On the state of ionization of the local interstellar medium

The abundance ratio of neutral hydrogen to helium, as deduced from interplanetary observations of Lyman-alpha and He 584 Å radiation by Mariner 10, is significantly lower than the cosmic abundance ratio of these elements, thus showing that the local interstellar medium (LISM) is partly ionized. The effect of various sources of ionization — especially electron impact and EUV photon flux — on hydrogen and helium is discussed. It is shown that the observational data on the temperature of the LISM, on the diffuse EUV flux and on the neutral and electron densities in the nearby interstellar medium (NISM) are not all compatible. However, if the diffuse EUV flux below 912 Å as deduced from the preliminary analysis of Voyager observations is not representative, then it is easy to reconcile all observations. In this case an important source of ionization of the LISM would be electron impact, yielding an ionization degree of about 50% for the hydrogen component.     

O VI in the local interstellar medium

We report preliminary results of a search for O VI absorption in the spectra of ～100 hot DA white dwarfs observed by the FUSE satellite. We have carried out a detailed analysis of the radial velocities of interstellar and (where present) stellar absorption lines for the entire sample of stars. In many cases, the velocity differences between the interstellar and photospheric components are below the resolution of the FUSE spectrographs. However, in a significant number of cases the interstellar and photospheric contributions can be separated. In the majority of stars where we find O VI absorption lines, the material is clearly associated with the stellar photosphere and not the interstellar medium. There are a small number of lines-of-sight where the gas is interstellar in nature but the stars are located beyond the boundaries of the local cavity.     

Bremsstrahlung gamma radiation and interstellar electron spectrum in the local interstellar medium

We present a detailed study of the bremsstrahlung gamma-ray emissivity of the galactic disk. We show that there are large uncertainties in the production spectrum of photons in the medium energy range (10–100 MeV) due to our lack of knowledge of the interstellar electron spectrum below a few hundred MeV. In fact, gamma-ray observations can be of great help in determining this spectrum. At present, the spectral shape of the local gamma-ray emissivity above 30 MeV is available, thanks to the SAS-II and the COS-B satellites. Comparing it to our calculations, we determine the local interstellar electron flux in the 50–500 MeV range; the corresponding integrated gamma-ray emissivity above 100 MeV is equal to 2.4×10^–25 photons s^–1 (H-atom)^–1, 60% higher than previously accepted values.     

On the presence of graphite in the interstellar medium

The justification for the presence of graphite in the interstellar medium is examined. The conditions necessary for growth of graphite (single crystals) and other structurally disordered carbons are discussed. The effect of structural imperfections on the mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, optic and chemical properties is illustrated. From this information it is concluded that the existence of graphite (single crystals) in the interstellar medium is unlikely. While various forms of highly disordered carbon grains may exist, none would satisfy the physical properties necessary to explain both polarization and extinction simultaneously.     

The local interstellar medium: A test-bed for the galactic ISM

We outline a method to explore the column density of the Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) using absorptions in the resonance H and K lines of Mgii. The intrinsic strengths of these lines in the temperature and density conditions prevailing in warm clouds (T _eff<10⁴ K) in the LISM allows them to be used to explore many lines of sight where lines such a NaD and Caii H and K are too weak, but where L is saturated. The number of measurable lines-of-sight is greatly enhanced by using cool stars as the background emitters, but this implies reliable separation of the LISM components from stellar chromospheric selfabsorptions. We explain how to do this, and how to use a combination of column density and radial velocity data to measure the spatial extent and the physical parameters of the single cloud in which the Sun is embedded. This proves to be an oblate spheroid, of characteristic diameter 8 pc, withT _eff 10⁴ K,n(Hi) of 0.1 cm^–3 and a mass <5M , streaming in the LSR from a point 1=4°,B=+16° with velocity equal to 16 km s^–1, and is surrounded by the much hotter lower density ionized gas of the local supernova bubble.     

