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- van Dishoeck, E. F., et al.
(author)
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Water in star-forming regions: Physics and chemistry from clouds to disks as probed by Herschel spectroscopy
- 2021
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 648
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context. Water is a key molecule in the physics and chemistry of star and planet formation, but it is difficult to observe from Earth. The Herschel Space Observatory provided unprecedented sensitivity as well as spatial and spectral resolution to study water. The Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel (WISH) key program was designed to observe water in a wide range of environments and provide a legacy data set to address its physics and chemistry. Aims. The aim of WISH is to determine which physical components are traced by the gas-phase water lines observed with Herschel and to quantify the excitation conditions and water abundances in each of these components. This then provides insight into how and where the bulk of the water is formed in space and how it is transported from clouds to disks, and ultimately comets and planets. Methods. Data and results from WISH are summarized together with those from related open time programs. WISH targeted ∼80 sources along the two axes of luminosity and evolutionary stage: from low- to high-mass protostars (luminosities from <1 to > 10Lpdbl) and from pre-stellar cores to protoplanetary disks. Lines of H2O and its isotopologs, HDO, OH, CO, and [O I], were observed with the HIFI and PACS instruments, complemented by other chemically-related molecules that are probes of ultraviolet, X-ray, or grain chemistry. The analysis consists of coupling the physical structure of the sources with simple chemical networks and using non-LTE radiative transfer calculations to directly compare models and observations. Results. Most of the far-infrared water emission observed with Herschel in star-forming regions originates from warm outflowing and shocked gas at a high density and temperature (> 10cm-3, 300-1000 K, v ∼ 25 km s-1), heated by kinetic energy dissipation. This gas is not probed by single-dish low-J CO lines, but only by CO lines with Jup > 14. The emission is compact, with at least two different types of velocity components seen. Water is a significant, but not dominant, coolant of warm gas in the earliest protostellar stages. The warm gas water abundance is universally low: orders of magnitude below the H2O/H2 abundance of 4 × 10-4 expected if all volatile oxygen is locked in water. In cold pre-stellar cores and outer protostellar envelopes, the water abundance structure is uniquely probed on scales much smaller than the beam through velocity-resolved line profiles. The inferred gaseous water abundance decreases with depth into the cloud with an enhanced layer at the edge due to photodesorption of water ice. All of these conclusions hold irrespective of protostellar luminosity. For low-mass protostars, a constant gaseous HDO/H2O ratio of ∼0.025 with position into the cold envelope is found. This value is representative of the outermost photodesorbed ice layers and cold gas-phase chemistry, and much higher than that of bulk ice. In contrast, the gas-phase NH3 abundance stays constant as a function of position in low-mass pre- and protostellar cores. Water abundances in the inner hot cores are high, but with variations from 5 × 10-6 to a few × 10-4 for low- and high-mass sources. Water vapor emission from both young and mature disks is weak. Conclusions. The main chemical pathways of water at each of the star-formation stages have been identified and quantified. Low warm water abundances can be explained with shock models that include UV radiation to dissociate water and modify the shock structure. UV fields up to 102-10times the general interstellar radiation field are inferred in the outflow cavity walls on scales of the Herschel beam from various hydrides. Both high temperature chemistry and ice sputtering contribute to the gaseous water abundance at low velocities, with only gas-phase (re-)formation producing water at high velocities. Combined analyses of water gas and ice show that up to 50% of the oxygen budget may be missing. In cold clouds, an elegant solution is that this apparently missing oxygen is locked up in larger μm-sized grains that do not contribute to infrared ice absorption. The fact that even warm outflows and hot cores do not show H2O at full oxygen abundance points to an unidentified refractory component, which is also found in diffuse clouds. The weak water vapor emission from disks indicates that water ice is locked up in larger pebbles early on in the embedded Class I stage and that these pebbles have settled and drifted inward by the Class II stage. Water is transported from clouds to disks mostly as ice, with no evidence for strong accretion shocks. Even at abundances that are somewhat lower than expected, many oceans of water are likely present in planet-forming regions. Based on the lessons for galactic protostars, the low-J H2O line emission (Eup < 300 K) observed in extragalactic sources is inferred to be predominantly collisionally excited and to originate mostly from compact regions of current star formation activity. Recommendations for future mid- to far-infrared missions are made.
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- Benz, A. O., et al.
