Gravitational collapse is one of the most important processes in high-mass star formation. Compared with the classic blue-skewed profiles, redshifted absorption against continuum emission is a more reliable method to detect inward motions within high-mass star formation regions. We aim to test if methanol transitions can be used to trace infall motions within high-mass star formation regions. Using the Effelsberg-100 m, IRAM-30 m, and APEX-12 m telescopes, we carried out observations of 37 and 16 methanol transitions towards two well-known collapsing dense clumps, W31C (G10.6-0.4) and W3(OH), to search for redshifted absorption features or inverse P-Cygni profiles. Redshifted absorption is observed in 14 and 11 methanol transitions towards W31C and W3(OH), respectively. The infall velocities fitted from a simple two-layer model agree with previously reported values derived from other tracers, suggesting that redshifted methanol absorption is a reliable tracer of infall motions within high-mass star formation regions. Our observations indicate the presence of large-scale inward motions, and the mass infall rates are roughly estimated to be $\gtrsim$10$^{-3}$ $M_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$, which supports the global hierarchical collapse and clump-fed scenario. With the aid of bright continuum sources and the overcooling of methanol transitions leading to enhanced absorption, redshifted methanol absorption can trace infall motions within high-mass star formation regions hosting bright H{\scriptsize II} regions.
We have measured the internal proper motions of the 6.7 GHz methanol masers associated with Cepheus A (Cep A) HW2 using Very Long Baseline Interferometery (VLBI) observations. We conducted three epochs of VLBI monitoring observations of the 6.7 GHz methanol masers in Cep A-HW2 with the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN) over the period between 2006-2008. In 2006, we were able to use phase-referencing to measure the absolute coordinates of the maser emission with an accuracy of a few milliarcseconds. We compared the maser distribution with other molecular line observations that trace the rotating disk…
Observational signatures of infalling envelopes and outflowing material in early stages of protostellar evolution, and at small radii from the protostar, are essential to progress in the understanding of the mass-accretion process in star formation. In this letter, we report a detailed study of the accretion and outflow structure around a protostar in the well-known high-mass star-forming region AFGL 5142. We focus on the mm source MM-1, which exhibits hot-core chemistry, radio continuum emission, and strong water and methanol masers. Remarkably, our Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) ob…
Context: Class II methanol masers at 6.7 GHz originate close to high-mass young stellar objects (HMYSOs). Their high sensitivity to local condition variations makes them a useful marker of the activity of the emerging massive stars. Aims: We aim to closely examine the variability of the 6.7 GHz methanol masers in Cep A HW2 using the new and archival single-dish and high-resolution Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) datasets. Methods: We monitored 6.7 GHz methanol masers towards the target between 2009 and 2021 using the Torun 32 m radio telescope, and analysed nine datasets of VLBI obser…
6.7 GHz methanol maser emission from the well-studied star-forming region Cepheus A was monitored with the Torun 32 m radio telescope. We found synchronized and anticorrelated changes of the flux density of the two blueshifted and one redshifted maser features for ~30 per cent of 1340 d of our observations. Two of those features exhibited high amplitude flux density variations with periods of 84-87 d over the last 290 d interval of the monitoring. We also report on two flares of emission at two different redshifted velocities completely covered during the whole outburst. These flare events las…
We investigate the kinematics of high mass protostellar objects within the high mass star forming region IRAS 19410+2336. We performed high angular resolution observations of 6.7-GHz methanol and 22 GHz water masers using the MERLIN (Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network) and e-MERLIN interferometers. The 6.7-GHz methanol maser emission line was detected within the $\sim$ 16--27 km s$^{-1}$ velocity range with a peak flux density $\sim$50 Jy. The maser spots are spread over $\sim$1.3 arcsec on the sky, corresponding to $\sim$2800 au at a distance of 2.16 kpc. These are the first as…
