Expanding shells in low and high density environments

The gravitational instability of expanding shells evolving in a homogeneous and static medium is discussed. In the low density environment (n = 1 cm^-3), the fragmentation starts in shells with diameters of a few 100 pc and fragment masses are in the range of 5 × 10³ - 10⁶ M _⊙. In the high density environment (n = 10⁵ - 10⁷ cm^-3), shells fragment at diameters of pc producing clumps of stellar masses. The mass spectrum in both environments is approximated by a power law dN/dm ∼ m ^-2.3. This is close to the slope of the stellar IMF. To reproduce the observed mass spectrum of clouds (the spectral index close to ∼ -2.0) we have to assume, that the cloud formation time is independent of the cloud size, similarly to the Jeans unstable medium. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Rôle Of Astrochemistry In Low Mass Star Formation

Molecular processes play both active and passive/diagnostic rôles in the process of star formation. Various molecular behaviours can be identified in star-forming regions with the result that different molecular species can be used to constain different aspects of the infall process, such as the density structures, the kinematics and the evolutionary history of star-forming cores. The main limitations in the chemical analysis of infall sources arise from poorly constrained boundary conditions; in particular the chemical and physical initial conditions are usually very uncertain. The most promising application of astrochemical modelling is probably in the analysis of the infall dynamics through combined chemical/radiative transfer modelling of molecular emission line profiles.     

On-Going Galaxy Formation

We investigate the process of galaxy formation as can be observed in the only currently forming galaxies - the so-called Tidal Dwarf Galaxies, hereafter TDGs - through observations of the molecular gas detected via its CO (Carbon Monoxide) emission. These objects are formed of material torn off of the outer parts of a spiral disk due to tidal forces in a collision between two massive galaxies. Molecular gas is a key element in the galaxy formation process, providing the link between a cloud of gas and a bona fide galaxy. We have detected CO in 8 TDGs (Braine, Lisenfeld, Duc and Leon, 2000: Nature 403, 867; Braine, Duc, Lisenfeld, Charmandaris, Vallejo, Leon and Brinks: 2001, A&A 378, 51), with an overall detection rate of 80%, showing that molecular gas is abundant in TDGs, up to a few 10⁸ M _⊙. The CO emission coincides both spatially and kinematically with the HI emission, indicating that the molecular gas forms from the atomic hydrogen where the HI column density is high. A possible trend of more evolved TDGs having greater molecular gas masses is observed, in accord with the transformation of HI into H₂. Although TDGs share many of the properties of small irregulars, their CO luminosity is much greater (factor ∼ 100) than that of standard dwarf galaxies of comparable luminosity. This is most likely a consequence of the higher metallicity (≳sim 1/3 solar) of TDGs which makes CO a good tracer of molecular gas. This allows us to study star formation in environments ordinarily inaccessible due to the extreme difficulty of measuring the molecular gas mass. The star formation efficiency, measured by the CO luminosity per Hα flux, is the same in TDGs and full-sized spirals. CO is likely the best tracer of the dynamics of these objects because some fraction of the HI near the TDGs may be part of the tidal tail and not bound to the TDG. Although uncertainties are large for individual objects, as the geometry is unknown, our sample is now of eight detected objects and we find that the ‘dynamical’ masses of TDGs, estimated from the CO line widths, seem not to be greater than the ‘visible’ masses (HI + H₂ + a stellar component). Although higher spatial resolution CO (and HI) observations would help reduce the uncertainties, we find that TDGs require no dark matter, which would make them the only galaxy-sized systems where this is the case. Dark matter in spirals should then be in a halo and not a rotating disk. Most dwarf galaxies are dark matter-rich, implying that they are not of tidal origin. We provide strong evidence that TDGs are self-gravitating entities, implying that we are witnessing the ensemble of processes in galaxy formation: concentration of large amounts of gas in a bound object, condensation of the gas, which is atomic at this point, to form molecular gas and the subsequent star formation from the dense molecular component. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Gas to Dust Ratio in Three Star Forming Regionstwo

