大质量恒星形成区样本外向流的高灵敏度搜寻

对13个大质量恒星形成区样本进行了SiO(2-1)、CH_3OH(2-1)和C~(34)S(2-1)热线的观测.在9个分子云核中,3条热线同时被探测到.这9个SiO探测中,有3个是新探测到的且它们强度都相对较弱.所有探测到的谱线都有较明显的线翼,这可能是外向流出现的证据.SiO谱线的线宽最宽,这也更进一步表明SiO辐射可能是来自高速的外向流,即更靠近外向流的激发源.估算了各分子谱线的旋转温度,柱密度和相对元素丰度.结果表明SiO和CH_3OH元素丰度之间有较好的相关性,相关系数R=0.77,但是SiO和C~(34)S元素丰度之间却没有任何相关性.     

Evidence of Evolution in the Dense Cores in Massive Star Forming Regions

The excitation of H2O masers usually needs very high density gas, hence it can serve as a marker of dense gas in HII region. We selected a sample of H2O maser sources from Plume et al. (four with, and four without detected CS(J = 7-6) emission), and observed them in 13CO(J=1-0) and C18O (J=1-0). C18O (J=1-0) emission was detected only in three of the sources with detected CS(J=7-6) emission. An analysis combined with some data in the literature suggests that these dense cores may be located at different evolutionary stages. Multi-line observation study may provide us clues on the evolution of massive star forming regions and the massive stars themselves.     

正在形成恒星的孤立分子云核物理性质的观测研究

利用青海站13．7m毫米波望远镜对从Spitzer的c2d项目样本中挑选出来的11个内部有恒星正在形成的孤立分子云核进行了13CO(J=1-0)、13CO(J=1-0)和C18O(J=1-0)的同时成图观测．对这些分子云核均观测到13CO(J=1-0)峰值强度极大值的一半处．计算了分子云核的密度和质量,得到维里质量(MVIR)与LTE质量(MLTE)之比13CO(J=1-0)为0．85±0．40,C18O(J=1-0)为0．77±0．35．同时计算了云核的密度轮廓．     

An Observational Study of the Physical Properties of Star-forming Molecular Cores

We used the 13.7 m millimeter-wave telescope of the Qinghai Station of Purple Mountain Observatory at Delingha to carry out simultaneous mapping observations in the ¹²CO(J = 1 − 0), ¹³CO(J = 1 − 0) and CO¹⁸ (J = 1 − 0) lines towards 11 isolated star-forming molecular cores selected from the sample of Spitzer's c2d program. For all three lines, these sources were all observed to the positions of half the peak intensity of the ¹³CO(J = 1 − 0) line. The volume density, local thermodynamic equilibrium mass M_LTE and virial mass M_VIR were derived for each of the molecular cores. The obtained ratio of M_VIR to M_LTE is 0.85 ± 0.40 for the ¹³CO(J = 1 − 0) cores and 0.77 ± 0.35 for the CO¹⁸ (J = 1 − 0) cores. The density profiles of the cloud cores were also calculated.     

Class II maser candidates in substituted methanol: CH3OD, 13CH3OH, CH318OH and CH3SH

We investigate the possibility of interstellar masers in transitions of the methanol isotopomers CH₃OD, ¹³CH₃OH and CH₃¹⁸OH, and of CH₃SH. The model used, in which masers are pumped through the first and second torsionally excited states by IR radiation, has accounted successfully for the Class II masers in main species methanol, ¹²CH₃¹⁶OH. Several potential maser candidates are identified for CH₃OD, their detectability depending on the enrichment of this species in star-forming regions. In ¹³CH₃OH and CH₃¹⁸OH the best maser candidates are direct counterparts of the well-known 6.7- and 12.2-GHz methanol masers, but the lower interstellar abundance of these substituted species means that the expected brightness is greatly reduced. The maser candidates in CH₃SH are also weak. By comparing these species we find that the large b -component of the dipole moment in methanol plays a significant role in its propensity to form masers, as does the strong torsion–rotation interaction due to the light hydroxyl frame. Thus the exceptional brightness of interstellar methanol masers is due to a favourable combination of molecular properties as well as high interstellar abundance.     

