arXiv subjects

S. Wang

Publications and source records attributed to S. Wang.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Herschel observations of EXtra-Ordinary Sources (HEXOS): Observations of H2O and its isotopologues towards Orion KL

We report the detection of more than 48 velocity-resolved ground rotational state transitions of H2(16)O, H2(18)O, and H2(17)O - most for the first time - in both emission and absorption toward Orion KL using Herschel/HIFI. We show that a simple fit, constrained to match the known emission and absorption components along the line of sight, is in excellent agreement with the spectral profiles of all the water lines. Using the measured H2(18)O line fluxes, which are less affected by line opacity than their H2(16)O counterparts, and an escape probability method, the column densities of H2(18)O associated with each emission component are derived. We infer total water abundances of 7.4E-5, 1.0E-5, and 1.6E-5 for the plateau, hot core, and extended warm gas, respectively. In the case of the plateau, this value is consistent with previous measures of the Orion-KL water abundance as well as those of other molecular outflows. In the case of the hot core and extended warm gas, these values are somewhat higher than water abundances derived for other quiescent clouds, suggesting that these regions are likely experiencing enhanced water-ice sublimation from (and reduced freeze-out onto) grain surfaces due to the warmer dust in these sources.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Reversal of infall in SgrB2(M) revealed by Herschel/HIFI observations of HCN lines at THz frequencies

To investigate the accretion and feedback processes in massive star formation, we analyze the shapes of emission lines from hot molecular cores, whose asymmetries trace infall and expansion motions. The high-mass star forming region SgrB2(M) was observed with Herschel/HIFI (HEXOS key project) in various lines of HCN and its isotopologues, complemented by APEX data. The observations are compared to spherically symmetric, centrally heated models with density power-law gradient and different velocity fields (infall or infall+expansion), using the radiative transfer code RATRAN. The HCN line profiles are asymmetric, with the emission peak shifting from blue to red with increasing J and decreasing line opacity (HCN to H$^{13}$CN). This is most evident in the HCN 12--11 line at 1062 GHz. These line shapes are reproduced by a model whose velocity field changes from infall in the outer part to expansion in the inner part. The qualitative reproduction of the HCN lines suggests that infall dominates in the colder, outer regions, but expansion dominates in the warmer, inner regions. We are thus witnessing the onset of feedback in massive star formation, starting to reverse the infall and finally disrupting the whole molecular cloud. To obtain our result, the THz lines uniquely covered by HIFI were critically important.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Herschel observations of deuterated water towards Sgr B2(M)

Observations of HDO are an important complement for studies of water, because they give strong constraints on the formation processes -- grain surfaces versus energetic process in the gas phase, e.g. in shocks. The HIFI observations of multiple transitions of HDO in Sgr~B2(M) presented here allow the determination of the HDO abundance throughout the envelope, which has not been possible before with ground-based observations only. The abundance structure has been modeled with the spherical Monte Carlo radiative transfer code RATRAN, which also takes radiative pumping by continuum emission from dust into account. The modeling reveals that the abundance of HDO rises steeply with temperature from a low abundance ($2.5\times 10^{-11}$) in the outer envelope at temperatures below 100~K through a medium abundance ($1.5\times 10^{-9}$) in the inner envelope/outer core, at temperatures between 100 and 200~K, and finally a high abundance ($3.5\times 10^{-9}$) at temperatures above 200~K in the hot core.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Herschel observations of EXtra-Ordinary Sources: The Terahertz spectrum of Orion KL seen at high spectral resolution

We present the first high spectral resolution observations of Orion KL in the frequency ranges 1573.4 - 1702.8 GHz (band 6b) and 1788.4 - 1906.8 GHz (band 7b) obtained using the HIFI instrument on board the Herschel Space Observatory. We characterize the main emission lines found in the spectrum, which primarily arise from a range of components associated with Orion KL including the hot core, but also see widespread emission from components associated with molecular outflows traced by H2O, SO2, and OH. We find that the density of observed emission lines is significantly diminished in these bands compared to lower frequency Herschel/HIFI bands.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Herschel observations of extra-ordinary sources: Detection of Hydrogen Fluoride in absorption towards Orion~KL

We report a detection of the fundamental rotational transition of hydrogen fluoride in absorption towards Orion KL using Herschel/HIFI. After the removal of contaminating features associated with common molecules ("weeds"), the HF spectrum shows a P-Cygni profile, with weak redshifted emission and strong blue-shifted absorption, associated with the low-velocity molecular outflow. We derive an estimate of 2.9 x 10^13 cm^-2 for the HF column density responsible for the broad absorption component. Using our best estimate of the H2 column density within the low-velocity molecular outflow, we obtain a lower limit of ~1.6 x 10^-10 for the HF abundance relative to hydrogen nuclei, corresponding to 0.6% of the solar abundance of fluorine. This value is close to that inferred from previous ISO observations of HF J=2--1 absorption towards Sgr B2, but is in sharp contrast to the lower limit of 6 x 10^-9 derived by Neufeld et al. (2010) for cold, foreground clouds on the line of sight towards G10.6-0.4.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Herschel observations of EXtra-Ordinary Sources: the present and future of spectral surveys with Herschel/HIFI