Local interstellar medium

This paper reviews and analyses various observational data about the local interstellar medium (LISM)-a volume with a radius of about 200 pc near the Sun. There are collected radio, IR, optical, UV, and X-ray observations of the ISM and data on the Sco-Cen association. All available information confirms Weaver's (1979) conclusions that the Sun is located near an edge of a giant cavern with a radius of about 180 pc and the cavern center coincides with the Sco-Cen associated center. The outer rim of the cavern is observed as numerous, very longHi flaments, filaments of the interstellar polarization, and soft X-rays radiated by coronal gas with a temperature of about 10⁶K. Close environment (from 10^–4 to 2–5 pc) of the Sun is filled by warm (about 10⁴ K)Hi with the number density 0.1–0.2 cm^–3, which is a corona of the local cloud of the ISM. The central part of the cloud is observed to the galactical center direction at a distance of 10–20 pc as Sancini and van Woerden's (1970)Hi filament. The cloud blown round by stellar winds has a horseshoe-like shape, bordering the Sun. Tinbergen's (1982) patch of polarization is observational evidence of the shape.Several arguments are given to show that the bright spots of soft X-rays (130–284 eV) near the galactic poles are produced by an interaction of stellar winds with outer edge of the local cloud near the ends of the patch of polarization. Lyman continuum radiation from Sco-Cen stars was shown to be probably the main source of ionization of extendedHii regions of low density in the LISM. Various data evidence that the North Polar Spur is a SNR in the local cavern with the age of about 10⁵ years. Interaction of the local cavern with an interstellar absorption-free tunnel stretched for more than 1 kpc along the galactical longitudel=240° is discussed. In conclusion several actual problems of investigation of the LISM were formulated.     

On the thermal instability in numerical models of the interstellar medium

We investigate with 3D hydrodynamical simulations the role played by thermal processes in the dynamical evolution of the interstellarmedium (ISM). A parametric approach of the coolingprocess shows that the observed mass fraction of the cold (< 300 K)and unstable gas (300K < T < 6000K) can not be produced by turbulentcompression or background heating of the medium alone. An analysis of theproperties of the clouds that are formed by the combined effect of the thermal and gravitational instability shows that the cloud’s scaling relations imprinted by the thermal instability (TI) are in good agreementwith observational values.     

Abundances in the interstellar medium

Summary Recent developments in the theory of element production and the chemical evolution of the galaxy are presented. Following this, observational data and their interpretation are given. A case by case analysis of results for D, He, Li and CNO isotope data in the disk and center of our galaxy is presented; previous results for element gradients are also summarized.The primordial abundances of D and He cannot be directly obtained from observations; corrections for stellar processing are discussed. From these data and the Li abundances, it appears that the abundance of the light elements is consistent with the standard big bang. In agreement with previous results, the range of, the baryon to photon ratio, is 5–8 10^–10. If the amount of non-baryonic matter is small, these results indicate an open universe, in the standard big bang model.New data show a gradient in the (¹²C/¹³C) and (¹⁶O/¹⁸O) ratios with galactocentric distance, D_GC. The presence of a gradient in the (¹⁴N/¹⁵N) ratio is less clear and there is no measurable gradient in the (³²S/³⁴S) ratio. In the interstellar medium near the sun, the carbon isotope ratio is –20 percent lower than the solar system ratio. This indicates that there has been only a moderate amount of enrichment of the nearby interstellar medium since the formation of the solar system. These results and previously determined galactic element gradients are interpreted in the framework of chemical evolution models. Delayed recycling of nucleosynthesis products is essential for the correct interpretation of the results. Comparisons of data with galactic evolution models are discussed.This article was processed by the author using the Springer-Verlag T_EX AAR macro package 1991     

Velocity of the local interstellar medium relative to the sun from interstellar helium flux measurements onboard the Ulysses and IBEX spacecraft

The question of determining the relative velocity of the local interstellar medium (LISM) based on direct interstellar helium flux measurements in the Solar system is considered. Such measurements were made onboard the Ulysses spacecraft in 1990–2007 at a distance of 2–5 AU from the Sun and have been made from 2009 to the present day onboard the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft at the Earth’s orbit. Recent works on analyzing the IBEX measurements have shown that the LISM velocity relative to the Sun determined from the IBEX data differs in magnitude (by ≈3 km s^?1) and direction (by ≈4°) from the LISM velocity obtained previously by Witte based on Ulysses measurements. We have modeled the Ulysses data (including the 2007 data that have not been considered previously by anybody) by taking into account various LISM velocity vectors and compare our numerical simulations with experimental data. The LISM velocity vector derived from the IBEX data is shown to contradict the Ulysses data in the position of the measured interstellar helium flux maximum on the sky map. In addition, the position of the flux maximum is shown to be determined exclusively by the LISM velocity vector and to be independent of other model parameters (the LISM temperature and ionization rate). This means that the Ulysses data (including the 2007 data obtained only two years before the IBEX measurements) cannot be explained in terms of the existing models with the LISM velocity vector from the IBEX data. Possible reasons for the detected contradictions are discussed.     

