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arXiv 1707.05352astro-ph.GA
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作为星系观测工具的分子谱线发射(LEGO)。I. HCN作为分子云和星系中等气体密度的示踪剂

Molecular Line Emission as a Tool for Galaxy Observations (LEGO). I. HCN as a tracer of moderate gas densities in molecular clouds and galaxies

Jens Kauffmann, Paul F. Goldsmith, Gary Melnick, Volker Tolls, Andres Guzman, Karl M. Menten

摘要:

在星系中观察到的趋势,如高所罗门关系,表明恒星形成速率和可用于恒星形成的致密气体质量之间存在线性关系。验证这种关系需要建立可靠的方法来追踪星系中的致密气体。一个常见的假设是HCN($J=1$ -0)跃迁与$\rm{}H_2$密度为$\gg{}10^4~\rm{}cm^{-3}$的气体明确相关。如果是这样的话,密度为$\gg{}10^4~\rm{}cm^{-3}$的气体的质量就可以从这条发射线$L_{\rm{}HCN\,(1\text{--}0)}$的光度中推断出来。在这里,我们使用的猎户座~A分子云的观测表明,HCN($J=1$ --0)线跟踪低得多的密度$\sim{}10^3~\rm{}cm^{-3}$在这个分子云的冷部分,对应于视觉反射$A_V\approx{}6~\rm{}mag$。我们还发现,像猎户座这样的云中的冷而致密的气体产生的HCN排放太少,无法解释恒星形成星系中的$L_{\rm{}HCN\,(1\text{--}0)}$,这表明星系可能包含迄今未知的HCN排放源。在我们在100 GHz附近频率观察到的分子样本中(也包括$\rm{}^{12}CO$、$\rm{}^{13}CO$、$\rm{}C^{18}O$、CN和CCH),$\rm{}N_2H^+$是唯一与相当致密的气体明显相关的物种。

英文摘要:

Trends observed in galaxies, such as the Gao \& Solomon relation, suggest a linear relation between the star formation rate and the mass of dense gas available for star formation. Validation of such relations requires the establishment of reliable methods to trace the dense gas in galaxies. One frequent assumption is that the HCN ($J=1$--0) transition is unambiguously associated with gas at $\rm{}H_2$ densities $\gg{}10^4~\rm{}cm^{-3}$. If so, the mass of gas at densities $\gg{}10^4~\rm{}cm^{-3}$ could be inferred from the luminosity of this emission line, $L_{\rm{}HCN\,(1\text{--}0)}$. Here we use observations of the Orion~A molecular cloud to show that the HCN ($J=1$--0) line traces much lower densities $\sim{}10^3~\rm{}cm^{-3}$ in cold sections of this molecular cloud, corresponding to visual extinctions $A_V\approx{}6~\rm{}mag$. We also find that cold and dense gas in a cloud like Orion produces too little HCN emission to explain $L_{\rm{}HCN\,(1\text{--}0)}$ in star--forming galaxies, suggesting that galaxies might contain a hitherto unknown source of HCN emission. In our sample of molecules observed at frequencies near 100~GHz (also including $\rm{}^{12}CO$, $\rm{}^{13}CO$, $\rm{}C^{18}O$, CN, and CCH), $\rm{}N_2H^+$ is the only species clearly associated with rather dense gas.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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