Molecular Cores and Young Clusters of Star Forming Regions

By using the 13.7 m millimeter wave telescope of the Qinghai Station of Purple Mountain Observatory at Delingha, we have performed the mapping observations simultaneously at the (J = 1-0) lines of ¹²CO, ¹³CO and C¹⁸O towards respectively the 17 star forming regions associated with clusters. All of them show rather strong C¹⁸O emission, except IRAS 04547+4753. Because of the different sizes of molecular clouds, there are 13 regions being observed to the half maximum of ¹³CO integrated intensity, and the large-area mapping observation has not been made for the other 4 regions with rather large extents. Based on the observed data, the physical properties of molecular cores are calculated, such as the line width, brightness temperature, size, density and mass. The averaged ratios of the virial mass M_vir and local thermodynamic equilibrium mass M_LTE of the ¹³CO and C¹⁸O cores are 0.66 and 0.74, respectively, suggesting that these cores are nearly at the virial equilibrium state. In order to compare the cores and clusters in morphologies, the contour maps of the integrated intensities of ¹³CO and C¹⁸O are overlaid on the K-band images of 2MASS. At the same time, the sizes and masses of the clusters associated with cores are calculated by adopting the photometric results of the near-infrared point sources in 2MASS database. Based on the derived masses of the molecular cores and clusters, the star formation efficiency (SFE) is calculated for the molecular clouds, and we find that it varies in the range from 10% to 30%.     

红外暗云G79.2+0.38的性质

对MSX红外暗云G79.2+0.38的11'×7'的区域范围进行了12CO(1-0)、13CO(1-0)和C18O(1-0)谱线的同时观测.观测到的两个C18O(1-0)谱线所界定的云核峰值分布分别对应MSX A波段的两块高消光区域.该区域的氢分子柱密度N(H2)-(5-12)×1022 cm-2,平均密度n-(3±1)×104cm-3.两块分子云核的13CO的线尺度分别是1.7和1.2 pc,而C18O的线尺度分别是1.2和0.6 pc,它们包含的质量为2×102-2×103M(?).分子云核的视向平均密度结构可用幂函数(?)(p)-p-0.34±0.02表征. 13CO和C18O的丰度和典型的光学暗云相比低了4至11倍,但是目前还没有证据表明13CO和C18O的相对丰度比X13/18随柱密度有显著变化.     

Properties of the infrared dark cloud G79.2+0.38

The MSX infrared dark cloud G79.2+0.38 has been observed over a 11′×′ region simultaneously in the J=1-0 rotational transition lines of the ¹²CO and its isotopic molecules ¹³CO and ¹⁸CO. The dense molecular cores defined by the C¹⁸O line are found to be associated with the two high-extinction patches shown in the MSX A-band image. The two dense cores have the column density N (H₂) (5 – 12) × 10²² cm⁻² and the mean number density n (3 ± 1) × 10⁴ cm⁻³. Their sizes are 1.7 and 1.2 pc in ¹³CO(1-0) line, 1.2 and 0.6 pc in C¹⁸O(1-0) line, respectively. The masses of these cloud cores are estimated to be in the range from 2 × 10² to 2 × 10³ M. The profile of radial mean density of the cloud core can be described by the exponential function ¯n(p) p^{−0.34±0.02}. Compared with the cases of typical optical dark clouds, the abundances of the CO isotopic molecules ¹³CO and C¹⁸O in this MSX infrared dark cloud appear to be depleted by a factor of 4–11, but at present there is no evidence for any obvious variation of the relative abundance ratio X_13/18 between ¹³CO and C¹⁸O with the column density.     

Methanol masers and their environment at high resolution

We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to make high-resolution images of the 6.7-GHz 5₁ → 6₀A⁺ maser transition of methanol towards 33 sources in the Galactic plane. Including the results from 12 methanol sources in the literature, we find that 17 out of 45 sources have curved or linear morphology. Most of the 17 have a velocity gradient along the line, which is consistent with masers lying in an edge-on circumstellar disc surrounding a massive star. We also made simultaneous continuum observations of the sources at 8.6 GHz, in order to image any associated H  ii region. 25 of the sources are associated with an ultracompact H  ii region, with a detection limit of ∼0.5 mJy beam⁻¹. We argue that the methanol sources without an associated H  ii region represent less massive embedded stars, not an earlier stage in the lifetime of the star, as previously suggested.     