(author)
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Hydrides in young stellar objects : Radiation tracers in a protostar-disk-outflow system
- 2010
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L35-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context. Hydrides of the most abundant heavier elements are fundamental molecules in cosmic chemistry. Some of them trace gas irradiated by UV or X-rays. Aims: We explore the abundances of major hydrides in W3 IRS5, a prototypical region of high-mass star formation. Methods: W3 IRS5 was observed by HIFI on the Herschel Space Observatory with deep integration (≃2500 s) in 8 spectral regions. Results: The target lines including CH, NH, H3O+, and the new molecules SH+, H2O+, and OH+ are detected. The H2O+ and OH+ J = 1-0 lines are found mostly in absorption, but also appear to exhibit weak emission (P-Cyg-like). Emission requires high density, thus originates most likely near the protostar. This is corroborated by the absence of line shifts relative to the young stellar object (YSO). In addition, H2O+ and OH+ also contain strong absorption components at a velocity shifted relative to W3 IRS5, which are attributed to foreground clouds. Conclusions: The molecular column densities derived from observations correlate well with the predictions of a model that assumes the main emission region is in outflow walls, heated and irradiated by protostellar UV radiation. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by a European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Appendix (page 5) is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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- Bose, Subhash, et al.
(author)
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Gaia17biu/SN 2017egm in NGC 3191 : The Closest Hydrogen-poor Superluminous Supernova to Date Is in a Normal, Massive, Metal-rich Spiral Galaxy
- 2018
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 853:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) have been predominantly found in low-metallicity, star-forming dwarf galaxies. Here we identify Gaia17biu/SN 2017egm as an SLSN-I occurring in a normal spiral galaxy (NGC 3191) in terms of stellar mass (several times 10(10) M-circle dot) and metallicity (roughly solar). At redshift z = 0.031, Gaia17biu is also the lowest-redshift SLSN-I to date, and the absence of a larger population of SLSNe-I in dwarf galaxies of similar redshift suggests that metallicity is likely less important to the production of SLSNe-I than previously believed. With the smallest distance and highest apparent brightness for an SLSN-I, we are able to study Gaia17biu in unprecedented detail. Its pre-peak near-ultraviolet to optical color is similar to that of Gaia16apd and among the bluest observed for an SLSN-I, while its peak luminosity (M-g = -21 mag) is substantially lower than that of Gaia16apd. Thanks to the high signal-to-noise ratios of our spectra, we identify several new spectroscopic features that may help to probe the properties of these enigmatic explosions. We detect polarization at the similar to 0.5% level that is not strongly dependent on wavelength, suggesting a modest, global departure from spherical symmetry. In addition, we put the tightest upper limit yet on the radio luminosity of an SLSN-I with < 5.4 x 10(26) erg s(-1) Hz(-1) at 10 GHz, which is almost a factor of 40 better than previous upper limits and one of the few measured at an early stage in the evolution of an SLSN-I. This limit largely rules out an association of this SLSN-I with known populations of gamma-ray-burst-like central engines.
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- Fich, M., et al.
(author)
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Herschel-PACS spectroscopy of the intermediate mass protostar NGC 7129 FIRS 2
- 2010
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 518:Article Number: L86
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims. We present preliminary results of the first Herschel spectroscopic observations of NGC 7129 FIRS2, an intermediate mass star-forming region. We attempt to interpret the observations in the framework of an in-falling spherical envelope. Methods. The PACS instrument was used in line spectroscopy mode ( R = 1000-5000) with 15 spectral bands between 63 and 185 mu m. This provided good detections of 26 spectral lines seen in emission, including lines of H2O, CO, OH, O I, and C II. Results. Most of the detected lines, particularly those of H2O and CO, are substantially stronger than predicted by the spherical envelope models, typically by several orders of magnitude. In this paper we focus on what can be learned from the detected CO emission lines. Conclusions. It is unlikely that the much stronger than expected line emission arises in the (spherical) envelope of the YSO. The region hot enough to produce such high excitation lines within such an envelope is too small to produce the amount of emission observed. Virtually all of this high excitation emission must arise in structures such as as along the walls of the outflow cavity with the emission produced by a combination of UV photon heating and/or non-dissociative shocks.
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- Kristensen, L. E., et al.
