues to reconstruct the chemical, dynamical, and physical structure of the observed source. We present the first results from the Herschel key project " Chemical HErschel Surveys of Star forming regions", CHESS. We report and discuss observations towards five CHESS targets, one outflow shock spot and four protostars with luminosities bewteen 20 and 2 x 105 L similar to : L1157-B1, IRAS 16293-2422, OMC2-FIR4, AFGL 2591, and NGC 6334I. The observations were obtained with the heterodyne spectrometer HIFI on board Herschel, with a spectral resolution of 1 MHz. They cover the frequency range 555-636 GHz, a range largely unexplored before the launch of the Herschel satellite. A comparison of the five spectra highlights spectacular differences in the five sources, for example in the density of methanol lines, or the presence./absence of lines from S-bearing molecules or deuterated species. We discuss how these differences can be attributed to the different star-forming mass or evolutionary status.
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| 7. |
- Comito, C., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel observations of deuterated water towards Sgr B2(M)
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L38-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observations of HDO are an important complement for studies of water, because they give strong constraints on the formation processes - grain surfaces versus energetic process in the gas phase, e. g. in shocks. The HIFI observations of multiple transitions of HDO in Sgr B2(M) presented here allow the determination of the HDO abundance throughout the envelope, which has not been possible before with ground-based observations only. The abundance structure has been modeled with the spherical Monte Carlo radiative transfer code RATRAN, which also takes radiative pumping by continuum emission from dust into account. The modeling reveals that the abundance of HDO rises steeply with temperature from a low abundance (2.5 x 10(-11)) in the outer envelope at temperatures below 100 K through a medium abundance (1.5 x 10(-9)) in the inner envelope/outer core at temperatures between 100 and 200 K, and finally a high abundance (3.5 x 10(-9)) at temperatures above 200 K in the hot core.
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| 8. |
- Goldsmith, Paul F., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel Measurements of Molecular Oxygen in Orion
- 2011
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 737:2, s. 96 (1-17)
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report observations of three rotational transitions of molecular oxygen (O2) in emission from the H2 Peak 1 position of vibrationally excited molecular hydrogen in Orion. We observed the 487 GHz, 774 GHz, and 1121 GHz lines using the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared on the Herschel Space Observatory, having velocities of 11 km s–1 to 12 km s–1 and widths of 3 km s–1. The beam-averaged column density is N(O2) = 6.5 × 1016 cm–2, and assuming that the source has an equal beam-filling factor for all transitions (beam widths 44, 28, and 19''), the relative line intensities imply a kinetic temperature between 65 K and 120 K. The fractional abundance of O2 relative to H2 is (0.3-7.3) × 10–6. The unusual velocity suggests an association with a ~5'' diameter source, denoted Peak A, the Western Clump, or MF4. The mass of this source is ~10 Msun and the dust temperature is ≥150 K. Our preferred explanation of the enhanced O2 abundance is that dust grains in this region are sufficiently warm (T ≥ 100 K) to desorb water ice and thus keep a significant fraction of elemental oxygen in the gas phase, with a significant fraction as O2. For this small source, the line ratios require a temperature ≥180 K. The inferred O2 column density sime5 × 1018 cm–2 can be produced in Peak A, having N(H2) sime 4 × 1024 cm–2. An alternative mechanism is a low-velocity (10-15 km s–1) C-shock, which can produce N(O2) up to 1017 cm–2.
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| 9. |
- Johnstone, D., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel/HIFI spectroscopy of the intermediate mass protostar NGC7129 FIRS 2
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L41-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Herschel/HIFI observations of water from the intermediate mass protostar NGC 7129 FIRS 2 provide a powerful diagnostic of the physical conditions in this star formation environment. Six spectral settings, covering four (H2O)-O-16 and two (H2O)-O-18 lines, were observed and all but one (H2O)-O-18 line were detected. The four (H2O)-O-16 lines discussed here share a similar morphology: a narrower, approximate to 6kms(-1), component centered slightly redward of the systemic velocity of NGC7129 FIRS 2 and a much broader, approximate to 25 km s(-1) component centered blueward and likely associated with powerful outflows. The narrower components are consistent with emission from water arising in the envelope around the intermediate mass protostar, and the abundance of H2O is constrained to approximate to 10(-7) for the outer envelope. Additionally, the presence of a narrow self-absorption component for the lowest energy lines is likely due to self-absorption from colder water in the outer envelope. The broader component, where the H2O/CO relative abundance is found to be approximate to 0.2, appears to be tracing the same energetic region that produces strong CO emission at high J.
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| 10. |
- Marseille, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Water abundances in high-mass protostellar envelopes : Herschel observations with HIFI
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L32-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: We derive the dense core structure and the water abundance in four massive star-forming regions in the hope of understanding the earliest stages of massive star formation. Methods: We present Herschel/HIFI observations of the para-H2O 111-000 and 202-111 and the para-H_218O 111-000 transitions. The envelope contribution to the line profiles is separated from contributions by outflows and foreground clouds. The envelope contribution is modeled with Monte-Carlo radiative transfer codes for dust and molecular lines (MC3D and RATRAN), and the water abundance and the turbulent velocity width as free parameters. Results: While the outflows are mostly seen in emission in high-J lines, envelopes are seen in absorption in ground-state lines, which are almost saturated. The derived water abundances range from 5×10-10 to 4×10-8 in the outer envelopes. We detect cold clouds surrounding the protostar envelope, thanks to the very high quality of the Herschel/HIFI data and the unique ability of water to probe them. Several foreground clouds are also detected along the line of sight. Conclusions: The low H2O abundances in massive dense cores are in accordance with the expectation that high densities and low temperatures lead to freeze-out of water on dust grains. The spread in abundance values is not clearly linked to physical properties of the sources. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation of NASA.Appendix (pages 6 to 7) is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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