| 1. |
- Fomalont, E. B., et al.
(författare)
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THE 2014 ALMA LONG BASELINE CAMPAIGN: AN OVERVIEW
- 2015
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8213 .- 2041-8205. ; 808:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A major goal of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to make accurate images with resolutions of tens of milliarcseconds, which at submillimeter (submm) wavelengths requires baselines up to similar to 15 km. To develop and test this capability, a Long Baseline Campaign (LBC) was carried out from 2014 September to late November, culminating in end-to-end observations, calibrations, and imaging of selected Science Verification (SV) targets. This paper presents an overview of the campaign and its main results, including an investigation of the short-term coherence properties and systematic phase errors over the long baselines at the ALMA site, a summary of the SV targets and observations, and recommendations for science observing strategies at long baselines. Deep ALMA images of the quasar 3C 138 at 97 and 241 GHz are also compared to VLA 43 GHz results, demonstrating an agreement at a level of a few percent. As a result of the extensive program of LBC testing, the highly successful SV imaging at long baselines achieved angular resolutions as fine as 19 mas at similar to 350 GHz. Observing with ALMA on baselines of up to 15 km is now possible, and opens up new parameter space for submm astronomy.
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| 2. |
- Aladro, Rebeca, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular gas in the northern nucleus of Mrk 273: Physical and chemical properties of the disc and its outflow
- 2018
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 617
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aiming to characterise the properties of the molecular gas in the ultra-luminous infrared galaxy Mrk 273 and its outflow, we used the NOEMA interferometer to image the dense-gas molecular tracers HCN, HCO+, HNC, HOC+ and HC3N at similar to 86 GHz and similar to 256 GHz with angular resolutions of 4.'' 9 x 4.'' 5 (similar to 3.7 x 3.4 kpc) and 0.'' 61 x 0.'' 55 (similar to 460 x 420 pc). We also modelled the flux of several H2O lines observed with Herschel using a radiative transfer code that includes excitation by collisions and far-infrared photons. The disc of the Mrk 273 north nucleus has two components with decoupled kinematics. The gas in the outer parts (R similar to 1.5 kpc) rotates with a south-east to north-west direction, while in the inner disc (R similar to 300 pc) follows a north-east to south-west rotation. The central 300 pc, which hosts a compact starburst region, is filled with dense and warm gas, and contains a dynamical mass of (4-5) x 10(9) M-circle dot, a luminosity of L'HCN = (3-4) x 10(8) K km s(-1) pc(2), and a dust temperature of 55 K. At the very centre, a compact core with R similar to 50 pc has a luminosity of LIR = 4 x 10(11) L-circle dot (30% of the total infrared luminosity), and a dust temperature of 95 K. The core is expanding at low velocities similar to 50-100 km s(-1), probably affected by the outflowing gas. We detect the blue-shifted component of the outflow, while the red-shifted counterpart remains undetected in our data. Its cold and dense phase reaches fast velocities up to similar to 1000 km s(-1), while the warm outflowing gas has more moderate maximum velocities of similar to 600 km s(-1). The outflow is compact, being detected as far as 460 pc from the centre in the northern direction, and has a mass of dense gas <= 8 x 10(8) M-circle dot. The difference between the position angles of the inner disc (similar to 70 degrees) and the outflow (similar to 10 degrees) indicates that the outflow is likely powered by the AGN, and not by the starburst. Regarding the chemistry in Mrk 273, we measure an extremely low HCO+/HOC+ ratio of 10 +/- 5 in the inner disc of Mrk 273.
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| 3. |
- Alatalo, K., et al.
