Photon-dominated regions (PDRs) are powerful molecular line emitters in external galaxies. They are expected in galaxies with high rates of massive star formation due to either starburst (SB) events or starburst coupled with active galactic nuclei (AGN) events. We have explored the PDR chemistry for a range of physical conditions representing a variety of galaxy types. Our main result is a demonstration of the sensitivity of the chemistry to changes in the physical conditions. We adopt crude estimates of relevant physical parameters for several galaxy types and use our models to predict suitable molecular tracers of those conditions. The set of recommended molecular tracers differs from that which we recommended for use in galaxies with embedded massive stars. Thus, molecular observations can in principle be used to distinguish between excitation by starburst and by SB+AGN in distant galaxies. Our recommendations are intended to be useful in preparing Herschel and ALMA proposals to identify sources of excitation in galaxies.
C+ is a key species in the interstellar medium but its 158 μm fine structure line cannot be observed from ground-based telescopes. Current models of fluorine chemistry predict that CF+ is the second most important fluorine reservoir, in regions where C+ is abundant. We detected the J = 1-0 and J = 2-1 rotational lines of CF+ with high signal-to-noise ratio towards the PDR and dense core positions in the Horsehead. Using a rotational diagram analysis, we derive a column density of N(CF+) = (1.5 - 2.0) \times 10^12 cm^-2. Because of the simple fluorine chemistry, the CF+ column density is propor…
Recent Herschel and ALMA observations of Photodissociation Regions (PDRs) have revealed the presence of a high thermal pressure (P ~ 10^7-10^8 K cm-3) thin compressed layer at the PDR surface where warm molecular tracer emission (e.g. CH+, SH+, high-J CO, H2,...) originate. These high pressures (unbalanced by the surrounding environment) and a correlation between pressure and incident FUV field (G0) seem to indicate a dynamical origin with the radiation field playing an important role in driving the dynamics. We investigate whether photoevaporation of the illuminated edge of a molecular cloud …
Young massive stars regulate the physical conditions, ionization, and fate of their natal molecular cloud. It is important to find tracers that help quantifying the stellar feedback processes that take place at different scales. We present ~85 arcmin^2 velocity-resolved maps of several submm molecular lines toward the closest high-mass star-forming region, OMC-1. The observed rotational lines include probes of warm and dense molecular gas that are difficult to detect from ground-based telescopes: CH+ (1-0), CO (10-9), HCO+ (6-5), and HCN (6-5). These lines trace an extended but thin layer of m…
A two dimensional hydrochemical hybrid code, KM2, is constructed to deal with astrophysical problems that would require coupled hydrodynamical and chemical evolution. The code assumes axisymmetry in cylindrical coordinate system, and consists of two modules: a hydrodynamics module and a chemistry module. The hydrodynamics module solves hydrodynamics using a Godunov-type finite volume scheme and treats included chemical species as passively advected scalars. The chemistry module implicitly solves non-equilibrium chemistry and change of the energy due to thermal processes with transfer of extern…
The radiation from stars and active galactic nuclei (AGN) creates photodissociation regions (PDRs) and X-ray dominated regions (XDRs), where the chemistry or heating are dominated by far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation or X-ray radiation, respectively. PDRs include a wide range of environments from the diffuse interstellar medium to dense star-forming regions. XDRs are found in the center of galaxies hosting AGN, in protostellar disks, and in the vicinity of X-ray binaries. In this review, we describe the dominant thermal, chemical, and radiation transfer processes in PDRs and XDRs, as well as a b…
Water Abundance and Ortho-Para Ratio in the S140 Photon Dominated Region
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院喷气推进实验室）；Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学）；Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université（巴黎天文台，巴黎文理研究大学，法国国家科学研究中心，索邦大学）；Instituto de Física Fundamental (CSIC)（基础物理研究所（西班牙高等科学研究委员会））
Mon R2, at a distance of 830 pc, is the only ultracompact HII region (UC HII) where the photon-dominated region (PDR) between the ionized gas and the molecular cloud can be resolved with Herschel. HIFI observations of the abundant compounds 13CO, C18O, o-H2-18O, HCO+, CS, CH, and NH have been used to derive the physical and chemical conditions in the PDR, in particular the water abundance. The 13CO, C18O, o-H2-18O, HCO+ and CS observations are well described assuming that the emission is coming from a dense (n=5E6 cm-3, N(H2)>1E22 cm-2) layer of molecular gas around the UC HII. Based on our o-…
