arXiv subjects

J. Stutzki

Publications and source records attributed to J. Stutzki.

121 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Interstellar cloud structure: The statistics of centroid velocities

The investigation of the statistical properties of maps of line centroids has been used for almost 50 years, but there is still no general agreement on their interpretation. We try to quantify which properties of underlying turbulent velocity fields can be derived from centroid velocity maps, and we test conditions under which the scaling behaviour of the centroid velocities matches the scaling of the three-dimensional velocity field. Using fractal cloud models we study systematically the relation between three-dimensional density and velocity fields and the statistical properties of the produced line centroid maps. We put special attention to cases with large density fluctuations resembling supersonic interstellar turbulence. Starting from the Delta-variance analysis we derive a new tool to compute the scaling behaviour of the three-dimensional velocity field from observed intensity and centroid velocity maps. We provide two criteria to decide whether the information from the centroid velocities directly reflects the properties of the underlying velocity field. Applying these criteria allows to understand the different results found so far in the literature on the interpretation of the statistics of velocity centroids. A new iteration scheme can be used to derive the three-dimensional velocity scaling from centroid velocity maps for arbitrary density and velocity fields, but it requires an accurate knowledge of the average density of the considered interstellar cloud.

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arXiv2006

[CII] 158$μ$m Emission and Metallicity in PDRs

We study the effects of a metallicity variation on the thermal balance and [CII] fine-structure line strengths in interstellar photon dominated regions (PDRs). We find that a reduction in the dust-to-gas ratio and the abundance of heavy elements in the gas phase changes the heat balance of the gas in PDRs. The surface temperature of PDRs decreases as the metallicity decreases except for high density ($n>10^6$ cm$^{-3}$) clouds exposed to weak ($χ< 100$) FUV fields where vibrational H$_2$-deexcitation heating dominates over photoelectric heating of the gas. We incorporate the metallicity dependence in our KOSMA-$τ$ PDR model to study the metallicity dependence of [CII]/CO line ratios in low metallicity galaxies. We find that the main trend in the variation of the observed CII/CO ratio with metallicity is well reproduced by a single spherical clump, and does not necessarily require an ensemble of clumps as in the semi-analytical model presented by Bolatto et al. (1999).

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arXiv2006

A KOSMA 7 deg^2 13CO 2--1 & 12CO 3--2 survey of the Perseus cloud

Characterizing the spatial and velocity structure of molecular clouds is a first step towards a better understanding of interstellar turbulence and its link to star formation. We present observations and structure analysis results for a large-scale (~ 7.10 deg^2) 13CO J = 2--1 and 12 CO J = 3--2 survey towards the nearby Perseus molecular cloud observed with the KOSMA 3m telescope. We study the spatial structure of line-integrated and velocity channel maps, measuring the $Δ$-variance as a function of size scale. We determine the spectral index $β$ of the corresponding power spectrum and study its variation across the cloud and across the lines. We find that the spectra of all CO line-integrated maps of the whole complex show the same index, $β$ ~ 3.1, for scales between about 0.2 and 3pc, independent of isotopomer and rotational transition. A complementary 2MASS map of optical extinction shows a noticeably smaller index of 2.6. In contrast to the overall region, the CO maps of individual subregions show a significant variation of $β$. The 12CO 3--2 data provide e.g. a spread of indices between 2.9 in L1455 and 3.5 in NGC1333. In general, active star forming regions show a larger power-law exponent. We find that the $Δ$-variance spectra of individual velocity channel maps are very sensitive to optical depth effects clearly indicating self-absorption in the densest regions. When studying the dependence of the channel-map spectra as a function of the velocity channel width, the expected systematic increase of the spectral index with channel width is only detected in the blue line wings.This could be explained by a filamentary, pillar-like structure which is left at low velocities while the overall molecular gas is swept up by a supernova shock wave.

