Detection of HCO+ towards Cygnus OB2 No. 12

HCO⁺ has been detected for the first time towards the star Cygnus OB2 No. 12 through emission of the 1–0 rotational transition at 89 GHz. The CO( J =2−1) transition has also been observed. The observations are consistent with a model of dense regions embedded in a low-density clump gas. If actually present, the dense component would have an aggregate size L 1300 au, in agreement with estimates of small-scale density fluctuations observed along diffuse lines of sight.     

Cosmic ray generation by quasar remnants: constraints and implications

We report the first detection of CO in the bulge of M31. The ¹²CO (1–0) and (2–1) lines are both detected in the dust complex D395A/393/384, at 1.3 arcmin (∼0.35 kpc) from the centre. From these data and from visual extinction data, we derive a CO luminosity to reddening ratio (and a CO luminosity to H₂ column density ratio) quite similar to that observed in the local Galactic clouds. The (2–1) to (1–0) line intensity ratio points to a CO rotational temperature and a gas kinetic temperature of >10 K. The molecular mass of the complex, inside a 25-arcsec (100 pc) region, is 1.5×10⁴ M_⊙.     

On the interaction between cosmic rays and dark matter molecular clouds in the Milky Way – I. Basic considerations

We explore some basic observational consequences of assuming that the dark matter in the Milky Way consists mainly of molecular clouds, and that cosmic rays can penetrate these clouds. In a favoured model of the clouds, this penetration would have the following consequences, all of which agree with observation.
(i) Cosmic ray nuclei would be fragmented when they enter a cloud, giving them a lifetime in the Galaxy of ∼10¹⁵ s (for relativistic nuclei).
(ii) Pionic γ -rays emitted by the clouds, after proton–proton (pp) collisions, would have a diffuse flux in the Galactic plane comparable to the flux from known sources for photon energies ≳1 GeV .
(iii) The heat input into the clouds from cosmic rays would be re-radiated mainly in the far-infrared. The resulting radiation background agrees, in both intensity and spectrum in different directions, with a known excess in the far‐infrared background of the galaxy over emission by warm dust.     

Improved prediction and tracking of volcanic ash clouds

During the past 30 years, more than 100 airplanes have inadvertently flown through clouds of volcanic ash from erupting volcanoes. Such encounters have caused millions of dollars in damage to the aircraft and have endangered the lives of tens of thousands of passengers. In a few severe cases, total engine failure resulted when ash was ingested into turbines and coating turbine blades. These incidents have prompted the establishment of cooperative efforts by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the volcanological community to provide rapid notification of eruptive activity, and to monitor and forecast the trajectories of ash clouds so that they can be avoided by air traffic. Ash-cloud properties such as plume height, ash concentration, and three-dimensional ash distribution have been monitored through non-conventional remote sensing techniques that are under active development. Forecasting the trajectories of ash clouds has required the development of volcanic ash transport and dispersion models that can calculate the path of an ash cloud over the scale of a continent or a hemisphere. Volcanological inputs to these models, such as plume height, mass eruption rate, eruption duration, ash distribution with altitude, and grain-size distribution, must be assigned in real time during an event, often with limited observations. Databases and protocols are currently being developed that allow for rapid assignment of such source parameters. In this paper, we summarize how an interdisciplinary working group on eruption source parameters has been instigating research to improve upon the current understanding of volcanic ash cloud characterization and predictions. Improved predictions of ash cloud movement and air fall will aid in making better hazard assessments for aviation and for public health and air quality.     

Reducing discrepancies in ground and satellite-observed eruption heights

The plume height represents a crucial piece of evidence about an eruption, feeding later assessment of its size, character, and potential impact, and feeding real-time warnings for aviation and ground-based populations. There have been many observed discrepancies between different observations of maximum plume height for the same eruption. A comparison of maximum daily height estimates of volcanic clouds over Indonesia and Papua New Guinea during 1982–2005 shows marked differences between ground and satellite estimates, and a general tendency towards lower height estimates from the ground. Without improvements in the quality of these estimates, reconciled among all available methods, warning systems will be less effective than they should be and the world's record of global volcanism will remain hard to quantify. Examination of particular cases suggests many possible reasons for the discrepancies. Consideration of the satellite and radar cloud observations for the 1991 Pinatubo eruptions shows that marked differences can exist even with apparently good observations. The problem can be understood largely as a sampling issue, as the most widely reported parameter, the maximum cloud height, is highly sensitive to the frequency of observation. Satellite and radar cloud heights also show a pronounced clumping near the height of the tropopause and relative lack of eruptions reaching only the mid-troposphere, reinforcing the importance of the tropopause in determining the eruption height in convectively unstable environments. To reduce the discrepancies between ground and satellite estimates, a number of formal collaboration measures between vulcanological, meteorological and aviation agencies are suggested.     

