arXiv subjects

J. H. He

Publications and source records attributed to J. H. He.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

The Nearby Evolved Stars Survey (NESS) V: properties of volume-limited samples of Galactic evolved stars

We provide a meta-study of the statistical and individual properties of two volume-complete sets of evolved stars in the Solar Neighbourhood: (1) 852 stars from the Nearby Evolved Stars Survey (NESS), and (2) a partially overlapping set of 507 evolved stars within 300 pc. We also investigate distance determinations to these stars, their luminosity functions and their spatial distribution. Gaia APSIS GSP-Phot AENEAS temperatures of bright giant stars often appear to be underestimated. Existing literature on AGB stars under-samples both the most and least extreme nearby dust-producing stars. We reproduce the literature star-formation history of the solar neighbourhood, though stellar-evolution models over-predict the number of AGB stars of ages around 500 Myr. The distribution of AGB stars broadly matches the known 300 pc scale height of the Galactic disc and shows concentration in the direction of the Galactic centre. Most dust-producing carbon stars belong to the Galactic thick-disc population.

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arXiv2020

Dispersion measures of fast radio burst host galaxies derived from IllustrisTNG simulation

We calculate the dispersion measures (DMs) contributed by host galaxies of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Based on a few host galaxy observations, a large sample of galaxy with similar properties to observed ones has been selected from the IllustrisTNG simulation. They are used to compute the distributions of host galaxy DMs for repeating and non-repeating FRBs. For repeating FRBs, we infer the DM$ _{\mathrm{host}} $ for FRBs like FRB 121102 and FRB 180916 by assuming that the burst sites are tracing the star formation rates in host galaxies. The median DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ are $35 (1+z)^{1.08}$ and $96(1+z)^{0.83}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ for FRBs like FRB 121102 and FRB 180916, respectively. In another case, the median of DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ is about $30 - 70$ pc cm$^{-3}$ for non-repeating FRBs in the redshift range $z=0.1-1.5$, assuming that the burst sites are the locations of binary neutron star mergers. In this case, the evolution of the median DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ can be calculated by $33(1+z)^{0.84}$ pc cm$^{-3}$. The distributions of DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ of repeating and non-repeating FRBs can be well fitted with the log-normal function. Our results can be used to infer redshifts of non-localized FRBs.

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arXiv2020

Three dimensional projection effects on chemistry in a Planck galactic cold clump

Offsets of molecular line emission peaks from continuum peaks are very common but frequently difficult to explain with a single spherical cloud chemical model. We propose that the spatial projection effects of an irregular three dimensional (3D) cloud structure can be a solution. This work shows that the idea can be successfully applied to the Planck cold clump G224.4-0.6 by approximating it with four individual spherically symmetric cloud cores whose chemical patterns overlap with each other to produce observable line maps. With the empirical physical structures inferred from the observation data of this clump and a gas-grain chemical model, the four cores can satisfactorily reproduce its 850 $μ$m continuum map and the diverse peak offsets of CCS, HC$_3$N and N$_2$H$^+$ simultaneously at chemical ages of about $8\times 10^5\sim 3\times 10^6$ yrs. The 3D projection effects on chemistry has the potential to explain such asymmetrical distributions of chemicals in many other molecular clouds.

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arXiv2019

Chemical properties of two dense cores in a Planck Galactic Cold Clump G168.72-15.48

To deepen our understanding of the chemical properties of the Planck Galactic Cold Clump (PGCC) G168.72-15.48, we performed observations of nine molecular species, namely, \ce{c-C3H}, \ce{H2CO}, \ce{HC5N}, \ce{HC7N}, \ce{SO}, \ce{CCH}, \ce{N2H+}, \ce{CH3OH}, and \ce{CH3CCH}, toward two dense cores in PGCC G168.72-15.48 using the Tianma Radio Telescope and Purple Mountain Observatory Telescope. We detected \ce{c-C3H}, \ce{H2CO}, \ce{HC5N}, \ce{N2H+}, \ce{CCH}, and \ce{CH3OH} in both G168-H1 and G168-H2 cores, whereas \ce{HC7N} and \ce{CH3CCH} were detected only in G168-H1 and SO was detected only in G168-H2. Mapping observations reveal that the \ce{CCH}, \ce{N2H+}, \ce{CH3OH}, and \ce{CH3CCH} emissions are well coupled with the dust emission in G168-H1. Additionally, \ce{N2H+} exhibits an exceptionally weak emission in the denser and more evolved G168-H2 core, which may be attributed to the \ce{N2H+} depletion. We suggest that the \ce{N2H+} depletion in G168-H2 is dominated by \ce{N2} depletion, rather than the destruction by CO. The local thermodynamic equilibrium calculations indicate that the carbon-chain molecules of \ce{CCH}, \ce{HC5N}, \ce{HC7N}, and \ce{CH3CCH} are more abundant in the younger G168-H1 core. We found that starless core G168-H1 may have the properties of cold dark clouds based on its abundances of carbon-chain molecules. While, the prestellar core G168-H2 exhibits lower carbon-chain molecular abundances than the general cold dark clouds. With our gas-grain astrochemical model calculations, we attribute the observed chemical differences between G168-H1 and G168-H2 to their different gas densities and different evolutionary stages.