Mid-infrared (IR) observations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and molecular hydrogen emission are a potentially powerful tool to derive physical properties of dense environments irradiated by intense UV fields. We present new, spatially resolved, \emph{Spitzer} mid-IR spectroscopy of the high UV-field and dense photodissocation region (PDR) around Monoceros R2, the closest ultracompact \hII region, revealing the spatial structure of ionized gas, PAHs and H$_2$ emissions. Using a PDR model and PAH emission feature fitting algorithm, we build a comprehensive picture of the physical c…
We investigate the gas dynamics and the physical properties of photodissociation regions (PDRs) in IC1396A, which is an illuminated bright-rimmed globule with internal structures created by young stellar objects. Our mapping observations of the [CII] emission in IC1396A with GREAT onboard SOFIA revealed the detailed velocity structure of this region. We combined them with observations of the [CI] 3P_1 - 3P_0 and CO(4-3) emissions to study the dynamics of the different tracers and physical properties of the PDRs. The [CII] emission generally matches the IRAC 8 micron, which traces the polycycli…
The early B star S1 in the Rho Ophiuchus cloud excites an HII region and illuminates a large egg-shaped photodissociation (PDR) cavity. The PDR is restricted to the west and south-west by the dense molecular Rho Oph A ridge, expanding more freely into the diffuse low density cloud to the north-east. We analyze new SOFIA GREAT, GMRT and APEX data together with archival data from Herschel/PACS, JCMT/HARPS to study the properties of the photo-irradiated ionized and neutral gas in this region. The tracers include [C II] at 158 micron, [O I] at 63 and 145 micron, J=6-5 transitions of CO and 13CO, H…
We present the results of data analysis of the [CI] ($^{3}P_{1}$-$^{3}P_{0}$) emission from the $ρ$ Ophiuchi A photon-dominated region (PDR) obtained in the ALMA ACA stand-alone mode with a spatial resolution of 2.''6 (360 au). The [CI] emission shows filamentary structures with a width of $\sim$1000 au, which are adjacent to the shell structure seen in the 4.5 $μ$m map. We found that the 4.5 $μ$m emission, C$^0$, and CO are distributed in this order from the excitation star (S1) in a complementary pattern. These results indicate that [CI] is emitted from a thin layer in the PDR generated by t…
A significant fraction of the molecular gas in star-forming regions is irradiated by stellar UV photons. In these environments, the electron density (n_e) plays a critical role in the gas dynamics, chemistry, and collisional excitation of certain molecules. We determine n_e in the prototypical strongly irradiated photodissociation region (PDR), the Orion Bar, from the detection of new millimeter-wave carbon recombination lines (mmCRLs) and existing far-IR [13CII] hyperfine line observations. We detect 12 mmCRLs (including alpha, beta, and gamma transitions) observed with the IRAM 30m telescope…
The physical and chemical conditions in photodissociation regions (PDRs) are largely determined by the influence of far ultraviolet radiation. Far-UV photons can efficiently dissociate molecular hydrogen, a process that must be balanced at the HI/H2 interface of the PDR. Given that reactions involving hydrogen atoms in the gas phase are highly inefficient under interstellar conditions, H2 formation models mostly rely on catalytic reactions on the surface of dust grains. Additionally, molecular hydrogen formation in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) through the Eley-Rideal mechanism has b…
A photon dominated region (PDR) is one of the leading candidate mechanisms for the origin of the warm CO gas with near universal $\sim$300~K rotational temperature inferred from the CO emission detected towards embedded protostars by Herschel/PACS. We have developed a PDR model in general coordinates, where we can use the most adequate coordinate system for an embedded protostar having outflow cavity walls, to solve chemistry and gas energetics self-consistently for given UV radiation fields with different spectral shapes. Simple 1D tests and applications show that FIR mid-$J$ ($14\leq J\leq 2…
(Abridged) The Magellanic Clouds provide a nearby laboratory for metal-poor dwarf galaxies. The low dust abundance enhances the penetration of UV photons into the interstellar medium (ISM), resulting in a relatively larger filling factor of the ionized gas. Furthermore, there is likely a hidden molecular gas reservoir probed by the [CII]157um line. We present Herschel/PACS maps in several tracers, [CII], [OI]63um,145um, [NII]122um, [NIII]57um, and [OIII]88um in the HII region N11B in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Halpha and [OIII]5007A images were used as complementary data to investigate the ef…
