The spectral index of synchrotron emission is an important parameter in understanding the properties of cosmic ray electrons (CREs) and the interstellar medium (ISM). We determine the synchrotron spectral index ($α_{\rm nt}$) of four nearby star-forming galaxies, namely NGC 4736, NGC 5055, NGC 5236 and NGC 6946 at sub-kpc linear scales. The $α_{\rm nt}$ was determined between 0.33 and 1.4 GHz for all the galaxies. We find the spectral index to be flatter ($\gtrsim -0.7$) in regions with total neutral (atomic + molecular) gas surface density, $Σ_{\rm gas} \gtrsim \rm 50~M_\odot pc^{-2}$, typically in the arms and inner parts of the galaxies. In regions with $Σ_{\rm gas} \lesssim \rm 50~M_\odot pc^{-2}$, especially in the interarm and outer regions of the galaxies, the spectral index steepens sharply to $<-1.0$. The flattening of $α_{\rm nt}$ is unlikely to be caused due to thermal free--free absorption at 0.33 GHz. Our result is consistent with the scenario where the CREs emitting at frequencies below $\sim0.3$ GHz are dominated by bremsstrahlung and/or ionization losses. For denser medium ($Σ_{\rm gas} \gtrsim \rm 200~M_\odot pc^{-2}$), having strong magnetic fields ($\sim 30~μ$G), $α_{\rm nt}$ is seen to be flatter than $-0.5$, perhaps caused due to ionization losses. We find that, due to the clumpy nature of the ISM, such dense regions cover only a small fraction of the galaxy ($\lesssim5$ percent). Thus, the galaxy-integrated spectrum may not show indication of such loss mechanisms and remain a power-law over a wide range of radio frequencies (between $\sim 0.1$ to 10 GHz).
Interstellar synchrotron emission depends on Galactic magnetic fields and on cosmic-ray leptons. Observations of radio emission are an important tool for studying cosmic-ray propagation models and interstellar electron spectrum and distribution in the Galaxy. We present the latest developments in our modeling of Galactic synchrotron emission with the GALPROP code, including polarization, absorption, and free-free emission. Using surveys over a wide range of radio frequencies and polarization measurements, we derive constraints on the low-energy interstellar cosmic-ray electron spectrum, magnet…
We investigate how observations of synchrotron intensity fluctuations can be used to probe the sonic and Alfvénic Mach numbers of interstellar turbulence, based on mock observations performed on simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We find that the structure function slope, and a diagnostic of anisotropy that we call the integrated quadrupole ratio modulus, both depend on the Alfvénic Mach number. However, these statistics also depend on the orientation of the mean magnetic field in the synchrotron emitting region relative to our line of sight, and this creates a degeneracy that cann…
We provide a procedure for identification of dominating compressible and Alfvenic MHD modes or isotropic turbulence in synchrotron emission polarization maps of Galactic objects. The results for the region of North Galactic Pole, Orion molecular cloud complex and the star-forming complex Cygnus X are presented.
Molecular clouds, the birthplaces of stars in galaxies, form dynamically from the diffuse atomic gas of the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is also threaded by magnetic fields which have a large impact on its dynamics. In particular, star forming regions must be magnetically supercrit- ical in order to accomodate gas clumps which can collapse under their own weight. Based on a parameter study of three dimensional magneto-hydrodyamical (MHD) simulations, we show that the long-standing problem of how such supercritical regions are generated is still an open issue.
Studying the Intermittency of Magnetized Interstellar Medium by Synchrotron Polarization Intensity and its Gradient
School of Physics and Electronic Information, Guangxi Minzu University（广西民族大学物理与电子信息学院）；Department of Physics, Xiangtan University（湘潭大学物理系）；Key Laboratory of Stars and Interstellar Medium, Xiangtan University（湘潭大学恒星与星际介质重点实验室）
Imprints of the Neutral Interstellar Medium on Polarized Synchrotron Emission and Faraday Rotation
Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；University of South Carolina（南卡罗来纳大学）；Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, CNRS（巴黎天文台，巴黎文理研究大学，索邦大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；Laboratoire de Physique de l’École normale supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, Observatoire de Paris（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室，ENS，巴黎文理研究大学，法国国家科学研究中心，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学，巴黎天文台）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所 - 阿切特里天文台）；Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Australian National University（澳大利亚国立大学天文学与天体物理学研究学院）；Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto（多伦多大学邓普勒天文学与天体物理研究所）
We use deep adaptive mesh refinement simulations of isothermal self-gravitating supersonic turbulence to study the imprints of gravity on the mass density distribution in molecular clouds. The simulations show that the density distribution in self-gravitating clouds develops an extended power-law tail at high densities on top of the usual lognormal. We associate the origin of the tail with self-similar collapse solutions and predict the power index values in the range from -7/4 to -3/2 that agree with both simulations and observations of star-forming molecular clouds.