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arXiv2019

Multi-scale analysis of the Monoceros OB 1 star-forming region: II. Colliding filaments in the Monoceros OB1 molecular cloud

We started a multi-scale analysis of G202.3+2.5, an intertwined filamentary region of Monoceros OB1. In Paper I, we examined the distributions of dense cores and protostars and found enhanced star formation (SF) activity in the junction region of the filaments. In this second paper, we aim to unveil the connections between the core and filament evolutions, and between the filament dynamics and the global evolution of the cloud. We characterise the gas dynamics and energy balance using Herschel and WISE observations and molecular tracers observed with the IRAM 30m and TRAO 14m telescopes. The velocity field of the cloud is examined and velocity-coherent structures are put in perspective with the cloud environment. Two main velocity components (VCs) are revealed, well separated in the north and merged around the location of intense N2H+ emission where Paper I found the peak of SF activity. The relative position of the two VCs along the sightline, and the velocity gradient in N2H+ emission imply that the VCs have been undergoing collision for ~10^5 yrs. The dense gas where N2H+ is detected is interpreted as the compressed region between the two filaments, which corresponds to a high mass inflow rate of ~1e-3 Msun/yr and possibly leads to an increase in its SF efficiency. We identify a protostar in the junction region that possibly powers two crossed intermittent outflows. We show that the HII region around the nearby cluster NCG 2264 is still expanding and its role in the collision is examined. However, we cannot rule out the idea that the collision arises mostly from the global collapse of the cloud. The (sub-)filament-scale observables examined in this paper reveal a collision between G202.3+2.5 sub-structures and its probable role in feeding the cores in the junction region. One must now characterise the cloud morphology, its fragmentation, and magnetic field, all at high resolution.

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arXiv2019

Multi-scale analysis of the Monoceros OB 1 star-forming region: I. The dense core population

Current theories and models attempt to explain star formation globally, from core scales to giant molecular cloud scales. A multi-scale observational characterisation of an entire molecular complex is necessary to constrain them. We investigate star formation in G202.3+2.5, a ~10x3 pc sub-region of the Monoceros OB1 cloud with a complex morphology harbouring interconnected filamentary structures. We aim to connect the evolution of cores and filaments in G202.3+2.5 with the global evolution of the cloud and to identify the engines of the cloud dynamics. In this first paper, the star formation activity is evaluated by surveying the distributions of dense cores and protostars, and their evolutionary state, as characterised using both infrared observations from the Herschel and WISE telescopes and molecular line observations with the IRAM 30-m telescope. We find ongoing star formation in the whole cloud, with a local peak in star formation activity around the centre of G202.3+2.5 where a chain of massive cores (10-50 Msun) forms a massive ridge (>150 Msun). All evolutionary stages from starless cores to Class II protostars are found in G202.3+2.5, including a possibly starless, large column density (8x10^{22} cm-2), and massive (52 Msun) core. All the core-scale observables examined in this paper point to an enhanced star formation activity centred on the junction between the three main branches of the ramified structure of G202.3+2.5. This suggests that the increased star-formation activity results from the convergence of these branches. To further investigate the origin of this enhancement, it is now necessary to extend the analysis to larger scales, in order to examine the relationship between cores, filaments and their environment. We address these points through the analysis of the dynamics of G202.3+2.5 in a joint paper.

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arXiv2019

ALMA monitoring of mm line variation in IRC+10216: I. Overview of millimeter variability

Temporal variation of millimeter lines is a new direction of research for evolved stars. It has the potential to probe the dynamical wind launching processes from time dimension. We report here the first ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) results that cover 817 days of an on-going monitoring of 1.1 mm lines in the archetypal carbon star IRC +10216. The monitoring is done with the compact 7-m array (ACA) and in infrared with a 1.25 m telescope in Crimea. A high sensitivity of the cumulative spectra covering a total of ~7.2 GHz between 250 - 270 GHz range has allowed us to detect about 148 known transitions of 20 molecules, together with more of their isotopologues, and 81 unidentified lines. An overview of the variabilities of all detected line features are presented in spectral plots. Although a handful of lines are found to be very possibly stable in time, most other lines are varying either roughly in phase or in anti-correlation with the near-infrared light. Several lines have their variations in the ALMA data coincident with existing single dish monitoring results, while several others do not, which requires an yet unknown mechanism in the circumstellar envelop to explain.