We present [Ci] and [Cii] observations of a linear edge region in the Taurus molecular cloud, and model this region as a cylindrically symmetric PDR exposed to a low-intensity UV radiation field. The sharp, long profile of the linear edge makes it an ideal case to test PDR models and determine cloud parameters. We compare observations of the [C i], 3P1 -> 3P0 (492 GHz), [C i] 3P2 -> 3P1 (809 GHz), and [Cii] 2P3/2 -> 2P1/2 (1900 GHz) transitions, as well as the lowest rotational transitions of 12CO and 13CO, with line intensities produced by the RATRAN radiative transfer code from the results o…
In bright photodissociation regions (PDRs) associated to massive star formation, the presence of dense "clumps" that are immersed in a less dense interclump medium is often proposed to explain the difficulty of models to account for the observed gas emission in high-excitation lines. We aim at presenting a comprehensive view of the modeling of the CO rotational ladder in PDRs, including the high-J lines that trace warm molecular gas at PDR interfaces. We observed the 12CO and 13CO ladders in two prototypical PDRs, the Orion Bar and NGC 7023 NW using the instruments onboard Herschel. We also co…
Photodissociation regions (PDRs) contain a large fraction of all of the interstellar matter in galaxies. Classical examples include the boundaries between ionized regions and molecular clouds in regions of massive star formation, marking the point where all of the photons energetic enough to ionize hydrogen have been absorbed. In this paper we determine the physical properties of the PDRs associated with the star forming regions IRAS 23133+6050 and S 106 and present them in the context of other Galactic PDRs associated with massive star forming regions. We employ Herschel PACS and SPIRE spectr…
Since the launch of the Herschel Space Observatory, our understanding about the photo-dissociation regions (PDR) has taken a step forward. In the bandwidth of the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) of the Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) on board Herschel, ten CO rotational transitions, including J=4-3 to J=13-12, and three fine structure lines, including [CI] 609, [CI] 370, and [NII] 250 micron, are covered. In this paper, we present our findings from the FTS observations at the nuclear region of M83, based on the spatially resolved physical parameters derived from the CO s…
We use the IRS on Spitzer to observe the southern part of the reflection nebula NGC 2023, including the Southern Ridge, which is a photodissociation region par excellence excited by HD 37903. Five pure-rotational H2 emission lines are detected and mapped over and around the Southern Ridge in order to compare with predicted level column densities from theoretical PDR models. We find very good agreement between PDR model predictions and emission line intensities and ratios measured with Spitzer, leading us to conclude that grain photoelectric heating sufficiently warms the gas to produce the obs…
Far-infrared molecular emission is an important tool used to understand the excitation mechanisms of the gas in the inter-stellar medium of star-forming galaxies. In the present work, we model the emission from rotational transitions with critical densities n >~ 10^4 cm-3. We include 4-3 < J <= 15-14 transitions of CO and 13CO, in addition to J <= 7-6 transitions of HCN, HNC, and HCO+ on galactic scales. We do this by re-sampling high density gas in a hydrodynamic model of a gas-rich disk galaxy, assuming that the density field of the interstellar medium of the model galaxy follows the probabi…
We explore the utility of CI as an alternative high-fidelity gas mass tracer for Galactic molecular clouds. We evaluate the X$_{\rm CI}$-factor for the 609 $μ$m carbon line, the analog of the CO X-factor, which is the ratio of the H$_2$ column density to the integrated $^{12}$CO(1-0) line intensity. We use 3D-PDR to post-process hydrodynamic simulations of turbulent, star-forming clouds. We compare the emission of CI and CO for model clouds irradiated by 1 and 10 times the average background and demonstrate that CI is a comparable or superior tracer of the molecular gas distribution for column…
The massive and luminous star-forming region W49A is a well known Galactic candidate to probe the physical conditions and chemistry similar to those expected in external starburst galaxies. We aim to probe the physical and chemical structure of W49A on a spatial scale of ~0.8 pc based on the JCMT Spectral Legacy Survey, which covers the frequency range between 330 and 373 GHz. The wide 2x2 arcminutes field and the high spectral resolution of the HARP instrument on JCMT provides information on the spatial structure and kinematics of the cloud. For species where multiple transitions are availabl…