We report the detection of microwave emission lines from the hydrocarbon anion C6H- and its parent neutral C6H in the star-forming region L1251A (in Cepheus), and the pre-stellar core L1512 (in Auriga). The carbon-chain-bearing species C4H, HC3N, HC5N, HC7N and C3S are also detected in large abundances. The observations of L1251A constitute the first detections of anions and long-chain polyynes and cyanopolyynes (with more than 5 carbon atoms) in the Cepheus Flare star-forming region, and the first detection of anions in the vicinity of a protostar outside of the Taurus molecular cloud complex…
The radio continuum spectra of 14 star-forming galaxies are investigated by fitting nonthermal (synchrotron) and thermal (free-free) radiation laws. The underlying radio continuum measurements cover a frequency range of ~325 MHz to 24.5 GHz (32 GHz in case of M82). It turns out that most of these synchrotron spectra are not simple power-laws, but are best represented by a low-frequency spectrum with a mean slope alpha_nth = 0.59 +/- 0.20 (S_nu ~ nu^-alpha), and by a break or an exponential decline in the frequency range of 1 - 12 GHz. Simple power-laws or mildly curved synchrotron spectra lead…
Faraday tomography of radio polarimetric data below 200 MHz from LOFAR are providing us with a new perspective on the diffuse and magnetized interstellar medium (ISM). Of particular interest is the discovery of Faraday-rotated synchrotron polarization associated with neutral gas, as traced by atomic hydrogen (HI) and dust. Here we present the first in-depth numerical study of these LOFAR results. We produce and analyze comprehensive synthetic observations of low-frequency synchrotron polarization from MHD simulations of colliding super shells in the multiphase ISM. We define five distinct gas …
The relative column densities of the structural isomers methyl formate, glycolaldehyde, and acetic acid are derived for a dozen positions towards the massive star-forming regions MM1 and MM2 in the NGC 6334I complex, which are separated by $\sim$4000 AU. Relative column densities of these molecules are also gathered from the literature for 13 other star-forming regions. In this combined dataset, a clear bi-modal distribution is observed in the relative column densities of glycolaldehyde and methyl formate. No such distribution is evident with acetic acid. The two trends are comprised of star-f…
The bathtub model of the star forming interstellar medium is based on the powerful constraint that mass has to be conserved when gas flows through its various thermal and density phases, ending up eventually in a young star or being blown away by stellar feedback. It predicts that the star formation rate of a molecular cloud is not determined by the cloud's mass or its internal collapse timescale, but rather by the accretion rate of new gas. For the most simple case of a constant accretion flow an equilibrium state is reached quickly where the star formation rate equals the accretion rate and …
We combine state-of-the-art models for the production of stellar radiation and its transfer through the interstellar medium (ISM) to investigate ultraviolet-line diagnostics of stars, the ionized and the neutral ISM in star-forming galaxies. We start by assessing the reliability of our stellar population synthesis modelling by fitting absorption-line indices in the ISM-free ultraviolet spectra of 10 Large-Magellanic-Cloud clusters. In doing so, we find that neglecting stochastic sampling of the stellar initial mass function in these young ($\sim10$-100 Myr), low-mass clusters affects negligibl…
Radio Continuum Emission from Evolving Star-Forming Galaxies -- I. Correlations Involving the Total Synchrotron Luminosity
National Institute of Science Education and Research（国家科学教育与研究中心）；Homi Bhabha National Institute（霍米·巴巴国立研究所）；Department of Physics, CUSAT（科钦大学天体物理与空间应用学院物理系）；School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University（纽卡斯尔大学数学、统计与物理学院）；Antonie（安东尼公司）；School of Astronomy, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)（基础科学研究院天体物理学院）