Gas to Dust Ratio (GDR) indicates the mass ratio of interstellar gas to dust. It is widely adopted that the GDR in our Galaxy is 100～150. We choose three typical star forming regions to study the GDR: the Orion molecular cloud — a massive star forming region, the Taurus molecular cloud — a low-mass star forming region, and the Polaris molecular cloud — a region with no or very few star formation activities. The mass of gas only takes account of the neutral gas, i.e. only the atomic and molecular hydrogen, because the amount of ionized gas is very small in a molecular cloud. The column density of atomic hydrogen is taken from the high-resolution and high-sensitivity all-sky survey EBHIS (Effelsberg-Bonn HI Survey). The CO J = 1 →0 line is used to trace the molecular hydrogen, since the spectral lines of molecular hydrogen which can be detected are rare. The intensity of CO J = 1 →0 line is taken from the Planck all-sky survey. The mass of dust is traced by the interstellar extinction based on the 2MASS (Two Micron All Sky Survey) photometric database in the direction of anti-Galactic center. Adopting a constant conversion coefficient from the integrated intensity of the CO line to the column density of molecular hydrogen, X_CO = 2.0 × 10²⁰ cm^?2 · (K · km/s)^?1, the gas to dust ratio N(H)/A_V is calculated, which is 25, 38, and 55 (in units of 10²⁰ cm^?2 · mag^?1) for the Orion, Taurus, and Polaris molecular clouds, respectively. These values are significantly higher than the previously obtained average value of the Galaxy. Adopting the WD01 interstellar dust model (when the V-band selective extinction ratio is R_V = 3.1), the derived GDRs are 160, 243, and 354 for the Orion, Taurus, and Polaris molecular clouds, respectively, which are apparently higher than 100～150, the commonly accepted GDR of the diffuse interstellar medium. The high N(H)/A_V values in the star forming regions may be explained by the growth of dust in the molecular clouds because of either the particle collision or accretion, which can lead to the reduction of extinction efficiency per unit mass in the V band, rather than the increase of the GDR itself.     

Triggered star formation in expanding shells

We discuss fragmentation processes which induce star formation in the dense walls of expanding shells. We test the influence of the energy input, the interstellar medium scaleheight and the speed of sound in the ambient medium, and formulate the condition for the gravitational fragmentation of expanding shells: if the total surface density of the disc is higher than a certain critical value, the shells are unstable. The value of the critical density depends on the energy of the shell and the sound speed in the interstellar medium.     

Near—Infrared Imaging Observations of the Orion A—W Star Forming Region

We carried out near-infrared imaging observations of the Ori A-W region using the Italian 1.5m TIRGO infrared telescope at Gornergrat. A group of infrared objects is visible on the K band image, including an IRAS source (IRS 1). From its IRAS flux density the IRAS luminosity is derived to be 45L⊙, which shows that IRS 1 is a low-mass protostar. By superimposing the position of the VLA H2O maser on the K image, we can identify the less evolved object IRS 1 as the excitation source of the H2O maser, within a projected distance of 470AU. This would be evidence that the maser effect is associated with the youngest phase of stellar evolution. The first probable HH object candidate in the Ori A-W region is discovered from the H2 S(1) 1-0 observation. Comparing the position of the H2O maser with the direction of the molecular hydrogen emission in the region, we suggest that the observed H2O maser could be tracing the circumstellar disk of IRS 1.     

Star formation in a multi-phase ISM

We present a 3d code for the dynamical evolution of a multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) coupled to stars via star formation (SF) and feedback processes. The multi-phase ISM consists of clouds (sticky particles) and diffuse gas (SPH): exchange of matter, energy and momentum is achieved by drag (due to ram pressure) and condensation or evaporation processes. The cycle of matter is completed by SF and feedback by SNe and PNe. A SF scheme based on a variable SF efficiency as proposed by Elmegreen and Efremov (1997) is presented. For a Milky Way type galaxy we get a SF rate of ∼1 M_⊙ yr^-1 with an average SF efficiency of ∼5%. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Effect of Bar on Star-forming Activities in Nuclear Regions of Nearby Spiral Galaxies

By using the SDSS spectra, we have studied the star formation properties of the nearby spiral galaxies selected from the Revised Bright Galaxy Sample, and tried to find the effect of bar structure on the star formation activity in the nuclear regions of nearby galaxies. The stellar population composition and the intensity of star formation activities of each sample galaxy are acquired by using the stellar population synthesis code—STARLIGHT, and the star formation properties of nuclear regions are compared with those of integral sample galaxies. We find that the star formation in barred spiral galaxies is more active than that of unbarred spirals, and that barred spirals have younger stellar populations.     