The ionization fraction plays a key role in the physics and chemistry of the neutral interstellar medium, from controlling the coupling of the gas to the magnetic field to allowing fast ion-neutral reactions that drive interstellar chemistry. Most estimations of the ionization fraction have relied on deuterated species such as DCO+, whose detection is limited to dense cores representing an extremely small fraction of the volume of the giant molecular clouds they are part of. As large field-of-view hyperspectral maps become available, new tracers may be found. We search for the best observable …
The CO+ reactive ion is thought to be a tracer of the boundary between a HII region and the hot molecular gas. In this study, we present the spatial distribution of the CO+ rotational emission toward the Mon R2 star-forming region. The CO+ emission presents a clumpy ring-like morphology, arising from a narrow dense layer around the HII region. We compare the CO+ distribution with other species present in photon-dominated regions (PDR), such as [CII] 158 mm, H2 S(3) rotational line at 9.3 mm, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and HCO+. We find that the CO+ emission is spatially coincident…
The young and well-studied planetary nebula NGC 7027 harbors significant molecular gas that is irradiated by luminous, point-like UV (central star) and diffuse (shocked nebular) X-ray emission. This nebula represents an excellent subject to investigate the molecular chemistry and physical conditions within photon- and X-ray-dominated regions (PDRs and XDRs). As yet, the exact formation routes of CO$^+$ and HCO$^+$ in PN environments remain uncertain. Here, we present $\sim$2$"$ resolution maps of NGC 7027 in the irradiation tracers CO$^+$ and HCO$^+$, obtained with the IRAM NOEMA interferomete…
The Galactic Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) is a region containing massive and dense molecular clouds, with dynamics driven by a variety of energy sources including a massive black hole. It is thus the nearest template for understanding physical processes in extragalactic nuclei. The CMZ's neutral interstellar gas has been mapped spectrally in many neutral atomic and molecular gas tracers, but the ionized and CO-dark H2 regions are less well traced spectroscopically. We mapped the fine structure line of C+ at 158 microns, [C II], to identify and characterize features of the ionized gas in the CM…
PDRs4All: XVIII. The evolution of the PAH ionisation and PAH size distribution across the Orion Bar
NASA Ames Research Center（NASA 艾姆斯研究中心）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario（韦仕敦大学物理与天文系）；Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, The University of Western Ontario（韦仕敦大学地球与太空探索研究所）；Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute（SETI 研究所卡尔·萨根中心）；Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan（密歇根大学天文学系）；Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, CNRS, CNES（图卢兹第三大学-保罗·萨巴蒂尔大学、法国国家科学研究中心、法国国家空间研究中心天体物理学和行星学研究所在）；School of Physics, University of Hyderabad（海得拉巴大学物理学院）；Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University（俄亥俄州立大学天文学系）；Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS（巴黎南天体物理研究所）
We present analytic theory for the total column density of singly ionized carbon (C+) in the optically thick photon dominated regions (PDRs) of far-UV irradiated (star-forming) molecular clouds. We derive a simple formula for the C+ column as a function of the cloud (hydrogen) density, the far-UV field intensity, and metallicity, encompassing the wide range of galaxy conditions. When assuming the typical relation between UV and density in the cold neutral medium, the C+ column becomes a function of the metallicity alone. We verify our analysis with detailed numerical PDR models. For optically …
By observing radiation-affected gas in the Cepheus B molecular cloud we probe whether the sequential star formation in this source is triggered by the radiation from newly formed stars. We used the dual band receiver GREAT onboard SOFIA to map [C II] and CO 13--12 and 11--10 in Cep B and compared the spatial distribution and the spectral profiles with complementary ground-based data of low-$J$ transitions of CO isotopes, atomic carbon, and the radio continuum. The interaction of the radiation from the neighboring OB association creates a large photon-dominated region (PDR) at the surface of th…
The origin of the high SFR observed in high-z dusty star-forming galaxies is still unknown. Large fractions of dense molecular gas might provide part of the explanation, but there are few observational constraints on the amount of dense gas in high-z systems dominated by star formation. We present the results of our ALMA program targeting dense-gas tracers (HCN(5-4), HCO+(5-4), and HNC(5-4)) in 5 strongly lensed galaxies from the SPT SMG sample. We detected two of these lines (SNR>5) in SPT-125-47 at z=2.51 and tentatively detected all three (SNR~3) in SPT0551-50 at z=3.16. Since a significant…