Short-wave radiation flux divergence in arctic cirrus: a case study

Radiation and particle measurements have been performed with an aircraft in deep cirrus cloud fields near the island of Svalbard. The data of 12 March 1993, when measurements at 10 different levels could be obtained, are used in a comparative study with radiative transfer calculations. In a first analysis, the cirrus cloud field was assumed to be horizontally homogeneous and invariable during the time of measurements (frozen properties). Calculations of the up and downward radiative flux densities showed root mean square differences of 9 Wm⁻² from the measurements. To estimate the possible effect of changes of the optical properties of cirrus with time, the flux densities in the upper part (6000–8500 m) and the lower part (3000–5500 m) of the cirrus cloud were analyzed separately. In these simulations, the optical thickness in the lower (upper) part was increased (decreased) by 50%. By this treatment, most of all calculated flux densities were within one standard deviation of the natural variability in each leg. Finally, the effect of inhomogeneities in the cloud field on the solar flux density has been simulated using a Monte Carlo method, since the upper part of the cirrus field has indeed been very inhomogeneous. This paper is a result of a collaborative effort between the MRI in Tsukuba, Japan, and the GKSS in Geesthacht, Germany.     

刚体自转在巨分子云的聚合形成中的作用

分析在聚合形成机制下,巨分子云在刚体自转盘中的形成过程．研究结果表明,形成的巨分子云主要由其附近的分子云组成．由于速度弥散的作用,非弹性碰撞和自引力使分子云聚会在一起,以这种方式形成的巨分子云是小质量的．如果较差自转存在,这些小质量的巨分子云便有更多的机会聚合在一起形成更大质量的巨分子云．这进一步说明,较差自转在巨分子云的形成中起了很大的积极作用．     

OMC--3的13CO(1--0)和C18O(1--0)分子辐射

利用紫金山天文台青海站的 １３．７ ｍ毫米波望远镜,对 Ｏｒｉｏｎ Ａ分子云中的 ＯＭＣ－３区域,进行了较高分辨率的１３ＣＯ（Ｊ＝１－０）和Ｃ１８Ｏ（Ｊ＝１－０）分子辐射的成图观测．给出了该分子云中１３ＣＯ和 Ｃ１８Ｏ云核分布的整体结构和平均物理参数．观测发现,该分子云的１３ＣＯ和 Ｃ１８Ｏ的云核中心分别与最年轻的天体－Ｃｌａｓｓ ０类源 ＭＭＳＩ, ＭＭＳ４,ＭＭＳ６和ＭＭＳ７,ＭＭＳ８;ＭＭＳ９成协．此外,通过分析ＯＭＣ－３整个区域的速度场结构,发现沿 Ｃ１８Ｏ和１３ＣＯ云核方向从南到北有一个～ １．７ｋｍ／ｓ的速度场梯度,而分子云的红、蓝移团块则分别趋于云的北部和南部．并对ＯＭＣ－３区的恒星形成特征进行了讨论．     

Discovery of a dense bipolar outflow from a new class 0 protostar in NGC 2068/LBS 17

We report the discovery of high-velocity dense gas from a bipolar outflow source near NGC 2068 in the L1630 giant molecular cloud. CO and HCO⁺ J =3→2 line wings have a bipolar distribution in the vicinity of LBS 17-H with the flow orientated roughly east–west and perpendicular to the elongation of the submillimetre dust continuum emission. The flow is compact (total extent ∼0.2 pc) and contains of the order of 0.1 M_⊙ of swept-up gas. The high-velocity HCO⁺ emission is distributed over a somewhat smaller area <0.1 pc in extent.
A map of C¹⁸O J =2→1 emission traces the LBS 17 core and follows the ambient HCO⁺ emission reasonably well, with the exception of the direction towards LBS 17-H where there is a significant anticorrelation between the C¹⁸O and HCO⁺. A comparison of beam-matched C¹⁸O and dust-derived H₂ column densities suggests that CO is depleted by up to a factor of ∼50 at this position if the temperature is as low as 9 K, although the difference is substantially reduced if the temperature is as high as 20 K. Chemical models of collapsing clouds can account for this discrepancy in terms of different rates of depletion on to dust grains for CO and HCO⁺.
LBS 17-H has a previously known water maser coincident with it but there are no known near-infrared, IRAS or radio continuum sources associated with this object, leading to the conclusion that it is probably very young. A greybody fit to the continuum data gives a luminosity of only 1.7 L_⊙ and a submillimetre-to-bolometric luminosity ratio of 0.1, comfortably satisfying the criteria for classification as a class 0 protostar candidate.     

Interstellar Na i D lines towards the Southern Coalsack

The interstellar Na  i D absorption-line profiles observed for 15 stars with lines of sight towards the Southern Coalsack are analysed. The method of profile fitting was used in an attempt to determine column densities, linewidths and velocities for the individual interstellar clouds contributing to the observed absorption lines. In common, the observed spectra show a prominent component which is probably associated with the nearest absorbing material composing the Coalsack. The obtained spatial velocity distribution shows great similarity with earlier results from CO emission. In addition, the Na  i D data reveal evidence for the existence of two or three other structures with radial velocities of about −22, −33 and −40 km s⁻¹. Such components may be the counterparts of interstellar structures observed in diffuse H α and CO emission. The assumption that at least one of these components originated in the Carina arm imposes ∼0.9–1.0 kpc as the maximum distance to the near side of that arm.