(författare)
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After the interaction: An efficiently star-forming molecular disk in NGC 5195
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 830:2, s. 137-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present new molecular gas maps of NGC 5195 (alternatively known as M51b) from the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter Astronomy, including 12CO(1-0), 13CO(1-0), CN(1-), CS(2-1), and 3 mm continuum. We also detected HCN(1-0) and HCO+(1-0) using the Onsala Space Observatory. NGC 5195 has a 12CO/13CO ratio (R12/13= 11.4 ± 0.5) consistent with normal star-forming galaxies. The CN(1-0) intensity is higher than is seen in an average star-forming galaxy, possibly enhanced in the diffuse gas in photo-dissociation regions. Stellar template fitting of the nuclear spectrum of NGC 5195 shows two stellar populations: an 80% mass fraction of old (10 Gyr) and a 20% mass fraction of intermediate-aged (?1 Gyr) stellar populations. This provides a constraint on the timescale over which NGC 5195 experienced enhanced star formation during its interaction with M51a. The average molecular gas depletion timescale in NGC 5195 is = 3.08 Gyr, a factor of larger than the depletion timescales in nearby star-forming galaxies, but consistent with the depletion seen in CO-detected early-type galaxies. While radio continuum emission at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths is present in the vicinity of the nucleus of NGC 5195, we find it is most likely associated with nuclear star formation rather than radio-loud AGN activity. Thus, despite having a substantial interaction with M51a ?1/2 Gyr ago, the molecular gas in NGC 5195 has resettled and is currently forming stars at an efficiency consistent with settled early-type galaxies.
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| 4. |
- Barrientos, Alejandro, et al.
(författare)
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Towards the prediction of molecular parameters from astronomical emission lines using Neural Networks
- 2021
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Ingår i: Experimental Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 52:1-2, s. 157-182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecular astronomy is a field that is blooming in the era of large observatories such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). With modern, sensitive, and high spectral resolution radio telescopes like ALMA and the Square Kilometer Array, the size of the data cubes is rapidly escalating, generating a need for powerful automatic analysis tools. This work introduces MolPred, a pilot study to perform predictions of molecular parameters such as excitation temperature (Tex) and column density (log(N)) from input spectra by the use of neural networks. We used as test cases the spectra of CO, HCO+, SiO and CH3CN between 80 and 400 GHz. Training spectra were generated with MADCUBA, a state-of-the-art spectral analysis tool. Our algorithm was designed to allow the generation of predictions for multiple molecules in parallel. Using neural networks, we can predict the column density and excitation temperature of these molecules with a mean absolute error of 8.5% for CO, 4.1% for HCO+, 1.5% for SiO and 1.6% for CH3CN. The prediction accuracy depends on the noise level, line saturation, and number of transitions. We performed predictions upon real ALMA data. The values predicted by our neural network for this real data differ by 13% from the MADCUBA values on average. Current limitations of our tool include not considering linewidth, source size, multiple velocity components, and line blending.
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| 5. |
- Behrens, E., et al.
(författare)
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Tracing Interstellar Heating: An ALCHEMI Measurement of the HCN Isomers in NGC 253
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 939:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We analyze HCN and HNC emission in the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 to investigate its effectiveness in tracing heating processes associated with star formation. This study uses multiple HCN and HNC rotational transitions observed using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array via the ALCHEMI Large Program. To understand the conditions and associated heating mechanisms within NGC 253's dense gas, we employ Bayesian nested sampling techniques applied to chemical and radiative transfer models, which are constrained using our HCN and HNC measurements. We find that the volume density n H 2 and cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR) ζ are enhanced by about an order of magnitude in the galaxy’s central regions as compared to those further from the nucleus. In NGC 253's central giant molecular clouds (GMCs), where observed HCN/HNC abundance ratios are the lowest, n ∼ 105.5 cm−3 and ζ ∼ 10−12 s−1 (greater than 104 times the average Galactic rate). We find a positive correlation in the association of both density and CRIR with the number of star formation-related heating sources (supernova remnants, H ii regions, and super hot cores) located in each GMC, as well as a correlation between CRIRs and supernova rates. Additionally, we see an anticorrelation between the HCN/HNC ratio and CRIR, indicating that this ratio will be lower in regions where ζ is higher. Though previous studies suggested HCN and HNC may reveal strong mechanical heating processes in NGC 253's CMZ, we find cosmic-ray heating dominates the heating budget, and mechanical heating does not play a significant role in the HCN and HNC chemistry.
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| 6. |
- Burillo, S. G., et al.