We present the results of two Mopra 3-mm spectral line surveys of the Lines of Sight (LOS) toward the Galactic Center (GC) molecular complexes Sgr B2 (LOS+0.693) and Sgr A (LOS-0.11). The spectra covered the frequency ranges of ~77-93 GHz and ~105-113 GHz. We have detected 38 molecular species and 25 isotopologues. The isotopic ratios derived from column density ratios are consistent with the canonical values, indicating that chemical isotopic fractionation and/or selective photodissociation can be considered negligible (<10%) for the GC physical conditions. The derived abundance and rotationa…
Molecular globules and pillars are spectacular features, found only in the interface region between a molecular cloud and an HII-region. Impacting Far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation creates photon dominated regions (PDRs) on their surfaces that can be traced by typical cooling lines. With the GREAT receiver onboard SOFIA we mapped and spectrally resolved the [CII] 158 micron atomic fine-structure line and the highly excited 12CO J=11-10 molecular line from three objects in Cygnus X (a pillar, a globule, and a strong IRAS source). We focus here on the globule and compare our data with existing Spi…
We examine and quantify how hybrid (e.g., UV+IR) star formation rate (SFR) estimators and the $A_{\rm FUV}$-$β$ relation depend on inclination for disk-dominated galaxies using spectral energy distribution modeling that utilizes the inclination-dependent attenuation curves described in Doore et al. We perform this analysis on a sample of 133 disk-dominated galaxies from the CANDELS fields and 18 disk galaxies from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey and Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel samples. We find that both the hybrid SFR estimators and the $A_{…
We present results from a study of the dense circum-nuclear molecular gas of starburst galaxies. The study aims to investigate the interplay between starbursts, active galactic nuclei and molecular gas. We characterise the dense gas traced by HCN, HCO$^{+}$ and HNC and examine its kinematics in the circum-nuclear regions of nine starburst galaxies observed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We detect HCN (1$-$0) and HCO$^{+}$ (1$-$0) in seven of the nine galaxies and HNC (1$-$0) in four. Approximately 7 arcsec resolution maps of the circum-nuclear molecular gas are presented. The velo…
We investigate observational signatures of triggered star formation in bright rimmed clouds (BRCs) by using molecular line transfer calculations based on radiation-hydrodynamic radiatively-driven-implosion models. We find that for BRCs the separation in velocity between the line profile peak of an optically thick and an optically thin line is determined by both the observer viewing angle and the density of the shell driving into the cloud. In agreement with observations, we find that most BRC line profiles are symmetric and that asymmetries can be either red or blue, in contrast to the blue-do…
We study the relationship between the [CII] emission and the star formation rate (SFR) in the Galactic plane and separate the relationship of different ISM phases to the SFR. We compare these relationships to those in external galaxies and local clouds, allowing examinations of these relationships over a wide range of physical scales. We compare the distribution of the [CII] emission, with its different contributing ISM phases, as a function of Galactocentric distance with the SFR derived from radio continuum observations. We also compare the SFR with the surface density distribution of atomic…
We investigate the far infrared spectrum of NGC 1266, a S0 galaxy that contains a massive reservoir of highly excited molecular gas. Using the SPIRE-FTS, we detect the $^{12}$CO ladder up to J=(13-12), [C I] and [N II] lines, and also strong water lines more characteristic of UltraLuminous IR Galaxies (ULIRGs). The 12CO line emission is modeled with a combination of a low-velocity C-shock and a PDR. Shocks are required to produce the H2O and most of the high-J 12CO emission. Despite having an infrared luminosity thirty times less than a typical ULIRG, the spectral characteristics and physical …
We present far-infrared spectral line observations of five galaxies from the LITTLE THINGS sample: DDO 69, DDO 70, DDO 75, DDO 155, and WLM. While most studies of dwarfs focus on bright systems or starbursts due to observational constraints, our data extend the observed parameter space into the regime of low surface brightness dwarf galaxies with low metallicities and moderate star formation rates. Our targets were observed with Herschel at the [CII] 158um, [OI] 63um, [OIII] 88um, and NII 122um emission lines using the PACS Spectrometer. These high-resolution maps allow us for the first time t…