We present a sub-kpc resolved study of the interstellar medium properties in SDP.81, a z=3.042 strongly gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxy, based on high-resolution, multi-band ALMA observations of the FIR continuum, CO ladder and the [CII] line. Using a visibility-plane lens modelling code, we achieve a median source-plane resolution of ~200 pc. We use photon-dominated region (PDR) models to infer the physical conditions - far-UV field strength, density, and PDR surface temperature - of the star-forming gas on 200-pc scales, finding a FUV field strength of ~10^3-10^4 G0, gas den…
Star formation depends critically on cooling mechanisms in the interstellar medium (ISM); however, thermal properties of gas in galaxies at the peak epoch of star formation (z ~ 2) remain poorly understood. A limiting factor in understanding the multiphase ISM is the lack of multiple tracers detected in the same galaxies, such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) emission, a tracer of a critical photoelectric heating mechanism in interstellar gas, and [C II] 158μm fine-structure emission, a principal coolant. We present ALMA Band 9 observations targeting [C II] in six z ~ 2 star-forming ga…
Propargyl alcohol (HC2CH2OH, PA) has yet to be observed in the interstellar medium (ISM) although one of its stable isomers, propenal (CH2CHCHO), has already been detected in Sagittarius B2(N) with the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope in the frequency range $18-26$ GHz. In this paper, we investigate the formation of propargyl alcohol along with one of its deuterated isotopomers, HC2CH2OD(OD-PA), in a dense molecular cloud. Various pathways for the formation of PA in the gas and on ice mantles surrounding dust particles are discussed. We use a large gas-grain chemical network to study the chemica…
The characteristic outer scale of turbulence and the ratio of the random to ordered components of the magnetic field are key parameters to characterise magnetic turbulence in the interstellar gas, which affects the propagation of cosmic rays within the Galaxy. We provide new constraints to those two parameters. We use the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) to image the diffuse continuum emission in the Fan region at (l,b) (137.0,+7.0) at 80"x70" resolution in the range [146,174] MHz. We detect multi-scale fluctuations in the Galactic synchrotron emission and compute their power spectrum. Applying the…
We present results from Subaru/FMOS near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of 118 star-forming galaxies at $z\sim1.5$ in the Subaru Deep Field. These galaxies are selected as [OII]$λ$3727 emitters at $z\approx$ 1.47 and 1.62 from narrow-band imaging. We detect H$α$ emission line in 115 galaxies, [OIII]$λ$5007 emission line in 45 galaxies, and H$β$, [NII]$λ$6584, and [SII]$λλ$6716,6731 in 13, 16, and 6 galaxies, respectively. Including the [OII] emission line, we use the six strong nebular emission lines in the individual and composite rest-frame optical spectra to investigate physical conditions of …
This is the first in a series of three papers describing a project with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope to measure abundances of the neutral interstellar medium (ISM) in a sample of 9 nearby star-forming galaxies. The goal is to assess the (in)homogeneities of the multiphase ISM in galaxies where the bulk of metals can be hidden in the neutral phase, yet the metallicity is inferred from the ionized gas in the HII regions. The sample, spanning a wide range in physical properties, is to date the best suited to investigate the metallicity behavior of the neutral gas …
We investigate the distribution of the gas (ionized, neutral atomic and molecular), and interstellar dust in the complex star forming region NGC6357 with the goal of studying the interplay between the massive stars in the open cluster Pis24 and the surrounding interstellar matter. Our study of the distribution of the ionized gas is based on narrow-band Hhalfa, [SII], and [OIII] images obtained with the Curtis-Schmidt Camera at CTIO, Chile, and on radio continuum observations at 1465 MHz taken with the VLA with a synthesized beam of 40 arcsec. The distribution of the molecular gas is analyzed u…