(författare)
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ALMA imaging of C2H emission in the disk of NGC 1068
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 608, s. A56-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. We study the feedback of star formation and nuclear activity on the chemistry of molecular gas in NGC 1068, a nearby (D = 14 Mpc) Seyfert 2 barred galaxy, by analyzing whether the abundances of key molecular species such as ethynyl (C2H), which is a classical tracer of photon dominated regions (PDR), change in the different environments of the disk of the galaxy. Methods. We used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to map the emission of the hyperfine multiplet of C2H(N = 1-0) and its underlying continuum emission in the central r similar or equal to 35" (2.5 kpc) region of the disk of NGC 1068 with a spatial resolution 1.0 x 0.7 (similar or equal to 50-70 pc). We used maps of the dust continuum emission obtained at 349 GHz by ALMA to derive the H-2 gas column densities and combined these with the C2H map at matched spatial resolution to estimate the fractional abundance of this species. We developed a set of time-dependent chemical models, which include shocks, gas-phase PDRs, and gas-grain chemical models to determine the origin of the C2H gas. Results. A sizeable fraction of the total C2H line emission is detected from the r similar or equal to 1.3 kpc starburst (SB) ring, which is a region that concentrates the bulk of the recent massive star formation in the disk traced by the Pa alpha emission complexes imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). However, the brightest C2H emission originates from a r similar or equal to 200 pc off -centered circumnuclear disk (CND), where evidence of a molecular outflow has been previously found in other molecular tracers imaged by ALMA. We also detect significant emission that connects the CND with the outer disk in a region that probes the interface between the molecular disk and ionized gas outflow out to r similar or equal to 400 pc. We derived the fractional abundances of C2H (X(C2H)) assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) conditions and a set of excitation temperatures (T-ex) constrained by the previous multiline CO studies of the galaxy. Our estimates range from X(C2H) similar or equal to a few 10(-8) in the SB ring up to X(C2H) similar or equal to a few 10(-7) in the outflow region. The PDR models that incorporate gas-grain chemistry are able to account for X(C2H) in the SB ring for moderately dense (n(H-2) >= 10(4) cm(-3)) and moderately UV-irradiated gas (UV-field = 10(4-5) cm(-3)). Conclusions. We find that the transient conditions required to fit the high values of X(C2H) in the outflow are likely due to UV or X-ray irradiated non-dissociative shocks associated with the highly turbulent interface between the outflow and molecular gas in NGC 1068. Although the inferred local timescales are short, the erosion of molecular clouds by the active galactic nucleus (AGN) wind and/or the jet likely resupplies the interface working surface continuously, making a nearly steady state persist in the disk of the galaxy.
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| 7. |
- Falstad, Niklas, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Hidden or missing outflows in highly obscured galaxy nuclei?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 623
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the nuclear growth and feedback processes in galaxies requires investigating their often obscured central regions. One way to do this is to use (sub)millimeter line emission from vibrationally excited HCN (HCN-vib), which is thought to trace warm and highly enshrouded galaxy nuclei. It has been suggested that the most intense HCN-vib emission from a galaxy is connected to a phase of nuclear growth that occurs before the nuclear feedback processes have been fully developed. Aims. We aim to investigate if there is a connection between the presence of strong HCN-vib emission and the development of feedback in (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs). Methods. We collected literature and archival data to compare the luminosities of rotational lines of HCN-vib, normalized to the total infrared luminosity, to the median velocities of 119 μm OH absorption lines, potentially indicating outflows, in a total of 17 (U)LIRGs. Results. The most HCN-vib luminous systems all lack signatures of significant molecular outflows in the far-infrared OH absorption lines. However, at least some of the systems with bright HCN-vib emission have fast and collimated outflows that can be seen in spectral lines at longer wavelengths, including in millimeter emission lines of CO and HCN (in its vibrational ground state) and in radio absorption lines of OH. Conclusions. We conclude that the galaxy nuclei with the highest L HCN-vib /L IR do not drive wide-angle outflows that are detectable using the median velocities of far-infrared OH absorption lines. This is possibly because of an orientation effect in which sources oriented in such a way that their outflows are not along our line of sight also radiate a smaller proportion of their infrared luminosity in our direction. It could also be that massive wide-angle outflows destroy the deeply embedded regions responsible for bright HCN-vib emission, so that the two phenomena cannot coexist. This would strengthen the idea that vibrationally excited HCN traces a heavily obscured stage of evolution before nuclear feedback mechanisms are fully developed.
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| 8. |
- Galametz, M., et al.
