Chemical abundances in cold, dark interstellar clouds

The Sun may well have formed in the type of interstellar cloud currently referred to as a cold, dark cloud. We present current tabulations of the totality of known interstellar molecules and of the subset which have been identified in cold clouds. Molecular abundances are given for two such clouds which show interesting chemical differences in spite of strong physical similarities, Taurus Molecular Cloud 1 (TMC-1) and Lynd's 134N (L134N, also referred to as L183). These regions may be at different evolutionary stages.     

Detection of interstellar hydrogen sulfide in cold, dark clouds

We have detected interstellar hydrogen sulfide (H2S) toward the cold, dark clouds L134N and TMC 1. We derive total column densities of approximately 2.6 x 10(13) cm-2 and approximately 7.0 x 10(12) cm-2 at the SO peak of L134N and at the NH3 peak of TMC 1, respectively. Since the expected gas phase reactions leading to the formation of H2S are thought to be endothermic, grain surface reactions may play a major role in the synthesis of this species in cold, dark clouds. If the carbon abundance is high and grain surface reactions are the dominant formation route, H2CS would be expected to form instead of H2S, and the abundances of H2CS have been observed to be high where those of H2S are low in L134N and TMC 1.     

On water ice formation in interstellar clouds

A model is proposed for the formation of water ice mantles on grains in interstellar clouds. This occurs by direct accretion of monomers from the gas, be they formed by gas or surface reactions. The formation of the first monolayer requires a minimum extinction of interstellar radiation, sufficient to lower the grain temperature to the point where thermal evaporation of monomers is just offset by monomer accretion from the gas. This threshold is mainly determined by the adsorption energy of water molecules on the grain material; for hydrocarbon material, chemical simulation places this energy between 0.5 and 2 kcal mol⁻¹, which sets the (true) visible extinction threshold at a few magnitudes. However, realistic distributions of matter in a cloud will usually add to this an unrelated amount of cloud core extinction, which can explain the large dispersion of observed (apparent) thresholds. Once the threshold is crossed, all available water molecules in the gas are quickly adsorbed, because the grain cools down and the adsorption energy on ice is higher than on bare grain. The relative thickness of the mantle, and, hence, the slope of  τ₃( A _v)  depend only on the available water vapour, which is a small fraction of the oxygen abundance. Chemical simulation was also used to determine the adsorption sites and energies of O and OH on hydrocarbons and study the dynamics of formation of water molecules by surface reactions with gaseous H atoms, as well as their chances to stick in situ.     

Bandwidth effects on interstellar reddening and on theR-ratio

The energy distributions of 85 stars were combined with the transmittance ofB andV tilters and with an interstellar reddening law in order to investigate the effects of the bandwidth on the colour excess and on the ratioR=A _v/E(B-V). Since these depend both on the stellar spectral type and on the quantity of absorbing matter, corrective formulae are proposed to allow for these effects.     

On the infrared void in the Lupus dark clouds

Strömgren uvbyβ photometry observations obtained for 205 stars in the general direction of a void in the IRAS 100-μm emission from the Lupus dark cloud complex are presented and analysed. The colour excess versus distance diagram confirms the existence of a region depleted from interstellar material, which is also seen in the ROSAT soft X-ray background emission map. The distance to the surrounding material is estimated as being within the interval from 60 to 100 pc. This result is in disagreement with previous distance estimates to the supposed supernova that has been suggested as responsible for clearing the region from dust. As an alternative, the data presented support the suggestion that the void may have been produced by the detachment of material from the interface between Loop I and the Local Bubble as a consequence of hydromagnetic instabilities. Moreover, the distribution of colour excess as a function of distance supports a value of ∼150 pc as the most probable distance to the dark cloud known as Lupus 1.     

The absorption feature at 2200 Å in the interstellar reddening curve

The profile of the absorption feature at 2200 Å has been calculated for model grains of graphite, graphite core-dirty ice mantle and silicate. They are compared with the observed profile obtained by Bless and Savage from a number of early type stars. We have also shown that it is unlikely that the radiation damage of silicates in Interstellar Space can also contribute to the absorption feature at 2200 Å. Lastly, we have discussed briefly how one can meet the objections that have been raised on the silicate model.     

Masses of interstellar clouds

Equilibrium masses of slowly rotating interstellar gas clouds have been calculated using an equation of state for the interstellar gas developed by Penston and Brown. The rotation is found to increase the equilibrium masses, but still the cloud masses are not as large as indicated by other considerations.     

On the interstellar extinction law toward young stars

We have determined the atomic hydrogen column density N _HI toward all of the young stars from the Taurus-Auriga-Perseus star-forming complex for which the corresponding spectra are available in the Hubble Space Telescope archive (nine stars) by analyzing the Lyα line profile. We show that the stars studied, except DR Tau, lie not far from the edge of the gaseous cloud of the star-forming region closest to us or, more precisely, inside the outer H I shell of the cloud. This shell with a column density of N _HI ? 6 × 10²⁰ cm^?2 surrounds the molecular gas of the cloud composed of a diffuse component (the so-called diffuse screen) in which dense, compact TMC-1 cores are embedded. The properties of the dust grains toward the stars that lie at the front edge of the cloud most likely differ only slightly from those of the interstellar dust outside star-forming regions. This casts doubt on the validity of the hypothesis that the extinction curve toward young stars has an anomalously low amplitude of the 2175 Å bump—such an extinction curve is observed for the field stars HD 29647 and HD 283809 toward which the line of sight passes through the TMC-1 core.     