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arXiv2005

Photon dominated regions in the spiral arms of M83 and M51

We present CI 3P1-3P0 spectra at four spiral arm positions and the nuclei of the nearby galaxies M83 and M51 obtained at the JCMT. This data is complemented with maps of CO 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2, and ISO/LWS far-infrared data of CII (158 micron), OI (63 micron), and NII (122 micron) allowing for the investigation of a complete set of all major gas cooling lines. From the intensity of the NII line, we estimate that between 15% and 30% of the observed CII emission originate from the dense ionized phase of the ISM. The analysis indicates that emission from the diffuse ionized medium is negligible. In combination with the FIR dust continuum, we find gas heating efficiencies below ~0.21% in the nuclei, and between 0.25 and 0.36% at the outer positions. Comparison with models of photon-dominated regions (PDRs) of Kaufman et al. (1999) with the standard ratios OI(63)/CII_PDR and (OI(63)+CII_PDR) vs. TIR, the total infrared intensity, yields two solutions. The physically most plausible solution exhibits slightly lower densities and higher FUV fields than found when using a full set of line ratios, CII_PDR/CI(1-0), CI(1-0)/CO(3-2), CO(3-2)/CO(1-0), CII/CO(3-2), and, OI(63)/CII_PDR. The best fits to the latter ratios yield densities of 10^4 cm^-3 and FUV fields of ~G_0=20-30 times the average interstellar field without much variation. At the outer positions, the observed total infrared intensities are in perfect agreement with the derived best fitting FUV intensities. The ratio of the two intensities lies at 4-5 at the nuclei, indicating the presence of other mechanisms heating the dust.

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arXiv2004

Emission of CO, CI, and CII in W3Main

We used the KOSMA 3m telescope to map the core 7'x5' of the Galactic massive star forming region W3Main in the two fine structure lines of atomic carbon and four mid-J transitions of CO and 13CO. The maps are centered on the luminous infrared source IRS5 for which we obtained ISO/LWS data comprising four high-J CO transitions, CII, and OI at 63 and 145 micron. In combination with a KAO map of integrated line intensities of CII (Howe et al. 1991), this data set allows to study the physical structure of the molecular cloud interface regions where the occurence of carbon is believed to change from C+ to C0, and to CO. The molecular gas in W3Main is warmed by the far ultraviolet (FUV) field created by more than a dozen OB stars. Detailed modelling shows that most of the observed line intensity ratios and absolute intensities are consistent with a clumpy photon dominated region (PDR) of a few hundred unresolved clumps per 0.84pc beam, filling between 3 and 9% of the volume, with a typical clump radius of 0.025pc (2.2"), and typical mass of 0.44Msun. The high-excitation lines of CO stem from a 100-200K layer, as also the CI lines. The bulk of the gas mass is however at lower temperatures.

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arXiv2003

CII, CI, and CO in the massive star forming region W3 Main

We have used the KOSMA 3m telescope to map the core 7'x5' of the Galactic massive star forming region W3Main in the two fine structure lines of atomic carbon and four mid-J transitions of CO and 13CO. In combination with a map of singly ionized carbon (Howe et al. 1991), and FIR fine structure line data observed by ISO/LWS at the center position, these data sets allow to study in detail the physical structure of the photon dominated cloud interface regions (PDRs) where the occurance of carbon changes from CII to CI, and to CO.

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arXiv2003

The Carbon content in the Galactic CygnusX/DR21 star forming region

Observations of Carbon bearing species are among the most important diagnostic probes of ongoing star formation. CO is a surrogate for H$_2$ and is found in the vicinity of star formation sites. There, [CI] emission is thought to outline the dense molecular cores and extend into the lower density regions, where the impinging interstellar UV radiation field plays a critical role for the dissociation and ionization processes. Emission of ionized carbon ([CII]) is found to be even more extended than [CI] and is linking up with the ionized medium. These different tracers emphasize the importance of multi-wavelength studies to draw a coherent picture of the processes driving and driven by high mass star formation. Until now, large scale surveys were only done with low resolution, such as the COBE full sky survey, or were biased to a few selected bright sources (e.g. Yamamoto et al. 2001, Schneider et al. 2003). A broader basis of unbiased, high-resolution observations of [CI], CO, and [CII] may play a key role to probe the material processed by UV radiation.

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arXiv2003

Metallicity effects in Photon Dominated Regions: Clumpy clouds

Several galaxies, such as dwarfs and Irregulars as well as outer galactic clouds have low metallicity. At low metallicities a reduction in the amount of dust and heavy elements plays a significant role on the chemistry as well as the heating and cooling of the gas in the molecular regions, called as Photon Dominated Regions (PDRs). We present here the effects of reduced metallicity in PDRs and study the important PDR cooling lines ([CII], [CI] and CO). Moreover many observational evidences suggest that molecular clouds are clumpy. We model the molecular emission from galaxies incorporating a mass spectrum of clumps. We also compare our results with the semi-analytical results obtained by Bolatto et al. (1999).