We present new results from near-infrared spectroscopy with Keck/MOSFIRE of [OIII]-selected galaxies at $z\sim3.2$. With our $H$ and $K$-band spectra, we investigate the interstellar medium (ISM) conditions, such as ionization states and gas metallicities. [OIII] emitters at $z\sim3.2$ show a typical gas metallicity of $\mathrm{12+log(O/H) = 8.07\pm0.07}$ at $\mathrm{log(M_*/M_\odot) \sim 9.0-9.2}$ and $\mathrm{12+log(O/H) = 8.31\pm0.04}$ at $\mathrm{log(M_*/M_\odot) \sim 9.7-10.2}$ when using the empirical calibration method. We compare the [OIII] emitters at $z\sim3.2$ with UV-selected galax…
We present new Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the [CII] 158 $μ$m transition and the dust continuum in HZ4, a typical star-forming galaxy when the Universe was only $\sim1$ Gyr old ($z\approx5.5$). Our high $\approx0.3$'' spatial resolution allow us to study the relationships between [CII] line emission, star formation rate (SFR), and far-infrared (FIR) emission on spatial scales of $\sim2$ kpc. In the central $\sim$4 kpc of HZ4, the [CII]/FIR ratio is $\sim3\times10^{-3}$ on global scales as well as on spatially-resolved scales of $\sim$2 kpc, comparable to…
We analyse the far-infrared properties of $\sim$ 5,000 star-forming galaxies at $z<4.5$, drawn from the deepest, super-deblended catalogues in the GOODS-N and COSMOS fields. We develop a novel panchromatic SED fitting algorithm, $\texttt{Stardust}$, that models the emission from stars, AGN, and infrared dust emission, without relying on energy balance assumptions. Our code provides robust estimates of the UV-optical and FIR physical parameters, such as the stellar mass ($M_*$), dust mass ($M_{\rm dust}$), infrared luminosities ($L_{\rm IR}$) arising from AGN and star formation activity, and th…
Diagnostics of polarized emission provide us with valuable information on the Galactic magnetic field and the state of turbulence in the interstellar medium, which cannot be obtained from synchrotron intensity alone. In Paper I (Herron et al. 2017b), we derived polarization diagnostics that are rotationally and translationally invariant in the $Q$-$U$ plane, similar to the polarization gradient. In this paper, we apply these diagnostics to simulations of ideal magnetohydrodynamic turbulence that have a range of sonic and Alfvénic Mach numbers. We generate synthetic images of Stokes $Q$ and $U$…
Some observations of warm carbon chain chemistry (WCCC) cores indicate that they are often located near the edges of molecular clouds. This finding may suggest that WCCC is promoted in star-forming cores exposed to radiation from the interstellar medium. We aim to investigate the chemistry of carbon chains in such a core. A chemical simulation of a gas parcel in a low-mass star-forming core with a full level of irradiation by interstellar photons and cosmic rays was compared to a simulation of a core receiving only one-tenth of such irradiation. In the full irradiation model, the abundances of…
We present new observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array of the 122um and 205um fine-structure line emission of singly-ionised nitrogen in a strongly lensed starburst galaxy at z=2.6. The 122/205um [NII] line ratio is sensitive to electron density, n_e, in the ionised interstellar medium, and we use this to measure n_e~300cm^-3 averaged across the galaxy. This is over an order of magnitude higher than the Milky Way average, but comparable to localised Galactic star-forming regions. Combined with observations of the atomic carbon (CI(1-0)) and carbon monoxide (CO(4-3))…
I review (1) Physics of Star Formation & Open Questions; (2) Structure & Dynamics of Star-Forming Clouds & Young Clusters; (3) Star Formation Rates: Observations & Theoretical Implications.
