A detailed quantum analysis of a ionic reaction with a crucial role in the ISM is carried out to generate ab initio reactive cross sections with a quantum method. From them we obtain the corresponding CH+ depletion rates over a broad range of temperatures. The new rates are further linked to a complex chemical network that shows the evolution in time of the CH+ abundance in photodissociation region (PDR) and molecular cloud (MC) environments.
The evolutionary abundances of CH+ are given by numerical solutions of a large set of coupled, first-order kinetics equations by employing the new chemical package KROME. The differences found between all existing calculations from low-T experiments are explained via a simple numerical model that links the low-T cross section reductions to collinear approaches where nonadiabatic crossings dominate. The analysis of evolutionary abundance of CH+ reveals that the important region for the depletion reaction of this study is that above 100 K, hence showing that, at least for this reaction, the differences with the existing low-temperature experiments are of essentially no importance within the astrochemical environments. A detailed analysis of the chemical network involving CH+ also shows that a slight decrease in the initial oxygen abundance might lead to higher CH+ abundance since the main chemical carbon ion depletion channel is reduced in efficiency. This simplified observation might provide an alternative starting point to understand the problem of astrochemical models in matching the observed CH+ abundances.
12C/13C isotopologue abundance anomalies have long been predicted for gas-phase chemistry in molecules other than CO and have recently been observed in the Taurus molecular cloud in several species hosting more than one carbon atom, i.e. CCH, CCS, CCCS and HC$_3$N. Here we work to ascertain whether these isotopologic anomalies actually result from the predicted depletion of the 13C+ ion in an oxygen-rich optically-shielded dense gas, or from some other more particular mechanism or mechanisms. We observed $λ$3mm emission from carbon, sulfur and nitrogen-bearing isotopologues of HNC, CS and \HH …
L1551 is chosen because it is relatively isolated in the Taurus molecular cloud shielded from FUV photons, providing an ideal environment for studying the target properties. Our observations cover ~40'x40' with resolution ~30", which are the maps with highest spatial dynamical range to date. We derive the X(13CO)/X(C18O) value on the sub-parsec scales in the range of ~3-27 with a mean value of 8.0+-2.8. Comparing to the visual extinction map derived from the Herschel observations, we found that the abundance ratio reaches its maximum at low Av (i.e., Av ~ 1-4mag), and decreases to the typical …
We performed sensitive observations of the N15ND+(1-0) and 15NND+(1-0) lines toward the prestellar core L1544 using the IRAM 30m telescope. The lines are not detected down to 3 sigma levels in 0.2 km/s channels of around 6 mK. The non-detection provides the lower limit of the 14N/15N ratio for N2D+ of ~700-800, which is much higher than the elemental abundance ratio in the local ISM of ~200-300. The result indicates that N2 is depleted in 15N in the central part of L1544, because N2D+ preferentially traces the cold dense gas, and because it is a daughter molecule of N2. In-situ chemistry is un…
The large disparity in physical conditions from the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) to denser clouds such as photon-dominated regions (PDRs) triggers an evolution of the dust properties (i.e. composition, size, and shape). The gas physics and chemistry are tightly connected to these dust properties and are therefore affected by dust evolution and especially the nano-grain depletion in the outer irradiated part of PDRs. We highlight the influence of nano-grain depletion on the gas physics and chemistry in the Horsehead nebula, a prototypical PDR. We used a model for atomic and molecular gas i…
Chemical models predict that in cold cores gas-phase methanol is expected to be abundant at the outer edge of the CO depletion zone, where CO is actively adsorbed. CO adsorption correlates with volume density in cold cores, and, in nearby molecular clouds, the catastrophic CO freeze-out happens at volume densities above 10$^4$ cm$^{-3}$. The methanol production rate is maximized there and its freeze-out rate does not overcome its production rate, while the molecules are shielded from UV destruction by gas and dust. Thus, in cold cores, methanol abundance should generally correlate with visual …
Aims: By studying the photospheric abundances of 4 RV Tauri stars in the LMC, we test whether the depletion pattern of refractory elements, seen in similar Galactic sources, is also common for extragalactic sources. Since this depletion process probably only occurs through interaction with a stable disc, we investigate the circumstellar environment of these sources. Methods: A detailed photospheric abundance study was performed using high-resolution UVES optical spectra. To study the circumstellar environment we use photometric data to construct the spectral energy distributions of the stars, …
The comparison of chemical abundances in the neutral gas of galaxies to photospheric abundances of old and young stars, ionized gas abundances, and abundances in galactic halos can trace the chemical enrichment of the universe through cosmic times. In particular, our understanding of chemical enrichment through spectroscopic observations of damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) relies on corrections for depletion of metals from the gas to the dust phase. These corrections must be determined in the nearby universe, where both gas-phase abundances and photospheric abundances of young stars recently …
Context. Carbonaceous nano-grains play a fundamental role in the physico-chemistry of the interstellar medium (ISM) and especially of photon-dominated regions (PDRs). Their properties vary with the local physical conditions and affect the local chemistry and dynamics. Aims. We aim to highlight the evolution of carbonaceous nano-grains in three different PDRs and propose a scenario of dust evolution as a response to the physical conditions. Methods. We used Spitzer/IRAC (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 $μ$m) and Spitzer/MIPS (24 $μ$m) together with Herschel/PACS (70 $μ$m) to map dust emission in IC63 and …
Atomic species in the interstellar medium (ISM) transition out of their gas phase mainly by depletion onto dust. In this study, we examine if there is any change to the spectral line ratio predictions from a photoionization model of the Orion H II region when the degree of dust depletions is altered according to the most recently published model. We use equations and parameters published by previous works, in order to streamline the calculation of depleted abundances within CLOUDY. Our aim is for CLOUDY users to be able to vary the level of depletion using a single parameter in the input file.…