(författare)
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Water, methanol and dense gas tracers in the local ULIRG Arp 220: results from the new SEPIA Band 5 Science Verification campaign
- 2016
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966 .- 1745-3925 .- 1745-3933. ; 462:1, s. L36-L40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a line survey of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp 220, taken with the newly installed SEPIA (Swedish-European Southern Observatory PI receiver for APEX) Band 5 instrument on APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment). We illustrate the capacity of SEPIA to detect the 183.3 GHz H(2)O3(1,3)-2(2,0) line against the atmospheric H2O absorption feature. We confirm the previous detection of the HCN(2-1) line, and detect new transitions of standard dense gas tracers such as HNC(2-1), HCO+(2-1), CS(4-3), (CS)-S-34(4-3) and HC3N(20-19). We also detect HCN(2-1) v(2) = 1 and the 193.5 GHz methanol (4-3) group for the first time. The absence of time variations in the megamaser water line compared to previous observations seems to rule out an AGN nuclear origin for the line. It could, on the contrary, favour a thermal origin instead, but also possibly be a sign that the megamaser emission is associated with star-forming cores washed out in the beam. We finally discuss how the new transitions of HCN, HNC and HCO+ refine our knowledge of the interstellar medium physical conditions in Arp 220.
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| 9. |
- Harada, N., et al.
(författare)
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ALCHEMI Finds a “Shocking” Carbon Footprint in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 253
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 938:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The centers of starburst galaxies may be characterized by a specific gas and ice chemistry due to their gas dynamics and the presence of various ice desorption mechanisms. This may result in a peculiar observable composition. We analyse the abundances of CO2, a reliable tracer of ice chemistry, from data collected as part of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array large program ALCHEMI, a wide-frequency spectral scan toward the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with an angular resolution of 1.″6. We constrain the CO2 abundances in the gas phase using its protonated form HOCO+. The distribution of HOCO+ is similar to that of methanol, which suggests that HOCO+ is indeed produced from the protonation of CO2 sublimated from ice. The HOCO+ fractional abundances are found to be (1-2) × 10−9 at the outer part of the central molecular zone (CMZ), while they are lower (∼10−10) near the kinematic center. This peak fractional abundance at the outer CMZ is comparable to that in the Milky Way CMZ, and orders of magnitude higher than that in Galactic disk, star-forming regions. From the range of HOCO+/CO2 ratios suggested from chemical models, the gas-phase CO2 fractional abundance is estimated to be (1-20) × 10−7 at the outer CMZ, and orders of magnitude lower near the center. We estimate the CO2 ice fractional abundances at the outer CMZ to be (2-5) × 10−6 from the literature. A comparison between the ice and gas CO2 abundances suggests an efficient sublimation mechanism. This sublimation is attributed to large-scale shocks at the orbital intersections of the bar and CMZ.
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| 10. |
- Harada, N., et al.
(författare)
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Chemical features in the circumnuclear disk of the Galactic center
- 2015
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 584
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. The circumnuclear disk (CND) of the Galactic center is exposed to many energetic phenomena coming from the supermassive black hole Sgr A* and from stellar activities. These energetic activities can affect the chemical composition in the CND through interaction with UV photons, cosmic rays, X-rays, and shock waves. We aim to constrain the physical conditions present in the CND through chemical modeling of observed molecular species detected toward it. Methods. We analyzed a selected set of molecular line data taken toward a position in the southwest lobe of the CND with the IRAM 30m and APEX 12-m telescopes and derived the column density of each molecule via a large velocity gradient (LVG) analysis. The determined chemical composition is compared with a time-dependent, gas-grain chemical model based on the UCL_CHEM code, which includes the effects of shock waves with varying physical parameters. Results. We detect molecules, such as CO, HCN, HCO+, HNC, CS, SO, SiO, NO, CN, H2CO, HC3N, N2H+, and H3O+, and obtain their column densities. Total hydrogen densities obtained from LVG analysis range between 2x10(4) and 1x10(6) cm(-3) and most species indicate values around several x10(5) cm(-3). These values are lower than those corresponding to the Roche limit, which shows that the CND is tidally unstable. The chemical models show good agreement with the observations in cases where the density is similar to 10(4) cm(-3), the cosmic-ray ionization rate is high, > 10(-15) s(-1), or shocks with velocities > 40 km s(-)1 have occurred. Conclusions. Comparison of models and observations favors a scenario where the cosmic-ray ionization rate in the CND is high, but precise effects of other factors, such as shocks, density structures, UV photons, and X-rays from the Sgr A*, must be examined with higher spatial resolution data.
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