Time dependent chemical study of contracting interstellar clouds. III. the charge distribution in interstellar clouds

We have constructed a chemical reaction model in a contracting interstellar cloud including 104 species which are involved in a network of 557 reactions. The chemical kinetic equations were integrated as a function of time by using gear package. The evolution of the system was followed in the density range 10–10⁷ particles cm^-3.The calculated fractional abundances of the charged species are in good agreement with those given by other investigators. The charge density has been followed in diffuse, intermediate and dense regions. The most dominant ionic species are metallic ions, HCO⁺ and H ₃ ⁺ in the shielded regions and atomic ions H⁺, C⁺, Si⁺, He⁺, S⁺ and metal ions in the diffuse and intermediate regions. The abundances of negatively charged ions were found to be negligible. The results of the calculations on the different metallic ions are interpreted.     

Carbon chain molecules in interstellar clouds

A survey of the distribution of long carbon chain molecules in interstellar clouds shows that their abundance is correlated. The various formation schemes for these molecules are discussed. We conclude that the ion-molecule type formation mechanisms are more promising than their competitors. They have also the advantage of allowing predictions which can be tested by observations. Acetylene C₂H₂ and diacetylene HCCCCH, may be very abundant in interstellar clouds.Invited contribution to the Proceedings of a Workshop onThermodynamics and Kinetics of Dust Formation in the Space Medium held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, 6–8 September, 1978.     

Diffuse interstellar band formation in dense clouds

Measurements of the strengths of the diffuse interstellar bands at 4430, 5780 and 5797 Å show that the bands tend to be week with respect to extinction in dense interstellar clouds. Data on 10 stars in the ? Ophiuchi cloud complex show further that the diffuse band-producing efficiency of the grains decreases systematically with increasing grain size. It is concluded that the diffuse bands are not formed in the mantles which accrete on the grains in interstellar clouds, but that they could be produced in the cores of grains or in some molecular species.     

Helicoidal magneto-electron waves in interstellar molecular clouds

We investigate the evolution of the magnetic flux density in a magnetically supported molecular cloud driven by Hall and Ohmic components of the electric field generated by the flows of thermal electrons. Particular attention is given to the wave transport of the magnetic field in a cloud whose gas dynamics is dominated by electron flows; the mobility of neutrals and ions is regarded as heavily suppressed. It is shown that electromagnetic waves penetrating such a cloud can be converted into helicons – weakly damped, circularly polarized waves in which the densities of the magnetic flux and the electron current undergo coherent oscillations. These waves are interesting in their own right, because for electron magnetohydrodynamics the low-frequency helicoidal waves have the same physical significance as the transverse Alfvén waves do for a single-component magnetohydrodynamics. The latter, as is known, are considered to be responsible for the widths of molecular lines detected in dark, magnetically supported clouds. From our numerical estimates for the group velocity and the rate of dissipation of helicons it follows that a possible contribution of these waves to the broadening of molecular lines is consistent with the conditions typical of dark molecular clouds.     

Composition of grain mantles in interstellar clouds

The question of grain mantle composition in dense clouds is examined in the light of new observational and theoretical results on atomic and molecular concentrations in the gas phase. It is shown that if grain temperatures are less than about 20K these mantles will be primarily solid CO. Methods of identifying CO coated grains are discussed.     

The turbulent destruction of interstellar clouds

The interaction of an astrophysical shock with a cloud typically occurs at high Reynolds number, and in such cases will be highly turbulent. However, the formation of fully developed turbulence is usually prevented by the artificial viscosity inherent in hydrodynamical simulations. Upstream structures mean that the flow behind the shock is also likely to be turbulent, as it sweeps over such inhomogeneities. We study the nature of adiabatic shock-cloud interactions using a subgrid compressible k–ε turbulence model.     

Gravitational instability of interstellar magnetic clouds

The gravitational instability of a nonrotating isothermal gaseous disk permeated by a uniform frozen-in magnetic field is investigated using a fourth-order perturbation technique. From the results it is found that the disk is stable whenn/B ₀ < (4/3³ G)^–1/2, wheren andB are the column density of the disk and unperturbed magnetic field, respectively, andG is the gravitational constant. The disk is gravitationally unstable only whenn/B ₀ > (4/3³ G)^–1/2.     

Relation between element depletion and interstellar reddening in the direction of OB Stars

We have studied the interstellar column densities of Alii, Siii,Sii, Feii, Niii, and Znii in the direction of 18 O- and 6 B-type stars so as to improve the relations of element depletions withE(B-V), and to look for other possible relations with two stellar parameters: namely, the rate of mass loss and rotational velocity. The stars were chosen in order to cover several directions in the Galaxy, as well as a wide range in interstellar reddening. We found a clear inverse trend relating the abundance of elements to interstellar reddening.     

Dependence on reddening of interstellar column densities in the direction of O stars

We have investigated 14 O-type stars with IUE high resolution SWP spectra in order to improve the relations of element depletions withE(B-V), and to look for other possible relations with two stellar parameters: namely, the rate of mass loss and rotational velocity. The stars were chosen so as to cover several directions in the Galaxy, as well as a wide range in interstellar reddening. Although our data are only crude and were obtained by making several approximations, they show the derived dependence of a parameter, which we call a depletion index, on reddening. We found a clear inverse trend relating the abundance of elements to interstellar reddening, and a crude relation between the increasing depletion and condensation temperature.Based on observations by the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) collected at the Villafranca Satellite Tracking Station of the European Space Agency.On leave of absence from the Astronomical Department, Istanbul University.