| 1. |
- de Graauw, Th., et al.
(författare)
-
The Herschel-Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI)
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 518, s. L6-
-
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.
|
|
| 3. |
- Bujarrabal, V., et al.
(författare)
-
Herschel/HIFI observations of high-J CO transitions in the protoplanetary nebula CRL 618
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521:1, s. Article Number: L3-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. We aim to study the physical conditions, particularly the excitation state, of the intermediate-temperature gas components in the protoplanetary nebula CRL 618. These components are particularly important for understanding the evolution of the nebula. Methods. We performed Herschel/HIFI observations of several CO lines in the far-infrared/sub-mm in the protoplanetary nebula CRL 618. The high spectral resolution provided by HIFI allows measurement of the line profiles. Since the dynamics and structure of the nebula is well known from mm-wave interferometric maps, it is possible to identify the contributions of the different nebular components (fast bipolar outflows, double shells, compact slow shell) to the line profiles. The observation of these relatively high-energy transitions allows an accurate study of the excitation conditions in these components, particularly in the warm ones, which cannot be properly studied from the low-energy lines. Results. The (CO)-C-12 J = 16-15, 10-9, and 6-5 lines are easily detected in this source. Both (CO)-C-13 J = 10-9 and 6-5 are also detected. Wide profiles showing spectacular line wings have been found, particularly in (CO)-C-12 J = 16-15. Other lines observed simultaneously with CO are also shown. Our analysis of the CO high-J transitions, when compared with the existing models, confirms the very low expansion velocity of the central, dense component, which probably indicates that the shells ejected during the last AGB phases were driven by radiation pressure under a regime of maximum transfer of momentum. No contribution of the diffuse halo found from mm-wave data is identified in our spectra, because of its low temperature. We find that the fast bipolar outflow is quite hot, much hotter than previously estimated; for instance, gas flowing at 100 km s(-1) must have a temperature higher than similar to 200 K. Probably, this very fast outflow, with a kinematic age
|
|