Cloud contraction and infall are the fundamental processes of star formation. While "blue-skewed" line profiles observed in high- mass star forming regions are commonly taken as evidence of infall by an ever increasing number of studies, their interpretation offers many pitfalls. Detecting infall via redshifted absorption in front of continuum sources is a much more direct and reliable method but so far mostly restricted toward absorption in the centimeter toward strong HII regions. Here we present a novel approach by probing absorption of rotational ammonia transitions in front of the strong …
A total of 188 high-mass outflows have been identified from a sample of 694 clumps from the Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team 90 GHz survey, representing a detection rate of approximately 27%. The detection rate of outflows increases from the protostellar stage to the H II stage, but decreases again at the photodissociation (PDR) stage suggesting that outflows are being switched off during the PDR stage. An intimate relationship is found between outflow action and the presence of masers, and water masers appear together with 6.7 GHz methanol masers. Comparing the infall detection rate of clumps…
Gas accretion is a key process in star formation. However, the gas infall detections in high-mass star forming regions with high-spatial resolution observations are rare. Here we report the detection of gas infall towards a cometary ultracompact H{\sc ii} region "C" in G34.26+0.15 complex. The hot core associated with "C" has a mass of $\sim$76 M$_{\sun}$ and a volume density of 1.1$\times10^{8}$ cm$^{-3}$. The HCN (3--2), HCO$^{+}$ (1--0) lines observed by single-dishes and the CN (2--1) lines observed by the SMA show redshifted absorption features, indicating gas infall. We found a linear re…
Observations of the frequencies of different rotational transitions of the methanol molecule have provided the most sensitive probe to date for changes in the proton-to-electron mass ratio, over space and time. Using methanol absorption detected in the gravitational lens system PKS B1830-211, changes in the proton-to-electron ratio over the last 7.5 billion years have been constrained to a fractional change less than 1.1e-07. Molecular absorption systems at cosmological distances present the best opportunity for constraining or measuring changes in the fundamental constants of physics over tim…
We investigate which structures the 6.7 GHz methanol masers trace in the environment of high-mass protostar candidates by observing a homogenous sample of methanol masers selected from Torun surveys. We also probed their origins by looking for associated H II regions and IR emission. We selected 30 methanol sources with improved position accuracies achieved using MERLIN and another 3 from the literature. We imaged 31 of these using the European VLBI Network's expanded array of telescopes with 5-cm (6-GHz) receivers. We used the VLA to search for 8.4 GHz radio continuum counterparts and inspect…
Methanol masers can provide valuable insight into the processes involved in high-mass star formation, however the local environment in which they form is still unclear. Four primary, yet conflicting, models have emerged to explain the commonly observed methanol maser structures at 6.67 GHz. These suggest that masers trace accretion disks, outflows, shock fronts or disks dominated by infall/outflows. One proposed means of testing these models is through mapping the local magnetic field structures around maser sources, which were predicted to lie parallel to shock and outflows and perpendicular …
With the GREAT receiver at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), nine massive molecular clumps have been observed in the ammonia $3_{2+}- 2_{2-}$ line at 1.8~THz in a search for signatures of infall. The sources were selected from the ATLASGAL submillimeter dust continuum survey of our Galaxy. Clumps with high masses covering a range of evolutionary stages based on their infrared properties were chosen. The ammonia line was detected in all sources, leading to five new detections and one confirmation of a previous detection of redshifted absorption in front of their stro…
Observations of the isolated globule B335 with ALMA have yielded absorption features against the continuum that are redshifted from the systemic velocity in both HCN and HCO$^+$ lines. These features provide unambiguous evidence for infall toward a central luminosity source. Previously developed models of inside-out collapse can match the observed line profiles of HCN and HCO$^+$ averaged over the central 50 AU. At the new distance of 100 pc, the inferred infall radius is 0.012 pc, the mass infall rate is $3 \times 10^{-6}$ solar masses per year, the age is 50,000 years, and the accumulated ma…