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arXiv2019

SCOPE: SCUBA-2 Continuum Observations of Pre-protostellar Evolution - Survey Description and Compact Source Catalogue

We present the first release of the data and compact-source catalogue for the JCMT Large Program SCUBA-2 Continuum Observations of Pre-protostellar Evolution (SCOPE). SCOPE consists of 850-um continuum observations of 1235 Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs) made with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. These data are at an angular resolution of 14.4 arcsec, significantly improving upon the 353-GHz resolution of Planck at 5 arcmin, and allowing for a catalogue of 3528 compact sources in 558 PGCCs. We find that the detected PGCCs have significant sub-structure, with 61 per cent of detected PGCCs having 3 or more compact sources, with filamentary structure also prevalent within the sample. A detection rate of 45 per cent is found across the survey, which is 95 per cent complete to Planck column densities of $N_{H_{2}}$ $>$ 5 $\times$ 10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$. By positionally associating the SCOPE compact sources with YSOs, the star formation efficiency, as measured by the ratio of luminosity to mass, in nearby clouds is found to be similar to that in the more distant Galactic Plane, with the column density distributions also indistinguishable from each other.

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arXiv2017

Monitor variability of millimeter lines in IRC +10216

A single dish monitoring of millimeter maser lines SiS J=14-13 and HCN nu_2 = 1^f J=3-2 and several other rotational lines is reported for the archetypal carbon star IRC+10216. Relative line strength variations of 5%~30% are found for eight molecular line features with respect to selected reference lines. Definite line-shape variation is found in limited velocity intervals of the SiS and HCN line profiles. The asymmetrical line profiles of the two lines are mainly due to the varying components. Their dominant varying components of the line profiles have similar periods and phases as the IR light variation, although both quantities show some degree of velocity dependence; there is also variability asymmetry between the blue and red line wings of both lines. Combining the velocities and amplitudes with a wind velocity model, we suggest that the line profile variations are due to SiS and HCN masing lines emanating from the wind acceleration zone. The possible link of the variabilities to thermal, dynamical and/or chemical processes within or under this region is also discussed.

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arXiv2016

Interstellar chemical differentiation across grain sizes

In this work we investigate the effects of ion accretion and size-dependent dust temperatures on the abundances of both gas-phase and grain-surface species. While past work has assumed a constant areal density for icy species, we show that this assumption is invalid and the chemical differentiation over grain sizes are significant. We use a gas-grain chemical code to numerically demonstrate this in two typical interstellar conditions: dark cloud (DC) and cold neutral medium (CNM). It is shown that, although the grain size distribution variation (but with the total grain surface area unchanged) has little effect on the gas-phase abundances, it can alter the abundances of some surface species by factors up to $\sim2-4$ orders of magnitude. The areal densities of ice species are larger on smaller grains in the DC model as the consequence of ion accretion. However, the surface areal density evolution tracks are more complex in the CNM model due to the combined effects of ion accretion and dust temperature variation. The surface areal density differences between the smallest ($\sim 0.01μ$m) and the biggest ($\sim 0.2μ$m) grains can reach $\sim$1 and $\sim$5 orders of magnitude in the DC and CNM models, respectively.

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arXiv2016

Herschel/HIFI observations of the circumstellar ammonia lines in IRC+10216

New high-resolution far-infrared (FIR) observations of both ortho- and para-NH3 transitions toward IRC+10216 were obtained with Herschel, with the goal of determining the ammonia abundance and constraining the distribution of NH3 in the envelope of IRC+10216. We used the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) on board Herschel to observe all rotational transitions up to the J=3 level (three ortho- and six para-NH3 lines). We conducted non-LTE multilevel radiative transfer modelling, including the effects of near-infrared (NIR) radiative pumping through vibrational transitions. We found that NIR pumping is of key importance for understanding the excitation of rotational levels of NH3. The derived NH3 abundances relative to molecular hydrogen were (2.8+-0.5)x10^{-8} for ortho-NH3 and (3.2^{+0.7}_{-0.6})x10^{-8} for para-NH3, consistent with an ortho/para ratio of 1. These values are in a rough agreement with abundances derived from the inversion transitions, as well as with the total abundance of NH3 inferred from the MIR absorption lines. To explain the observed rotational transitions, ammonia must be formed near to the central star at a radius close to the end of the wind acceleration region, but no larger than about 20 stellar radii (1 sigma confidence level).