The evolution of the metal content of the universe can be tracked through rest-frame UV spectroscopy of damped Ly-$α$ systems (DLAs). Gas-phase abundances in DLAs must be corrected for dust depletion effects, which can be accomplished by calibrating the relation between abundance ratios such as [Zn/Fe] and depletions (the fraction of metals in gas, as opposed to dust). Using samples of gas-phase abundances and depletions in the Milky Way (MW), LMC, and SMC, we demonstrate that the relation between [Zn/Fe] and other abundance ratios does not change significantly between these local galaxies and…
Observations of nearby galaxies have firmly established, over a broad range of galactic environments and metallicities, that star formation occurs exclusively in the molecular phase of the interstellar medium (ISM). Theoretical models show that this association results from the correlation between chemical phase, shielding, and temperature. Interstellar gas converts from atomic to molecular only in regions that are well shielded from interstellar ultraviolet (UV) photons, and since UV photons are also the dominant source of interstellar heating, only in these shielded regions does the gas beco…
Using the CoDa II simulation, we study the Ly$α$ transmissivity of the intergalactic medium (IGM) during reionization. At $z>6$, a typical galaxy without an active galactic nucleus fails to form a proximity zone around itself due to the overdensity of the surrounding IGM. The gravitational infall motion in the IGM makes the resonance absorption extend to the red side of Ly$α$, suppressing the transmission up to roughly the circular velocity of the galaxy. In some sight lines, an optically thin blob generated by a supernova in a neighboring galaxy results in a peak feature, which can be mistake…
We present a study of the elemental depletion in the interstellar medium. We combined the results of a Galatic model describing the gas physical conditions during the formation of dense cores with a full-gas-grain chemical model. During the transition between diffuse and dense medium, the reservoirs of elements, initially atomic in the gas, are gradually depleted on dust grains (with a phase of neutralisation for those which are ions). This process becomes efficient when the density is larger than 100~cm$^{-3}$. If the dense material goes back into diffuse conditions, these elements are brough…
Central stellar depletion in the Draco dwarf from Subaru photometry
Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学天文研究所）；Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK（英国爱丁堡黑门山皇家天文台）；Astronomical Science Program, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI（日本国立综合研究大学院大学天文学科学项目）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), CSIC–Universitat de València（瓦伦西亚大学-CSIC粒子物理研究所）；VALER, Calle Mayor, 83, 1, 12001 Castellón de la Plana, Spain（西班牙卡斯特利翁德拉普拉纳大街83号1单元VALER）
We investigate the importance of the shielding of chemical photorates by molecular hydrogen photodissociation lines and the carbon photoionization continuum deep within models of photon dominated regions. In particular, the photodissociation of N2 and CN are significantly shielded by the H2 photodissociation line spectrum. We model this by switching off the photodissociation channels for these species behind the HI to H2 transition. We also model the shielding effect of the carbon photoionization continuum as an attenuation of the incident radiation field shortwards of 1102Å. Using recent line…
We provide new ionization correction factors (ICFs) for carbon, nitrogen, neon, sulfur, chlorine, and argon in giant H II regions. The ICFs were computed using the most representative photoionization models from a large initial grid. The models were selected using an observational sample of 985 giant H II regions (GHR) in spiral galaxies and blue compact galaxies (BCG). The observational sample was also used to assign a weight to each model describing how well it agrees with observations in the [O III]/Hbeta versus [N II]/Halpha diagram. In addition to the ICFs we provide, for the first time, …
Metal Evolution, Transport, and Abundance in the LMC (METAL) is a large Cycle 24 program on the Hubble Space Telescope aimed at measuring dust extinction properties and interstellar depletions in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) at half-solar metallicity. The 101-orbit program is comprised of COS and STIS spectroscopy toward 33 LMC massive stars between 1150 A and 3180 A, and parallel WFC3 imaging in 7 NUV-NIR filters. The fraction of silicon in the gas-phase (depletion) obtained from the spectroscopy decreases with increasing hydrogen column density. Depletion patterns for silicon differ betw…
Prestellar cores exhibit a strong chemical differentiation, which is mainly caused by the freeze-out of molecules onto the grain surfaces. Understanding this chemical structure is important, because molecular lines are often used as probes to constrain the core physical properties. Here we present new observations and analysis of the C18O (1-0) and H13CO+ (1-0) line emission in the L1498 and L1517B prestellar cores, located in the Taurus-Auriga molecular complex. We model these observations with a detailed chemistry network coupled to a radiative transfer code. Our model successfully reproduce…
We investigate nitrogen isotope fractionation in forming and evolving molecular clouds using gas-ice astrochemical simulations. We find that the bulk gas can become depleted in heavy nitrogen (15N) due to the formation of 15N-enriched ices. Around the chemical transition from atomic nitrogen to N2, N15N is selectively photodissociated, which results in the enrichment of 15N in atomic nitrogen. As 15N-enriched atomic nitrogen is converted to ammonia ice via grain surface reactions, the bulk gas is depleted in 15N. The level of 15N depletion in the bulk gas can be up to a factor of two compared …
Astrometry and photometry from {\it Gaia} and spectroscopic data from the {\it Gaia}-ESO Survey (GES) are used to identify the lithium depletion boundary (LDB) in the young cluster NGC 2232. A specialised spectral line analysis procedure was used to recover the signature of undepleted lithium in very low luminosity cluster members. An age of $38\pm 3$ Myr is inferred by comparing the LDB location in absolute colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) with the predictions of standard models. This is more than twice the age derived from fitting isochrones to low-mass stars in the CMD with the same models.…