The interpretation of Galactic synchrotron observations is complicated by the degeneracy between the strength of the magnetic field perpendicular to the line of sight (LOS), $B_\perp$, and the cosmic-ray electron (CRe) spectrum. Depending on the observing frequency, an energy-independent spectral energy slope $s$ for the CRe spectrum is usually assumed: $s=-2$ at frequencies below $\simeq$400 MHz and $s=-3$ at higher frequencies. Motivated by the high angular and spectral resolution of current facilities such as the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) and future telescopes such as the Square Kilometre…
Whether the Cygnus X complex consists of one physically connected region of star formation or of multiple independent regions projected close together on the sky has been debated for decades. The main reason for this puzzling scenario is the lack of trustworthy distance measurements. We aim to understand the structure and dynamics of the star-forming regions toward Cygnus X by accurate distance and proper motion measurements. To measure trigonometric parallaxes, we observed 6.7 GHz methanol and 22 GHz water masers with the European VLBI Network and the Very Long Baseline Array. We measured the…
Observations show that galaxies and their interstellar media are pervaded by strong magnetic fields with energies in the diffuse component being at least comparable to the thermal and even as large or larger than the turbulent energy. Such strong magnetic fields prevent the formation of stars because patches of the interstellar medium are magnetically subcritical. Here we present the results from global numerical simulations of strongly magnetised and self-gravitating galactic discs, which show that the buoyancy of the magnetic field due to the Parker instability leads at first to the formatio…
Radio synchrotron polarization maps of the Galaxy can be used to infer the properties of interstellar turbulence in the diffuse warm ionized medium (WIM). In this paper, we investigate the spatial gradient of linearly polarized synchrotron emission ($|\nabla\textbf{P}|/|\textbf{P}|$) as a tracer of turbulence, the relationship of the gradient to the sonic Mach number of the WIM, and changes in morphology of the gradient as a function of Galactic position in the southern sky. We use data from the S-band Polarization All Sky Survey (S-PASS) to image the spatial gradient of the linearly polarized…
Cosmic-ray (CR) leptons produce radio synchrotron radiation by gyrating in interstellar magnetic fields (B-field). Details of B-fields, CR electron distributions and propagation are still uncertain. We present developments in our modelling of Galactic radio emission with the GALPROP code. It now includes calculations of radio polarization, absorption, and free-free emission. Total and polarized synchrotron emission are investigated in the context of physical model of CR propagation. Predictions are compared with radio data from 22 MHz to 2.3 GHz, and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data a…
We present the calibration between the dust continuum luminosity and interstellar gas content obtained from the Valparaíso ALMA Line Emission Survey (VALES) sample of 67 main-sequence star-forming galaxies at 0.02<$z$<0.35. We use CO(1-0) observations from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) to trace the molecular gas mass, $M_{\mathrm{H}_{2}}$, and estimate the rest-frame monochromatic luminosity at 850 $μ$m, $L_{ν_{850}}$, by extrapolating the dust continuum from MAGPHYS modelling of the far-ultraviolet to submillimetre spectral energy distribution sampled by the Galaxy A…
A spectroscopic analysis of 10 intergalactic star forming objects (ISFOs) and a photometric analysis of 67 ISFOs in a sample of 14 interacting systems is presented. The majority of the ISFOs have relative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) band strengths similar to those of nearby spiral and starburst galaxies. In contrast to what is observed in blue compact dwarfs (BCDs) and local giant HII regions in the Milky Way (NGC 3603) and the Magellanic Clouds (30 Doradus and N 66), the relative PAH band strengths in ISFOs correspond to models with a significant PAH ion fraction (<50%) and bright e…
We present VLT/SINFONI near-infrared (NIR) integral field spectroscopy of six $z \sim 0.2$ Lyman break galaxy "analogs" (LBAs), from which we detect HI, HeI, and [FeII] recombination lines, and multiple H$_2$ ro-vibrational lines in emission. Pa$α$ kinematics reveal high velocity dispersions and low rotational velocities relative to random motions ($\langle v/σ\rangle = 1.2 \pm 0.8$). Matched-aperture comparisons of H$β$, H$α$, and Pa$α$ reveal that the nebular color excesses are lower relative to the continuum color excesses than is the case for typical local star-forming systems. We compare …
Elements in the interstellar medium (ISM) exist in the form of gas or dust. The interstellar extinction and elemental abundances provide crucial constraints on the composition, size and quantity of interstellar dust. Most of the extinction modeling efforts have assumed the total abundances (both in gas and in dust) of the dust-forming elements---known as the "interstellar abundances", the "interstellar reference abundances", or the "cosmic abundances"---to be solar and the gas-phase abundances to be independent of the interstellar environments. However, it remains unclear if the solar abundanc…
Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is ubiquitous and a fundamental ingredient underlying many astrophysical phenomena. The multiphase nature of interstellar medium and diversity of driving mechanisms give rise to spatial variation of turbulence properties, particularly their plasma properties. There has been no observational diagnosis of the plasma modes so far beyond the solar system. Here we report the identification of different plasma modes in various Galactic environments, including active star forming zones and supernova remnants, based on our synchrotron polarization analysis. The ob…
Studies measuring the chemical abundances of the neutral gas in star-forming galaxies (SFGs) require ionization correction factors (ICFs) to accurately measure their metal contents. In the work presented here we calculate newly improved ICFs for a sample of SFGs. These new corrections include both the contaminating ionized gas along the line of sight (ICF$_{\rm ionized}$) and unaccounted higher ionization stages in the neutral gas (ICF$_{\rm neutral}$). We make use of recently acquired spectroscopic observations taken with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on board Hubble to measure column…
We present a new model of the diffuse Galactic synchrotron radiation, concentrating on its angular anisotropies. While previous studies have focussed on either the variation of the emissivity on large (kpc) scales, or on fluctuations due to MHD turbulence in the interstellar medium, we unify these approaches to match the angular power spectrum. We note that the usual turbulence cascade calculation ignores spatial correlations at the injection scale due to compression of the interstellar medium by old supernova remnants -- the 'radio loops', only four of which are visible by eye in radio maps. …
The search for complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM) has revealed species of ever greater complexity. This search relies on the progress made in the laboratory to characterize their rotational spectra. Our understanding of the processes that lead to molecular complexity in the ISM builds on numerical simulations that use chemical networks fed by laboratory and theoretical studies. The advent of ALMA and NOEMA has opened a new door to explore molecular complexity in the ISM. Their high angular resolution reduces the spectral confusion of star-forming cores and their increas…
Aims: We present and study spatially resolved imaging obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of multiple $^{12}$CO($J=$6$-$5, 8$-$7 and 9$-$8) and two H$_2$O(2$_{02}-$1$_{11}$ and 2$_{11}-$2$_{02}$) emission lines and cold dust continuum toward the gravitationally lensed dusty star forming galaxy SPT0346-52 at z=$5.656$. Methods: Using a visibility-domain source-plane reconstruction we probe the structure and dynamics of the different components of the interstellar medium (ISM) in this galaxy down to scales of 1 kpc in the source plane. Results: Measurements of t…
The methylidyne radical CH is commonly used as a proxy for H$_2$ in the cold, neutral phase of the interstellar medium. The optical spectroscopy of CH is limited by interstellar extinction, whereas far-infrared observations provide an integral view through the Galaxy. While the HF ground state absorption, another H$_2$ proxy in diffuse gas, frequently suffers from saturation, CH remains transparent both in spiral-arm crossings and high-mass star forming regions, turning this light hydride into a universal surrogate for H$_2$. However, in slow shocks and in regions dissipating turbulence its ab…
We investigate the physical conditions of ionized gas in high-z star-forming galaxies using diagnostic diagrams based on the rest-frame optical emission lines. The sample consists of 701 galaxies with an Ha detection at $1.4\lesssim z\lesssim1.7$, from the FMOS-COSMOS survey, that represent the normal star-forming population over the stellar mass range $10^{9.6} \lesssim M_\ast/M_\odot \lesssim 10^{11.6}$ with those at $M_\ast>10^{11}~M_\odot$ being well sampled. We confirm an offset of the average location of star-forming galaxies in the BPT diagram ([OIII]/Hb vs. [NII]/Ha), primarily towards…
We present near-infrared polarimetric results for N159/N160 star-forming complex, in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with SIRPOL, the polarimeter of the Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF). We separated foreground sources using their visual extinction derived from near-infrared photometric data. The 45 young stellar candidates and 2 high excitation blobs were matched with our sources, and 12 of them showed the high polarization that was not originated from the interstellar dust. We made a polarimetric catalog of 252, 277, and 89 sources at $J$, $H$, and $K_s$ bands, respectively. Based on the rat…
We present a multiwavelength study towards the young stellar object (YSO) G29.862-0.044 (hereafter G29), which is embedded in the massive star-forming region G29.96-0.02, located at a distance of about 6.5 kpc. The surrounding interstellar medium of G29 is studied using molecular lines data (angular resolution about 15'') obtained from the databases of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The physical conditions of G29 molecular outflows and the clump where the YSO is embedded are characterized. Near-IR data is also analyzed (spatial resolution of about 0.5'') obtained with NIRI at Gemini North …