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arXiv2015

Effects of turbulent dust grain motion to interstellar chemistry

Theoretical studies have revealed that dust grains are usually moving fast through the turbulent interstellar gas, which could have significant effects upon interstellar chemistry by modifying grain accretion. This effect is investigated in this work on the basis of numerical gas-grain chemical modeling. Major features of the grain motion effect in the typical environment of dark clouds (DC) can be summarised as follows: 1) decrease of gas-phase (both neutral and ionic) abundances and increase of surface abundances by up to 2-3 orders of magnitude; 2) shifts of the existing chemical jumps to earlier evolution ages for gas-phase species and to later ages for surface species by factors of about ten; 3) a few exceptional cases in which some species turn out to be insensitive to this effect and some other species can show opposite behaviors too. These effects usually begin to emerge from a typical DC model age of about 10^5 yr. The grain motion in a typical cold neutral medium (CNM) can help overcome the Coulomb repulsive barrier to enable effective accretion of cations onto positively charged grains. As a result, the grain motion greatly enhances the abundances of some gas-phase and surface species by factors up to 2-6 or more orders of magnitude in the CNM model. The grain motion effect in a typical molecular cloud (MC) is intermediate between that of the DC and CNM models, but with weaker strength. The grain motion is found to be important to consider in chemical simulations of typical interstellar medium.

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arXiv2013

Observed relationship between CO2-1 and dust emission during post-AGB phase

A CO\,2-1 line survey is performed toward a sample of 58 high Galactic latitude post-AGB (pAGB) stars. To complement the observations, a compilation of literature CO\,2-1 line data of known pAGB stars is done. After combining the datasets, CO\,2-1 line data are available for 133 pAGB stars (about 34 per cent of known pAGB stars) among which 44 are detections. The CO line strengths are compared with infrared dust emission for these pAGB stars by defining a ratio between the integrated CO\,2-1 line flux and {\it IRAS} 25\,mu flux density (CO-IR ratio). The relationship between the CO-IR ratio and the {\it IRAS} color C23 (defined with the 25 and 60\,mu flux densities) is called here the CO-IR diagram. The pAGB objects are found to be located between AGB stars and planetary nebulae (PNe), and segregate into three distinctive groups (I, II and III) on the CO-IR diagram. By analyzing their various properties such as chemical types, spectral types, binarity, circumstellar envelope expansion velocities, and pAGB sub-types on the CO-IR diagram, it is argued that the group-I objects are mainly intermediate mass C-rich pAGB stars in early pAGB stage (almost all of the considered carbon rich `21\,mu' stars belong to this group); the group-II objects are massive or intermediate mass pAGB stars which already follow the profound trend of PNe; and the group-III objects are mainly low mass binary pAGB stars with very weak CO\,2-1 line emission (almost all of the considered RV\,Tau variables belong to this group). The CO-IR diagram is proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the co-evolution of circumstellar gas and dust during the short pAGB stage of stellar evolution.

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arXiv2012

A 1-mm spectral line survey toward GLIMPSE Extended Green Objects (EGOs)

A northern subsample of 89 Spitzer GLIMPSE extended green objects (EGOs), the candidate massive young stellar objects, are surveyed for molecular lines in two 1-GHz ranges: 251.5- 252.5 and 260.188-261.188 GHz. A comprehensive catalog of observed molecular line data and spectral plots are presented. Eight molecular species are undoubtedly detected: H13CO+, SiO, SO, CH3OH, CH3OCH3, CH3CH2CN, HCOOCH3, and HN13C. H13CO+ 3-2 line is detected in 70 EGOs among which 37 ones also show SiO 6-5 line, demonstrating their association to dense gas and supporting the outflow interpretation of the extended 4.5 um excess emission. Our major dense gas and outflow tracers (H13CO+, SiO, SO and CH3OH) are combined with our previous survey of 13CO, 12CO and C18O 1-0 toward the same sample of EGOs for a multi-line multi- cloud analysis of line width and luminosity correlations. Good log-linear correlations are found among all considered line luminosities, which requires a universal similarity of density and thermal structures and probably of shock properties among all EGO clouds to explain. It also requires that the shocks should be produced within the natal clouds of the EGOs. Diverse degrees of correlation are found among the line widths. However, both the line width and luminosity correlations tend to progressively worsen across larger cloud subcomponent size-scales, depicting the increase of randomness across cloud subcomponent sizes. Moreover, the line width correlations among the three isotopic CO 1-0 lines show data scatter as linear functions of the line width itself, indicating that the velocity randomness also increases with whole-cloud sizes and has some regularity behind.

