AST/RO Observations of CO J=4-3 Emission from the N44 Complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

We present Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO) observations of 12CO J=4-3 and C I emission in the N44 H II complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We detected strong 12CO J=4-3 emission toward the H II region called as N44BC, which is located on the rim of an expanding giant shell in the N44 region. Analysis with a photodissociation region (PDR) model showed that the 12CO J=4-3 emitting cloud is very dense, with n ~ 10^5 cm^-3. We also note that there is a high-velocity component associated with the 12CO J=4-3 emission. This probably originates from molecular material accelerated as a result of the motion induced by the expanding giant shell surrounding LH47 in the N44 complex. We found that the kinetic energy of this high-velocity gas observed in the CO J=4-3 emission toward the rim of the expanding H II shell is at least an order of magnitude higher than the kinetic energy derived for the H I and H II gas in this region.