G22 is a hub-filament system composed of four supercritical filaments. Velocity gradients are detected along three filaments. A total mass infall rate of 440 $M_\odot$~Myr$^{-1}$ would double the hub mass in about six free-fall times. The most massive clump C1 would be in global collapse with an infall velocity of 0.31 km s$^{-1}$ and a mass infall rate of $ 7.2\times10^{-4} $ $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, which is supported by the prevalent HCO$^+$ (3-2) and $^{13}$CO (3-2) blue profiles. A hot molecular core (SMA1) was revealed in C1. At the SMA1 center, there is a massive protostar (MIR1) driving mu…
The mechanisms leading to the formation of disks around young stellar objects (YSOs) and to the launching of the associated jets are crucial to the understanding of the earliest stages of star and planet formation. HH 212 is a privileged laboratory to study a pristine jet-disk system. Therefore we investigate the innermost region ($<100$ AU) around the HH 212-MM1 protostar through ALMA band\,7 observations of methanol. The 8 GHz bandwidth spectrum towards the peak of the continuum emission of the HH 212 system reveals at least 19 transitions of methanol. Several of these lines (among which sev…
We report ALMA observations of NGC 1333 IRAS 4A, a young low-mass protostellar binary, referred as 4A1 and 4A2. With multiple H$_2$CO transitions and HNC (4$-$3) observed at a resolution of 0.25" ($\sim$70 au), we investigate the gas kinematics of 4A1 and 4A2. Our results show that, on the large angular scale ($\sim$10"), 4A1 and 4A2 each display a well-collimated outflow along the N-S direction, and an S-shaped morphology is discerned in the outflow powered by 4A2. On the small scale ($\sim$0.3"), 4A1 and 4A2 exhibit distinct spectral features toward the continuum centroid, with 4A1 showing s…
MERLIN phase-referenced polarimetric observations towards the W51 complex were carried out in March 2006 in the Class II methanol maser transition at 6.668 GHz and three of the four excited OH maser hyperfine transitions at 6 GHz. Methanol maser emission is found towards both W51 Main and South. We did not detect any emission in the excited OH maser lines at 6.030 and 6.049 GHz down to a 3 sigma limit of ~20 mJy per beam. Excited OH maser emission at 6.035 GHz is only found towards W51 Main. This emission is highly circularly polarised (typically 45% and up to 87%). Seven Zeeman pairs were ide…
We report Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) cycle 0 observations of C$^{18}$O ($J=2-1$), SO ($J_N= 6_5-5_4$) and 1.3mm dust continuum toward L1527 IRS, a class 0 solar-type protostar surrounded by an infalling and rotating envelope. C$^{18}$O emission shows strong redshifted absorption against the bright continuum emission associated with L1527 IRS, strongly suggesting infall motions in the C$^{18}$O envelope. The C$^{18}$O envelope also rotates with a velocity mostly proportional to $r^{-1}$, where $r$ is the radius, while the rotation profile at the innermost radius (54 AU)…
We report Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) absorption spectroscopy in four methanol (CH$_3$OH) lines in the $z = 0.88582$ gravitational lens towards PKS1830-211. Three of the four lines have very different sensitivity coefficients $K_μ$ to changes in the proton-electron mass ratio $μ$; a comparison between the line redshifts thus allows us to test for temporal evolution in $μ$. We obtain a stringent statistical constraint on changes in $μ$ by comparing the redshifted 12.179 GHz and 60.531 GHz lines, $[Δmu/μ] \leq 1.1 \times 10^{-7}$ ($2σ$) over $0 < z \leq 0.88582$, a factor of $\approx 2…
The accretion of interstellar medium onto the central super massive black holes is widely accepted as the source of the gigantic energy released by the active galactic nuclei. But few pieces of observational evidence have been confirmed directly demonstrating the existence of the inflows. The absorption line system in the spectra of quasar SDSS J112526.12+002901.3 presents an interesting example, in which the rarely detected hydrogen Balmer and metastable He I absorption lines are found redshifted to the quasar's rest frame along with the low-ionization metal absorption lines Mg II, Fe II, etc…
In contrast with numerous studies on the physical and chemical structure of low- and high-mass protostars, much less is known about their intermediate-mass counterparts, a class of objects that could help to elucidate the mechanisms of star formation on both ends of the mass range. We present the first results from a rich HIFI spectral dataset on an intermediate-mass protostar, OMC2-FIR4, obtained in the CHESS (Chemical HErschel SurveyS of star forming regions) key programme. The more than 100 methanol lines detected between 554 and 961 GHz cover a range in upper level energy of 40 to 540 K. O…
(Abridged) We use HIFI maps of the 987 GHz H2O 2(02)-1(11) emission to measure the sizes and shapes of 19 high-mass protostellar envelopes. To identify infall, we use HIFI spectra of the optically thin C18O 9-8 and H2O-18 1(11)-0(00) lines. The high-J C18O line traces the warm central material and redshifted H2O-18 1(11)-0(00) absorption indicates material falling onto the warm core. We probe small-scale chemical differentiation by comparing H2O 752 and 987 GHz spectra with those of H2O-18. Our measured radii of the central part of the H2O 2(02)-1(11) emission are 30-40% larger than the predic…
