O(18)O and C(18)O observations of rho Ophiuchi A

• Context. Contrary to theoretical expectation, surprisingly low concentrations of molecular oxygen, O-2, have been found in the interstellar medium. Telluric absorption makes ground based O-2 observations essentially impossible and observations had to be done from space. Millimetre-wave telescopes on space platforms were necessarily small, which resulted in large, several arcminutes wide, beam patterns. Observations of the (N-J = 1(1)-1(0)) ground state transition of O-2 with the Odin satellite resulted in a greater than or similar to 5 sigma detection toward the dense core rho OphA. At the frequency of the line, 119 GHz, the Odin telescope has a beam width of 10', larger than the size of the dense core. Aims. The precise nature of the emitting source and its exact location and extent are therefore unknown. The current investigation is intended to remedy this. Methods. Although the Earth's atmosphere is entirely opaque to low-lying O-2 transitions, it allows ground based observations of the much rarer (OO)-O-16-O-18 in favourable conditions and at much higher angular resolution with larger telescopes. In addition, rho OphA exhibits both multiple radial velocity systems and considerable velocity gradients. Extensive mapping of the region in the proxy (CO)-O-18 (J = 3-2) line can be expected to help identify the O-2 source on the basis of its line shape and Doppler velocity. Line opacities were determined from observations of optically thin (CO)-C-13-O-18 (J = 3-2). During several observing periods, two C18O intensity maxima in rho OphA were searched for (OO)-O-18 in the (2(1)-0(1)) line at 234 GHz with the 12m APEX telescope. These positions are associated also with peaks in the mm-continuum emission from dust. Results. Our observations resulted in an upper limit on the integrated O18O intensity of integral T-A* dv 16. Combining Odin's O-2 with the present (OO)-O-18 observations we infer an O-2 abundance 5 x 10(-7)

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Rymd- och flygteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Aerospace Engineering (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

upper limits

ISM: molecules

ISM: clouds

ISM: individual objects: rho

apex telescope

rotational-excitation

chemistry

molecular-oxygen

OphA SM1N

star-formation

dark cloud

abundance

ISM: abundances

ISM: lines and bands

ISM: individual objects: rho OphA SM1

dense interstellar clouds

o-2

NATURAL SCIENCES

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)