A GLIMPSE-based search for 6.7-GHz methanol masers and the lifetime of their spectral features

The University of Tasmania Mt Pleasant 26-m and Ceduna 30-m radio telescopes have been used to search for 6.7-GHz class II methanol masers towards 200 GLIMPSE ( The Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire ) sources. The target regions were selected on the basis of their mid-infrared colours as being likely to be young high-mass star formation regions and are either bright at 8.0 μm, or have extreme [3.6]–[4.5] colour. Methanol masers were detected towards 38 sites, nine of these being new detections. The prediction was that approximately 20 new 6.7-GHz methanol masers would be detected within 3.5 arcmin of the target GLIMPSE sources, but this is the case for only six of the new detections. A number of possible reasons for the discrepancy between the predicted and actual number of new detections have been investigated. It was not possible to draw any firm conclusions as to the cause, but it may be because many of the target sources are at an evolutionary phase prior to that associated with 6.7-GHz methanol masers. Through comparison of the spectra collected as part of this search with those in the literature, the average lifetime of individual 6.7-GHz methanol maser spectral features is estimated to be around 150 yr, much longer than is observed for 22-GHz water masers.     

Too large and overlooked? Extended free–free emission towards massive star formation regions

We present Australia Telescope Compact Array observations towards six massive star formation regions, which, from their strong 24 GHz continuum emission but no compact 8 GHz continuum emission, appeared good candidates for hypercompact H  ii regions. However, the properties of the ionized gas derived from the 19 to 93 GHz continuum emission and  H70α+ H57α  radio recombination line data show the majority of these sources are, in fact, regions of spatially extended, optically thin free–free emission. These extended sources were missed in the previous 8 GHz observations due to a combination of spatial filtering, poor surface brightness sensitivity and primary beam attenuation.
We consider the implications that a significant number of these extended H  ii regions may have been missed by previous surveys of massive star formation regions. If the original sample of 21 sources is representative of the population as a whole, the fact that six contain previously undetected extended free–free emission suggests a large number of regions have been mis-classified. Rather than being very young objects prior to UCH  ii region formation, they are, in fact, associated with extended H  ii regions and thus significantly older. In addition, inadvertently ignoring a potentially substantial flux contribution (up to ∼0.5 Jy) from free–free emission has implications for dust masses derived from sub-mm flux densities. The large spatial scales probed by single-dish telescopes, which do not suffer from spatial filtering, are particularly susceptible and dust masses may be overestimated by up to a factor of ∼2.     

Dense cores in the L1630 molecular cloud: discovering new protostars with SCUBA

Maps of the 450- and 850-μm dust continuum emission from three star-forming condensations within the Lynds 1630 molecular cloud, made with the SCUBA bolometer array, reveal the presence of four new submillimetre sources, each of a few solar masses (two of which are probably class I and two of which are class 0), as well as several sources the existence of which was previously known. The sources are located in filaments and appear elongated when observed at 450 μm. They probably have dust temperatures in the range 10 to 20 K, in good agreement with previous ammonia temperature estimates. Attempts to fit their structures with power-law and Gaussian density distributions suggest that the central distribution is flatter than expected for a simple singular isothermal sphere.
Although the statistics are poor, our results suggest that the ratio of 'protostellar core' mass to total virial mass may be similar for both large and small condensations.     

Studies of ultracompact H ii regions — II. High-resolution radio continuum and methanol maser survey

High spatial resolution radio continuum and 6.67-GHz methanol spectral line data are presented for methanol masers previously detected by Walsh et al. (1997). Methanol maser and/or radio continuum emission is found in 364 cases towards IRAS -selected regions. For those sources with methanol maser emission, relative positions have been obtained to an accuracy of typically 0.05 arcsec, with absolute positions accurate to around 1 arcsec. Maps of selected sources are provided. The intensity of the maser emission does not seem to depend on the presence of a continuum source. The coincidence of water and methanol maser positions in some regions suggests there is overlap in the requirements for methanol and water maser emission to be observable. However, there is a striking difference between the general proximity of methanol and water masers to both cometary and irregularly shaped ultracompact (UC) H  ii regions, indicating that, in other cases, there must be differing environments conducive to stimulating their emission. We show that the methanol maser is most likely present before an observable UC H  ii region is formed around a massive star and is quickly destroyed as the UC H  ii region evolves. There are 36 out of 97 maser sites that are linearly extended. The hypothesis that the maser emission is found in a circumstellar disc is not inconsistent with these 36 maser sites, but is unlikely. It cannot, however, account for all other maser sites. An alternative model which uses shocks to create the masing spots can more readily reproduce the maser spot distributions.     