一个大质量恒星形成复合体的动力学性质

恒星形成于分子云之中, 分子外向流是恒星形成正在进行的重要动力学特征, 也是研究和认识恒星形成的重要契入点. 利用紫金山天文台青海观测站德令哈13.7m毫米波望远镜, 采用5种分子谱线探针(包括¹²CO、¹³CO、C¹⁸O、HCO$^+$ $J=1-0$和CS $J=2-1$, J为角动量量子数), 对一个包含IRAS 19230+1506、IRAS 19232+1504和G050.3179--00.4186这3个源的大质量恒星形成复合体进行了成图观测研究. 通过对以上分子谱线数据并结合红外波段巡天数据的分析, 在这3个源中首次探测到了分子外向流活动, 并确定了分子外向流的中心驱动源. 最后对这3个源进行了分子外向流相关物理量参数的计算, 分析了这些物理量参数之间的关系, 结果表明分子外向流的性质与中心驱动源的性质息息相关.     

Asteroseismic Investigation of 44 Tau, A Slowly Rotating δ Scuti Star

Evolutionary model calculations of 44 Tau, a δ-Scuti star, have been carried out. The star in question is a slow rotator (vsini = 6.8 kms^-1).However small it may be, the effect of rotation on the oscillation properties of the star was thought to be worth of studying. Models were evolved with uniform rotation. Radial and non-radial adiabatic oscillation frequencies were calculated. In determining oscillation frequencies rotation has been treated as a perturbation. First order effect has been considered. The possible rotational splittings, due to two rotation speeds, have been calculated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characteristics of Massive Star-forming Molecular Cores: The Spectral Observations of CO,CO and CO and the Statistical Comparison

With the 13.7 m millimeter wave telescope of Purple Mountain Observatory at Qinghai Station, the simultaneous mapping observations at the ¹²CO(J=1-0), ¹³CO(J=1-0) and C¹⁸O(J=1-0) lines were performed towards the 24 Galactic high-mass star-forming cores, which are associated with water masers and have available Spitzer's infrared data. The average mapping range was 8′ × 8′. The C¹⁸O line emission was detected in all the cores, in which 11 cores were observed to the half maximum of their C¹⁸O integrated intensities and the rather extended (5′ − 8′) C¹⁸O maps were obtained, while the others were failed to make such a large scale mapping because of the low SNR or the intrinsically extended morphology of the cores. On the 11 completely mapped dense cores, we analyzed their characteristics and made the statistics and comparisons on the integrated intensity ratios between ¹²CO and ¹³CO (R_12/13), ¹³CO and C¹⁸O(R_13/18), as well as ¹²CO and C¹⁸O(R_12/18). We concluded that as a tracer of dense gas, C¹⁸O is absolutely optically thin and can be used to detect the detailed structures of the cores, and that in general the 3 ratios increase gradually from the core center to the periphery. We found that the integrated intensity ratio R_12/13 ranges from 2 to 6; R_13/18 fluctuates between 4 and 20, but in central regions it is concentrated in the range 6–12 with a small fluctuation; and R_12/18 occupies a wider range 13–90, but it is concentrated between 13 and 50 in the denser regions of the cores.     

Clumpiness in Star Forming Regions

In this article, some aspects of the clumpy nature of molecular clouds are reviewed. In particular the observational evidence for small-scale structures both in low and high mass star forming regions will be discussed. I will review some examples of `clumpiness' such as: i) the molecular clumps ahead of HH objects and how the study of the physical and chemical nature of these clumps is important for the understanding of the clumpiness of the Interstellar Medium; and ii)hot cores and their use as a tool to study the early phases of massive star formation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Oxygen abundance in local disk and bulge: chemical evolution with a strictly universal IMF