(author)
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Water in low-mass star-forming regions with Herschel . HIFI spectroscopy of NGC 1333
- 2010
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L30-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- “Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel” (WISH) is a key programme dedicated to studying the role of water and related species during the star-formation process and constraining the physical and chemical properties of young stellar objects. The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) on the Herschel Space Observatory observed three deeply embedded protostars in the low-mass star-forming region NGC 1333 in several H_216O, H_218O, and CO transitions. Line profiles are resolved for five H_216O transitions in each source, revealing them to be surprisingly complex. The line profiles are decomposed into broad (>20 km s-1), medium-broad (~5-10 km s-1), and narrow (<5 km s-1) components. The H_218O emission is only detected in broad 110-101 lines (>20 km s-1), indicating that its physical origin is the same as for the broad H_216O component. In one of the sources, IRAS4A, an inverse P Cygni profile is observed, a clear sign of infall in the envelope. From the line profiles alone, it is clear that the bulk of emission arises from shocks, both on small (⪉1000 AU) and large scales along the outflow cavity walls (~10 000 AU). The H2O line profiles are compared to CO line profiles to constrain the H2O abundance as a function of velocity within these shocked regions. The H2O/CO abundance ratios are measured to be in the range of ~0.1-1, corresponding to H2O abundances of ~10-5-10-4 with respect to H2. Approximately 5-10% of the gas is hot enough for all oxygen to be driven into water in warm post-shock gas, mostly at high velocities. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Tables 2 and 3 (page 6) are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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- Simon, Joshua D., et al.
(author)
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Variable Sodium Absorption in a Low-extinction Type Ia Supernova
- 2009
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 702, s. 1157-1170
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent observations have revealed that some Type Ia supernovae exhibit narrow, time-variable Na I D absorption features. The origin of the absorbing material is controversial, but it may suggest the presence of circumstellar gas in the progenitor system prior to the explosion, with significant implications for the nature of the supernova (SN) progenitors. We present the third detection of such variable absorption, based on six epochs of high-resolution spectroscopy of the Type Ia supernova SN 2007le from the Keck I Telescope and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. The data span a time frame of approximately three months, from 5 days before maximum light to 90 days after maximum. We find that one component of the Na I D absorption lines strengthened significantly with time, indicating a total column density increase of ~2.5 × 1012 cm-2. The data limit the typical timescale for the variability to be more than 2 days but less than 10 days. The changes appear to be most prominent after maximum light rather than at earlier times when the ultraviolet flux from the SN peaks. As with SN 2006X, we detect no change in the Ca II H and K absorption lines over the same time period, rendering line-of-sight effects improbable and suggesting a circumstellar origin for the absorbing material. Unlike the previous two supernovae exhibiting variable absorption, SN 2007le is not highly reddened (E B - V = 0.27 mag), also pointing toward circumstellar rather than interstellar absorption. Photoionization calculations show that the data are consistent with a dense (107 cm-3) cloud or clouds of gas located ~0.1 pc (3 × 1017 cm) from the explosion. These results broadly support the single-degenerate scenario previously proposed to explain the variable absorption, with mass loss from a nondegenerate companion star responsible for providing the circumstellar gas. We also present possible evidence for narrow Hα emission associated with the SN, which will require deep imaging and spectroscopy at late times to confirm. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. Based in part on observations obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
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- Wyrowski, F., et al.
(author)
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Variations in H2O+/H2O ratios toward massive star-forming regions
- 2010
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L34-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Early results from the Herschel Space Observatory revealed the water cation H2O+ to be an abundant ingredient of the interstellar medium. Here we present new observations of the H2O and H2O+ lines at 1113.3 and 1115.2 GHz using the Herschel Space Observatory toward a sample of high-mass star-forming regions to observationally study the relation between H2O and H2O+. Nine out of ten sources show absorption from H2O+ in a range of environments: the molecular clumps surrounding the forming and newly formed massive stars, bright high-velocity outflows associated with the massive protostars, and unrelated low-density clouds along the line of sight. Column densities per velocity component of H2O+ are found in the range of 10(12) to a few 10(13) cm(-2). The highest N(H2O+) column densities are found in the outflows of the sources. The ratios of H2O+/H2O are determined in a range from 0.01 to a few and are found to differ strongly between the observed environments with much lower ratios in the massive (proto) cluster envelopes (0.01-0.1) than in outflows and diffuse clouds. Remarkably, even for source components detected in H2O in emission, H2O+ is still seen in absorption.
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