Radio sources flickering and local interstellar medium (LISM) structure

A possibility of obtaining information on small-scale inhomogeneities of the electron component of the local interstellar medium (LISM) was investigated using interstellar scintillations of extragalactic radio sources. We analysed Culgoora array observational variability data of 190 extragalactic radio sources, covering most of the sky, at 80 and 160 MHz. The variability at time scales from 1 month to 15 years is interpreted as refractive interstellar scintillations in fast-moving nearby (less than 150 pc) hot gas, near shock waves in the LISM. An all-sky map of scintillation indices, m, averaged over three–five sources closest to one another, shows several m maxima. Two of the three most pronounced maxima are probably connected with Loop I; the third one coincides with the soft X-ray (0.1–0.3 keV) background maximum near the South Galactic Pole. Other, less certain, m maxima probably correspond to the Orion star-formation region and to a soft X-ray maximum near the North Galactic Pole. The ‘free-of-gas’ tunnel in the direction l=240° corresponds to low values of m. The estimated time scale of interstellar scintillations on the above-mentioned LISM structures is in agreement with that of the observed radio-source variations.     

The colours of the interstellar medium

On the basis ofI-I plots, we find that the ISM radiates preferentially at two pairs of far-infrared frequencies which correspond to (scattered) black-body temperatures of (23 ± 1, 187 ± 5) K and (39 ± 1, 104 ± 5) K. The first pair is emitted by the cold matrix, the second pair byHii regions and supernova shells.     

Self-consistent Modelling of the interstellar medium

The dynamical evolution of hot optically thin plasmas in the ISMcrucially depends on the heating and cooling processes. It isessential to realize that all physical processes that contributeoperate on different time scales. In particular detailedbalancing is often violated since the statistically inverseprocess of e.g. collisional ionization is recombination of an ionwith two electrons, which as a three-body collision is usuallydominated by radiative recombination, causing a departure fromcollisional ionization equilibrium. On top of these differences inatomic time scales, hot plasmas are often in a dynamical state,thereby introducing another time scale, which canbe the shortest one.The non-equilibrium effects will be illustrated and discussed inthe case of galactic outflows. It will be shown, that spectralanalyses of X-ray data of edge-on galaxies show a clear signaturein the form of ‘multi-temperature’ halos, which can mostnaturally be explained by the ‘freezing-in’ of highly ionizedspecies in the outflow, which contribute to the overall spectrumby delayed recombination. This naturally leads to anon-equilibrium cooling function, which modifies the dynamics,which in turn changes the plasma densities and thermal energybudget, thus feeding back on the ionization structure. Thereforeself-consistent modelling is needed.     

Deuterium enrichment of the interstellar medium

Despite the low elemental abundance of atomic deuterium in the interstellar medium (ISM), observational evidence suggests that several species, both in the gas phase and in ices, could be heavily fractionated. We explore various aspects of deuterium enrichment by constructing a chemical evolution model in both gaseous and granular phases. Depending on various physical parameters, gases and grains are allowed to interact with each other through the exchange of their chemical species. It is known that HCO⁺ and N₂H⁺ are two abundant gas phase ions in the ISM and, their deuterium fractionation is generally used to predict the degree of ionization in the various regions of a molecular cloud. For a more accurate estimation, we consider the density profile of a collapsing cloud. The radial distributions of important interstellar molecules, along with their deuterated isotopomers, are presented. Quantum chemical simulations are computed to study the effects of isotopic substitution on the spectral properties of these interstellar species. We calculate the vibrational (harmonic) frequencies of the most important deuterated species (neutral and ions). The rotational and distortional constants of these molecules are also computed in order to predict the rotational transitions of these species. We compare vibrational (harmonic) and rotational transitions as computed by us with existing experimental and theoretical results. It is hope that our results will assist observers in detecting several hitherto unobserved deuterated species.     

An axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic model for the interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium

We numerically analyze a magnetohydrodynamic, steady-state model for the interaction of a spherically symmetric solar wind with a three-component local interstellar medium (LISM), which is composed of plasma, hydrogen atoms, and a magnetic field. The magnetic field is assumed to be parallel to the velocity in the LISM. In this case, the model is axisymmetric. We study the effects of magnetic field on the plasma-flow geometry and on the distribution of hydrogen-atom parameters. In particular, we show that the presence of hydrogen atoms does not affect the qualitative change in the shape of the bow shock, the heliopause, and the solar-wind shock with increasing strength of the interstellar magnetic field. The presence of a magnetic field in the LISM can strongly affect the parameters of the energetic hydrogen atoms originated in the solar wind, although its effect on the “hydrogen wall” observed with the GHRS instrument onboard the HST spacecraft (Linsky and Wood 1996) is marginal.     

Hypochlorous acid in the interstellar medium

Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 151–161, July–August, 1991.