We present a detailed analysis of the X-ray and molecular gas emission in the nearby galaxy NGC 34, to constrain the properties of molecular gas, and assess whether, and to what extent, the radiation produced by the accretion onto the central black hole affects the CO line emission. We analyse the CO Spectral Line Energy Distribution (SLED) as resulting mainly from Herschel and ALMA data, along with X-ray data from NuSTAR and XMM-Newton. The X-ray data analysis suggests the presence of a heavily obscured AGN with an intrinsic luminosity of L$_{\rm{1-100\,keV}} \simeq 4.0\times10^{42}$ erg s$^{…
The hydrogen fluoride (HF) molecule is seen in absorption in the interstellar medium (ISM) along many lines of sight. Surprisingly, it is observed in emission toward the Orion Bar, which is an interface between the ionized region around the Orion Trapezium stars and the Orion molecular cloud. We aim to understand the origin of HF emission in the Orion Bar by comparing its spatial distribution with other tracers. We examine three mechanisms to explain the HF emission: thermal excitation, radiative dust pumping, and chemical pumping. We used a Herschel/HIFI strip map of the HF J = 1-0 line, cove…
The central area (40"x40") of the bipolar nebula S106 was mapped in the OI line at 63.2 micron with high angular (6") and spectral resolution, using GREAT on board SOFIA. The OI emission distribution is compared to the CO 16-15, CII 158 micron, and CO 11-10 lines, mm-molecular lines, and continuum. It is composed of several velocity components in the range from -30 km/s to 25 km/s. The high-velocity blue- and redshifted emission can be explained as arising from accelerated photodissociated (PDR) gas associated with a dark lane close to the massive binary system S106 IR, and from shocks caused …
We present a comparative study of the near-infrared (NIR) H$_2$ line emission from five regions near hot young stars: Sharpless 140, NGC 2023, IC 63, the Horsehead Nebula, and the Orion Bar. This emission originates in photodissociation or photon-dominated regions (PDRs), interfaces between photoionized and molecular gas near hot (O) stars or reflection nebulae illuminated by somewhat cooler (B) stars. In these environments, the dominant excitation mechanism for NIR emission lines originating from excited rotational-vibrational (rovibrational) levels of the ground electronic state is radiative…
We report Submillimeter Array dust continuum and molecular spectral line observations toward the Orion Bar photon-dominated region (PDR). The 1.2 mm continuum map reveals, for the first time, a total of 9 compact (r < 0.01pc) dust condensations located within a distance of ~0.03 pc from the dissociation front of the PDR. Part of the dust condensations are seen in spectral line emissions of CS (5-4) and H$_2$CS ($7_{1,7}$-$6_{1,6}$), though the CS map also reveals dense gas further away from the dissociation front. We detect compact emissions in H$_2$CS ($6_{0,6}$-$5_{0,5}$), ($6_{2,4}$-$5_{2,3…
We investigate to what degree local physical and chemical conditions are related to the evolutionary status of various objects in star-forming media. rho Oph A displays the entire sequence of low-mass star formation in a small volume of space. Using spectrophotometric line maps of H2, H2O, NH3, N2H+, O2, OI, CO, and CS, we examine the distribution of the atomic and molecular gas in this dense molecular core. The physical parameters of these species are derived, as are their relative abundances in rho Oph A. Using radiative transfer models, we examine the infall status of the cold dense cores f…
Modern observations of the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies detect a variety of atomic and molecular species. The goal is to connect these observations to the astrochemical properties of the ISM. 3D hydro-chemical simulations attempt this but due to extreme computational cost, they have to rely on simplified chemical networks and are bound to individual case studies. We present an alternative approach which models the ISM at larger scales by an ensemble of pre-calculated 1D thermo-chemical photodissociation region (PDR) calculations that determine the abundance and excitation of atomic an…
Recent surveys of the Galactic plane in the dust continuum and CO emission lines reveal that large ($\gtrsim 50$~pc) and massive ($\gtrsim 10^5$~$M_\odot$) filaments, know as giant molecular filaments (GMFs), may be linked to galactic dynamics and trace the mid-plane of the gravitational potential in the Milky Way. We have imaged one entire GMF located at $l\sim$52--54$^\circ$ longitude, GMF54 ($\sim$68~pc long), in the empirical dense gas tracers using the HCN(1--0), HNC(1--0), HCO$^+$(1--0) lines, and their $^{13}$C isotopologue transitions, as well as the N$_2$H$^+$(1--0) line. We study the…