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arXiv2002

12CO(J=2->1) and CO(J=3->2) observations of Virgo Cluster spiral galaxies with the KOSMA telescope: global properties

We present 12CO(J=2->1) and CO(J=3->2) observations of quiescent Virgo Cluster spiral galaxies with the KOSMA 3m submm telescope. The beam sizes of 80" at 345 GHz and 120" at 230 GHz are well suited for the investigation of global properties of Virgo Cluster galaxies. The observed sample was selected based on previous 12CO(J=1->0) detections by Stark et al. (1986), performed with the AT&T Bell Laboratory 7m telescope (beam size 100"). We were able to detect 18 spiral galaxies in 12CO(2->1) and 16 in 12CO(3->2). Beam matched observations of the lowest three 12CO transitions allow us to compare our results with previous high spatial resolution studies of (moderate) starburst galaxies and galactic core regions. We discuss the global excitation conditions of the ISM in these quiescent spiral galaxies. The resulting CO (3--2)/(1--0) integrated line ratios vary over a relatively narrow range of values from 0.35 to 0.14 (on a K km/s-scale) with increasing CO (2--1)/(1--0) ratio (from 0.5 to 1.1). The line ratios between the three lowest rotational transitions of CO cannot be fitted by any radiative transfer model with a single source component. A two-component model, assuming a warm, dense nuclear and a cold, less dense disc component allows us to fit the observed line ratios for most of the galaxies individually by selecting suitable parameters. The two-component model, however, fails to explain the observed correlation of the line ratios. This is due to a variation of the relative filling factor of the warm gas alone, assuming a typical set of parameters for the two components common for all galaxies.

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arXiv2001

13CI in high-mass star-forming clouds

We report measurements of the 12C/13C abundance ratio in the three galactic regions G 333.0-0.4, NGC 6334 A and G 351.6-1.3 from observations of the 12CI 3P2-3P1 transition and the hyperfine components of the corresponding 13CI transition near 809 GHz. These transitions were observed simultaneously with the CO 7-6 line emission at 806 GHz with the AST/RO telescope located at the South Pole. From a simultaneous fit to the 12CI 3P2-3P1 transition and the HF components of the corresponding 13CI transition and an independent estimate of an upper limit to the optical depth of the 12CI emission we determine intrinsic 12CI/13CI column density ratios of 23+-1 for G 333.0-0.4, 56+-14 for NGC 6334 A and 69+-12 for G 351.6-1.3. As the regions observed are photon dominated, we argue that the apparent enhancement in the abundance of 13C towards G 333.0-0.4 may be due to strong isotope-selective photodissociation of 13CO, outweighing the effects of chemical isotopic fractionation as suggested by models of PDRs. Towards NGC 6334 A and G 351.6-1.3 these effects appear to be balanced, similar to the situation for the Orion Bar region observed by Keene et al. (1998).

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arXiv2001

First detection of ammonia in M82

We report the detection of the (J,K) = (1,1), (2,2), and (3,3) inversion lines of ammonia (NH3) towards the south--western molecular lobe in M82. The relative intensities of the ammonia lines are characterized by a rotational temperature of T_rot=29+/-5 K which implies an average kinetic temperature of T_kin~60 K. A Gaussian decomposition of the observed spectra indicates increasing kinetic temperatures towards the nucleus of M82, consistent with recent findings based on CO observations. The observations imply a very low NH3 abundance relative to H2, X(NH3)~5x10^(-10). We present evidence for a decreasing NH3 abundance towards the central active regions in M82 and interpret this abundance gradient in terms of photodissociation of NH3 in PDRs. The low temperature derived here from NH3 also explains the apparent underabundance of complex molecules like CH_3OH and HNCO, which has previously been reported.

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arXiv1999

The relation of the Allan- and Delta-variance to the continuous wavelet transform

This paper is understood as a supplement to the paper by [Stutzki et al, 1998], where we have shown the usefulness of the Allan-variance and its higher dimensional generalization, the Delta-variance, for the characterization of molecular cloud structures. In this study we present the connection between the Allan- and Delta-variance and a more popular structure analysis tool: the wavelet transform. We show that the Allan- and Delta-variances are the variances of wavelet transform coefficients.

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arXiv1996

Atomic Carbon in M82: Physical conditions derived from simultaneous observations of the [CI] fine structure submillimeter wave transitions

We report the first extragalactic detection of the neutral carbon [CI] 3P2-3P1 fine structure line at 809 GHz. The line was observed towards M82 simultaneously with the 3P1-3P0 line at 492 GHz, providing a precise measurement of the J=2-1/J=1-0 integrated line ratio of 0.96 (on a [K km s^-1] -scale). This ratio constrains the [CI] emitting gas to have a temperature of at least 50 K and a density of at least 10^4 cm^-3. Already at this minimum temperature and density, the beam averaged CI-column density is large, 2.1 10^18 cm^-2, confirming the high CI/CO abundance ratio of approximately 0.5 estimated earlier from the 492 GHz line alone. We argue that the [CI] emission from M82 most likely arises in clouds of linear size around a few pc with a density of about 10^4 cm^-3 or slightly higher and temperatures of 50 K up to about 100 K.

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