Over the past decade increasingly robust estimates of the dense molecular gas content in galaxy populations between redshift 0 and the peak of cosmic galaxy/star formation from redshift 1-3 have become available. This rapid progress has been possible due to the advent of powerful ground-based, and space telescopes for combined study of several millimeter to far-IR, line or continuum tracers of the molecular gas and dust components. The main conclusions of this review are: 1. Star forming galaxies contained much more molecular gas at earlier cosmic epochs than at the present time. 2. The galaxy…
The magnetic field in the multi-phase interstellar medium of NGC 6946
School of Astronomy, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)（基础科学研究所天文学院）；I. Physikalisches Institut, University of Cologne（科隆大学第一物理研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of South Carolina（南卡罗来纳大学物理与天文学系）；NASA Ames Research Center（NASA艾姆斯研究中心）；Bay Area Environmental Research Institute（湾区环境研究所）
本研究通过比较 NGC 6946 的远红外和射电偏振观测，发现其磁场全局有序但受恒星形成湍流局部调制，并定量揭示了冷尘埃与弥漫同步辐射相中磁场有序性的差异。
We use new Band-3 CO(1-0) observations taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the physical conditions in the interstellar gas of a sample of 27 dusty main-sequence star-forming galaxies at 0.03<$z$<0.2 present in the Valparaíso ALMA Line Emission Survey (VALES). The sample is drawn from far-IR bright galaxies over $\sim$160 deg$^{2}$ in the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (HATLAS), which is covered by Herschel [CII] 158 $μ$m spectroscopy and far-infrared (FIR) photometry. The [CII] and CO lines are both detected at >5$σ$ in 26 sources. We…
With the increasing number of experiments dedicated to the observation of the Cosmic Microwave Background, interest on the detailed properties of the foreground Galactic emission has risen. In particular the focus is shifting towards polarized microwave emission with the goal of detecting signature from primordial gravitational waves and inflation. This review describes the Galactic polarized and unpolarized emissions in the microwave range : free-free, synchrotron, thermal dust and anomalous emission.
The interstellar medium is a key ingredient that governs star formation in galaxies. We present a detailed study of the infrared (~ 1-500 micron) spectral energy distributions of a large sample of 193 nearby (z ~ 0.088) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) covering a wide range of evolutionary stages along the merger sequence. The entire sample has been observed uniformly by 2MASS, WISE, Spitzer, and Herschel. We perform multi-component decomposition of the spectra to derive physical parameters of the interstellar medium, including the intensity of the interstellar radiation field and the mass a…
We investigate the problem of probing the local spatial structure of the magnetic field of the interstellar medium using multi-frequency polarized maps of the synchrotron emission at radio wavelengths. We focus in this paper on the three-dimensional reconstruction of the largest scales of the magnetic field, relying on the internal depolarization (due to differential Faraday rotation) of the emitting medium as a function of electromagnetic frequency. We argue that multi-band spectroscopy in the radio wavelengths, developed in the context of high-redshift extragalactic HI lines, can be a very u…
The abundance of oxygen in galaxies is widely used in furthering our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. Unfortunately, direct measurements of O/H in the neutral gas are extremely difficult to obtain, as the only OI line available within the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UV wavelength range (1150-3200 A) is often saturated. As such, proxies for oxygen are needed to indirectly derive O/H via the assumption that solar ratios based on local Milky Way sight lines hold in different environments. In this paper we assess the validity of using two such proxies, PII and SII, within more typ…
A field with particularly exciting results over the past few years is the study of the interaction of cosmic rays with interstellar matter. For star formation to take place, gas and dust need to be sufficiently cold for gravity to overcome thermal pressure, and the ionisation fraction must be low enough to enable substantial decoupling between the gas and the Galactic magnetic field. As soon as the visual extinction is of the order of 3-4 magnitudes, the ultraviolet photon flux from the interstellar radiation field is fully quenched, thus the only source of ionisation and heating is provided b…
We combine Spitzer and Herschel data of the star-forming region N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud to produce detailed maps of the dust properties in the complex and study their variations with the ISM conditions. We also compare APEX/LABOCA 870um observations with our model predictions in order to decompose the 870um emission into dust and non-dust (free-free emission and CO(3-2) line) contributions. We find that in N11, the 870um can be fully accounted for by these 3 components. The dust surface density map of N11 is combined with HI and CO observations to study local variations in the gas-to…