This paper has two parts: one about observational constraints related to the empirical differential oxygen abundance distribution (EDOD), and the other about inhomogeneous models of chemical evolution, in particular the theoretical differential oxygen abundance distribution (TDOD). In the first part, the EDOD is deduced from subsamples related to two different samples involving (i) N=532 solar neighbourhood (SN) stars within the range, −1.5<[Fe/H]<0.5, for which the oxygen abundance has been determined both in presence and in absence of the local thermodynamical equilibrium (LTE) approximation (Ramirez et al. in Astron. Astrophys. 465:271, 2007); and (ii) N=64 SN thick disk, SN thin disk, and bulge K-giant stars within the range, −1.7<[Fe/H]<0.5, for which the oxygen abundance has been determined (Melendez et al. in Astron. Astrophys. 484:L21, 2008). A comparison is made with previous results implying use of [O/H]–[Fe/H] empirical relations (Caimmi in Astron. Nachr. 322:241, 2001b; New Astron. 12:289, 2007) related to (iii) 372 SN halo subdwarfs (Ryan and Norris in Astron. J. 101:1865, 1991); and (iv) 268 K-giant bulge stars (Sadler et al. in Astron. J. 112:171, 1996). The EDOD of the SN thick + thin disk is determined by weighting the mass, for assumed SN thick to thin disk mass ratio within the range, 0.1–0.9. In the second part, inhomogeneous models of chemical evolution for the SN thick disk, the SN thin disk, the SN thick + thin disk, the SN halo, and the bulge, are computed assuming the instantaneous recycling approximation. The EDOD data are fitted, to an acceptable extent, by their TDOD counterparts with the exception of the thin or thick + thin disk, where two additional restrictions are needed: (i) still undetected, low-oxygen abundance thin disk stars exist, and (ii) a single oxygen overabundant star is removed from a thin disk subsample. In any case, the (assumed power-law) stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal but gas can be inhibited from, or enhanced in, forming stars at different rates with respect to a selected reference case. Models involving a strictly universal IMF (i.e. gas neither inhibited from, nor enhanced in, forming stars with respect to a selected reference case) can also reproduce the data to an acceptable extent. Our main conclusions are (1) different models are necessary to fit the (incomplete) halo sample, which is consistent with the idea of two distinct halo components: an inner, flattened halo in slow prograde rotation, and an outer, spherical halo in net retrograde rotation (Carollo et al. in Nature 450:1020, 2007); (2) the oxygen enrichment within the inner SN halo, the SN thick disk, and the bulge, was similar and coeval within the same metallicity range, as inferred from observations (Prochaska et al. in Astron. J. 120:2513, 2000); (3) the fit to thin disk data implies an oxygen abundance range similar to its thick disk counterpart, with the extension of conclusion (2) to the thin disk, and the evolution of the thick + thin disk as a whole (Haywood in Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 388:1175, 2008) cannot be excluded; (4) leaving outside the outer halo, a fit to the data related to different environments is provided by models with a strictly universal IMF but different probabilities of a region being active, which implies different global efficiencies of the star formation rate; (5) a special case of stellar migration across the disk can be described by models with enhanced star formation, where a fraction of currently observed SN stars were born in situ and a comparable fraction is due to the net effect of stellar migration, according to recent results based on high-resolution N-body + smooth particle hydrodynamics simulations (Roškar et al. in Astrophys. J. Lett. 684:L79, 2008).     

Interstellar deuteroammonia

Close to 30 deuterated molecules have now been detected in the ISM, including doubly-deuterated species D₂H⁺, ND₂H, D₂CO, CHD₂OH, D₂S, and D₂CS, as well as triply-deuterated ammonia and methanol. We review the current understanding of depletion and deuteration processes in cold, dense interstellar medium (ISM) and discuss the utility of deuteroammonia as a tracer of the physical conditions and kinematics of cold, dense gas.     

棒对星系核区恒星形成活动的影响

利用SDSS光谱,研究了IRAS卫星亮红外源星表中的盘状星系中的恒星形成性质,并着重探讨了棒对星系核区恒星形成活动的影响.利用星族合成的方法得到了每个样本星系核区的恒星组成性质、恒星形成活动的强度等信息,并比较了星系整体和核区恒星形成性质的差异.得到的结论:除去相互作用,样本中的棒星系显示出比非棒旋星系更强的核区恒星形成活动和更多的年轻星族成分.     

Chemistry in the ISM: the ALMA (r)evolution

Increases in knowledge in various subfields of galactic astrochemistry that will ensue as ALMA becomes operational are discussed. A distinction is made between evolutionary and revolutionary changes. It is proposed that the most revolutionary enhancements will occur in our knowledge of small-scale structure and the attendant need for more complex chemical models that contain spatial inhomogeneities and dynamics as well as chemical processes.     

From Local Star Formation to Global Star Formation

In this brief report we summarise the most important points raised in the course of a two-hour evening discussion session on the above topic, organised by the author. Major questions that were debated included the universality of the IMF, the history of the star formation rate in the solar neighorhood, the star formation efficiency in molecular clouds, and the role of triggered star formation. The issue of a threshold gas surface density for star formation to occur was also critically discussed. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.