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arXiv2008

First detection of CO lines in a water fountain star

[Context] Water fountain stars are very young post-AGB stars with high velocity water maser jets. They are the best objects to study the onset of bipolar jets from evolved stars due to their young dynamical ages. [Methods] We use the Arizona Radio Observatory 10m telescope to observe the CO J=2-1 line and compare the line parameters with that of masers. [Results] We report the detection of 12CO and 13COJ=2-1 lines from IRAS 16342-3814. The inferred 12CO mass loss rate is an order of magnitude lower than the infrared and OH mass loss rates, indicating a very cold and thick O-rich circumstellar envelope around the star. We also find a 12CO expansion velocity of Vexp = 46 +- 1 km/s that is too high for an AGB wind and confirm the systemic velocity of 44 +- 1 km/s. In addition we measure a very low 12CO/13CO line ratio of 1.7. [Conclusions] The first detection of CO lines has provided a new way to investigate the water fountain stars. Given the high expansion velocity of the CO gas and its relation to maser velocities, we infer that the CO emission region is co-located with the OH mainline masers in the warm base of the optical bipolar lobes, while the high velocity OH1612MHz and H2O masers are located in the side walls and at the farthest ends of the bipolar lobes, respectively. Further observations are highly desired to understand the very low 12CO/13CO line ratio.

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arXiv2008

A spectral line survey in the 2 mm and 1.3 mm windows toward the carbon rich envelope of IRC +10216

We present the results of our spectral line surveys in the 2 mm and 1.3 mm windows toward the carbon rich envelope of IRC +10216. Totally 377 lines are detected, among which 360 lines are assigned to 57 known molecules (including 29 rare isotopomers and 2 cyclic isomers). Only 17 weak lines remain unidentified. Rotational lines of isotopomers 13CCH and HN13C are detected for the first time in IRC +10216. The detection of the formaldehyde lines in this star is also confirmed. Possible abundance difference among the three 13C substituted isotopic isomers of HC3N is reported. Isotopic ratios of C and O are confirmed to be non-solar while those of S and Si to be nearly solar. Column densities have been estimated for 15 molecular species. Modified spectroscopic parameters have been calculated for NaCN, Na13CN, KCN and SiC2. Transition frequencies from the present observations were used to improve the spectroscopic parameters of Si13CC, 29SiC2 and 30SiC2.

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arXiv2007

Envelope density pattern around wide binary AGB stars: a dynamical model

The goal is to build up a simple dynamical model for the out-flowing circumstellar envelope around AGB stars in a wide binary system to explore the parameter dependence of the geometrical characteristics of column density patterns. An AGB star in a wide binary system is considered as a 3-D piston model that can induce a 3-D quasi-spherical density structure in the circumstellar envelope by orbital motion of the AGB star. The column density pattern only depends on two parameters: eccentricity of the orbit e and the terminal outflow velocity to mean orbital velocity ratio gamma. When viewed perpendicular to the orbital plane, spiral, broken spiral, and incomplete concentric shell patterns can be seen, while when viewed along the orbital plane, alternative concentric half-shell, egg-shell, and half-shell half-gap patterns will develop. Non-zero eccentricity causes asymmetry, while larger gamma makes a weaker pattern and helps bring out asymmetry. A spiral pattern may becomes broken when e > 0.4. The spiral center is always less than 12% of spiral pitch away from the orbit center. One should have more chances (~ 80%) seeing spiral-like patterns than seeing concentric shells (~ 20%) in the circumstellar envelope of wide binary AGB stars.

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arXiv2005

On the difference between type E and A OH/IR stars

The observed SEDs of a sample of 60 OH/IR stars are fitted using a radiative transfer model of a dusty envelope. Among the whole sample, 21 stars have reliable phase-lag distances while the others have less accurate distances. L*-P,Mlr-P and Mlr-L* relations have been plotted for these stars. It is found that type E (with emission feature at 10um and type A (with absorption feature at 10um) OH/IR stars have different L*-P and Mlr-L* relations while both of them follow a single Mlr-P relation. The type E stars are proven to be located in the area without large scale dense interstellar medium while the type A stars are located probably in dense interstellar medium. It is argued here that this may indicate the two types of OH/IR stars have different chemical composition or zero age main sequence mass and so evolve in different ways. This conclusion has reinforced the argument by Chen et al.(2001) who reached a similar conclusion from the galactic distribution of about 1000 OH/IR stars with the IRAS low-resolution spectra (LRS).

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