We present the first VLBI detection of HCN molecular absorption in the nearby active galactic nucleus NGC 1052. Utilizing the 1 milliarcsecond resolution achieved by the Korean VLBI Network, we have spatially resolved the HCN absorption against a double-sided nuclear jet structure. Two velocity features of HCN absorption are detected significantly at the radial velocity of 1656 and 1719 km/s, redshifted by 149 and 212 km/s with respect to the systemic velocity of the galaxy. The column density of the HCN molecule is estimated to be 10^{15}-10^{16} cm^{-2}, assuming the excitation temperature o…
Complex Organic Molecules in Protostars with ALMA Spectral Surveys (COMPASS) III. CH$_3$OH isotopic fractionation in the low-mass protostar BHR71-IRS1
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse（天体物理学与行星学研究 institute，图卢兹大学）；Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen（尼尔斯·玻尔研究所，哥本哈根大学）；Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos und Weltstrahlungszentrum (PMOD/WRC)（达沃斯物理气象观测站和世界辐射中心（PMOD/WRC））；Universität Bern（伯尔尼大学）；Seoul National University（首尔国立大学）；National Radio Astronomy Observatory（美国国家射电天文台）；Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics, National Tsinghua University（国立清华大学物理系天文研究所）；Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学，法国国家科学研究中心，IPAG）；Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；RIKEN（理化学研究所）
We report on an Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) study of the Class I or II intermediate-mass protostar DK Cha in the Chamaeleon II region. The 12CO (J=2-1) images have an angular resolution of ~1'' (~250 au) and show high-velocity blueshifted (>70 km s-1) and redshifted (>50 km s-1) emissions which have 3000 au scale crescent-shaped structures around the protostellar disk traced in the 1.3mm continuum. Because the high-velocity components of the CO emission are associated with the protostar, we concluded that the emission traces the pole-on outflow. The blueshifted outflow …
Rich complexes of associated absorption lines (AALs) in quasar spectra provide unique information about gaseous infall, outflows, and feedback processes in quasar environments. We study five quasars at redshifts 3.1 to 4.4 with AAL complexes containing from 7 to 18 CIV 1548, 1551 systems in high-resolution spectra. These complexes span velocity ranges $\lesssim$3600 km/s within $\lesssim$8200 km/s of the quasar redshifts. All are highly ionised with no measurable low-ionisation ions like SiII or CII, and all appear to form in the quasar/host galaxy environments based on evidence for line locki…
ATLAS. II. Extremely High Incidence of Balmer Line Absorption with Predominant Blueshifts in LRDs: Statistical Insights through Comparison with Type 1 AGNs
Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo（东京大学宇宙射线研究所）；Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo（东京大学理学研究科物理系）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；Astronomical Science Program, Graduate Institute for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI（SOKENDAI高级研究院天文学科学项目）；Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo（东京大学 Kavli宇宙物理数学研究所（WPI））
Context. This study is part of a large project to study the physics of accretion and molecular outflows towards a selected sample of high-mass star-forming regions that show evidence of infall and rotation from previous studies. Aims. We wish to make a thorough study at high-angular resolution of the structure and kinematics of the HMCs and corresponding molecular outflows in the high-mass star-forming region G24.78+0.08. Methods. We carried out SMA and IRAM PdBI observations at 1.3 and 1.4 mm, respectively, of dust and of typical high-density and molecular outflow tracers with resolutions of …
We observe the radio galaxy PKS 1934-63 (at $z=0.1825$) using MUSE (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The radio source is GigaHertz Peaked Spectrum and compact (0.13 kpc), implying an early stage of evolution ($\leq 10^4$ yr). Our data show an interacting pair of galaxies, projected separation 9.1 kpc, velocity difference $Δ(v)=216$ km $\rm s^{-1}$. The larger galaxy is a $\rm M_{*}\simeq 10^{11}M_{\odot}$ spheroidal with the emission-line spectrum of a high-excitation young radio AGN, e.g. strong [OI]6300 and [OIII]5007. Emission-line ratios indicate a larg…
AGN Fueling and Radio Jet Evolution in the Galaxy Group NGC 5044 revealed by VLBA HI Absorption and Proper-Motion Radio Observations
Università di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA)（意大利国家天体物理研究所-射电天文研究所）；Naval Research Laboratory（海军研究实验室）