A search for 4750- and 4765-MHz OH masers in southern star-forming regions

We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to make a sensitive  (5 σ ≃100 mJy)  search for maser emission from the 4765-MHz ²Π_1/2   F =1→0  transition of OH. 55 star formation regions were searched and maser emission with a peak flux density in excess of 100 mJy was detected toward 14 sites, with 10 of these being new discoveries. In addition we observed the 4750-MHz ²Π_1/2   F =1→1  transition towards a sample of star formation regions known to contain 1720-MHz OH masers, detecting marginal maser emission from G348.550−0.979. If confirmed this would be only the second maser discovered from this transition.
The occurrence of 4765-MHz OH maser emission accompanying 1720-MHz OH masers in a small number of well-studied star formation regions has led to a general perception in the literature that the two transitions favour similar physical conditions. Our search has found that the presence of the excited-state 6035-MHz OH transition is a much better predictor of 4765-MHz OH maser emission from the same region than 1720-MHz OH maser emission is. Combining our results with those of previous high-resolution observations of other OH transitions we have examined the published theoretical models of OH masers and find that none of them predicts any conditions in which the 1665-, 6035- and 4765-MHz transitions are inverted simultaneously.     

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.     

A multitransition molecular line study of inward motions towards massive star-forming cores

A multitransition 3-mm molecular line single pointing and mapping survey was carried out towards 29 massive star-forming cores in order to search for the signature of inward motions. Up to seven different transitions, optically thick lines HCO⁺(1-0), CS(2-1), HNC(1-0), HCN(1-0) and ¹²CO(1-0), and optically thin lines C¹⁸O(1-0) and ¹³CO(1-0) were observed towards each source. The normalized velocity differences (     ) between the peak velocities of optically thick lines and optically thin line C¹⁸O(1-0) for each source were derived. Prominent inward motions are probably present in either HCO⁺(1-0) or CS(2-1) or HNC(1-0) observations in most sources. Our observations show that there is a significant difference in the incidence of blueshifted asymmetric line profiles between CS(2-1) and HCO⁺(1-0). The HCO⁺(1-0) shows the highest occurrence of obvious asymmetric features, perhaps owing to different optical depth between CS(2-1) and HCO⁺(1-0). HCO⁺(1-0) appears to be the best inward motion tracer. The mapping observations of multiple line transitions enable us to identify six strong infall candidates: G123.07-6.31, W75(OH), S235N, CEP-A, W3(OH) and NGC 7538. The infall signature is extended up to a linear scale  >0.2 pc  .     

Star formation in NGC 6334 I and I(N)

The northern section of the molecular cloud complex NGC 6334 has been mapped in the CO and CS spectral line emission and in continuum emission at a wavelength of 1300 μm. Our observations highlight the two dominant sources, I and I(N), and a host of weaker sources. NGC 6334 I is associated with a cometary ultracompact H  ii region and a hot, compact core ≤10 arcsec in size. Mid-infrared and CH₃OH observations indicate that it is also associated with at least two protostellar sources, each of which may drive a molecular outflow. For region I we confirm the extreme high-velocity outflow first discovered by Bachiller & Cernicharo and find that it is very energetic with a mechanical luminosity of 390 L_⊙. A dynamical age for the outflow is ∼3000 yr. We also find a weaker outflow originating from the vicinity of NGC 6334 I. In CO and CS this outflow is quite prominent to the north-west, but much less so on the eastern side of I, where there is very little molecular gas. Spectral survey data show a molecular environment at position I which is rich in methanol, methyl formate and dimethyl ether, with lines ranging in energy up to 900 K above the ground state. NGC 6334 I(N) is more dense than I, but cooler, and has none of the high-excitation lines observed toward I. I(N) also has an associated outflow, but it is less energetic than the outflow from I. The fully sampled continuum map shows a network of filaments, voids and cores, many of which are likely to be sites of star formation. A striking feature is a narrow, linear ridge which defines the western boundary. It is unclear if there is a connection between this filament and the many potential sites of star formation, or if the filament existed prior to the star formation activity.