We present initial results from the Herschel GT key program: Herschel observations of EXtra-Ordinary Sources (HEXOS) and outline the promise and potential of spectral surveys with Herschel/HIFI. The HIFI instrument offers unprecedented sensitivity, as well as continuous spectral coverage across the gaps imposed by the atmosphere, opening up a largely unexplored wavelength regime to high-resolution spectroscopy. We show the spectrum of Orion KL between 480 and 560 GHz and from 1.06 to 1.115 THz. From these data, we confirm that HIFI separately measures the dust continuum and spectrally resolves emission lines in Orion KL. Based on this capability we demonstrate that the line contribution to the broad-band continuum in this molecule-rich source is ~20-40% below 1 THz and declines to a few percent at higher frequencies. We also tentatively identify multiple transitions of HD18O in the spectra. The first detection of this rare isotopologue in the interstellar medium suggests that HDO emission is optically thick in the Orion hot core with HDO/H2O ~ 0.02. We discuss the implications of this detection for the water D/H ratio in hot cores.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Herschel observations of extra-ordinary sources: Detecting spiral arm clouds by CH absorption lines

We have observed CH absorption lines ($J=3/2, N=1 \leftarrow J=1/2, N=1$) against the continuum source Sgr~B2(M) using the \textit{Herschel}/HIFI instrument. With the high spectral resolution and wide velocity coverage provided by HIFI, 31 CH absorption features with different radial velocities and line widths are detected and identified. The narrower line width and lower column density clouds show `spiral arm' cloud characteristics, while the absorption component with the broadest line width and highest column density corresponds to the gas from the Sgr~B2 envelope. The observations show that each `spiral arm' harbors multiple velocity components, indicating that the clouds are not uniform and that they have internal structure. This line-of-sight through almost the entire Galaxy offers unique possibilities to study the basic chemistry of simple molecules in diffuse clouds, as a variety of different cloud classes are sampled simultaneously. We find that the linear relationship between CH and H$_2$ column densities found at lower $A_V$ by UV observations does not continue into the range of higher visual extinction. There, the curve flattens, which probably means that CH is depleted in the denser cores of these clouds.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Herschel/HIFI discovery of interstellar chloronium (H$_2$Cl$^+$)

We report the first detection of chloronium, H$_2$Cl$^+$, in the interstellar medium, using the HIFI instrument aboard the \emph{Herschel} Space Observatory. The $2_{12}-1_{01}$ lines of ortho-H$_2^{35}$Cl$^+$ and ortho-H$_2^{37}$Cl$^+$ are detected in absorption towards NGC~6334I, and the $1_{11}-0_{00}$ transition of para-H$_2^{35}$Cl$^+$ is detected in absorption towards NGC~6334I and Sgr~B2(S). The H$_2$Cl$^+$ column densities are compared to those of the chemically-related species HCl. The derived HCl/H$_2$Cl$^+$ column density ratios, $\sim$1--10, are within the range predicted by models of diffuse and dense Photon Dominated Regions (PDRs). However, the observed H$_2$Cl$^+$ column densities, in excess of $10^{13}$~cm$^{-2}$, are significantly higher than the model predictions. Our observations demonstrate the outstanding spectroscopic capabilities of HIFI for detecting new interstellar molecules and providing key constraints for astrochemical models.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Herschel/HIFI measurements of the ortho/para ratio in water towards Sagittarius B2(M) and W31C

We present Herschel/HIFI observations of the fundamental rotational transitions of ortho- and para-H$_2^{16}$O and H$_2^{18}$O in absorption towards Sagittarius~B2(M) and W31C. The ortho/para ratio in water in the foreground clouds on the line of sight towards these bright continuum sources is generally consistent with the statistical high-temperature ratio of 3, within the observational uncertainties. However, somewhat unexpectedly, we derive a low ortho/para ratio of $2.35 \pm 0.35$, corresponding to a spin temperature of $\sim$27~K, towards Sagittarius~B2(M) at velocities of the expanding molecular ring. Water molecules in this region appear to have formed with, or relaxed to, an ortho/para ratio close to the value corresponding to the local temperature of the gas and dust.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Herschel observations of ortho- and para-oxidaniumyl (H2O+) in spiral arm clouds toward Sgr B2(M)

H2O+ has been observed in its ortho- and para- states toward the massive star forming core Sgr B2(M), located close to the Galactic center. The observations show absorption in all spiral arm clouds between the Sun and Sgr B2. The average o/p ratio of H2O+ in most velocity intervals is 4.8, which corresponds to a nuclear spin temperature of 21 K. The relationship of this spin temperature to the formation temperature and current physical temperature of the gas hosting H2O+ is discussed, but no firm conclusion is reached. In the velocity interval 0 to 60 km/s, an ortho/para ratio of below unity is found, but if this is due to an artifact of contamination by other species or real is not clear.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Influence of Coronal Holes on CMEs in Causing SEP Events

The issue of the influence of coronal holes (CHs) on coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in causing solar energetic particle (SEP) events is revisited. It is a continuation and extension of our previous work (Shen et al., 2006), in which no evident effect of CHs on CMEs in generating SEPs were found by statistically investigating 56 CME events. This result is consistent with the conclusion obtained by Kahler in 2004. In this paper, we extrapolate the coronal magnetic field, define CHs as the regions consisting of only open magnetic field lines and perform a similar analysis on this issue for totally 76 events by extending the study interval to the end of 2008. Three key parameters, CH proximity, CH area and CH relative position, are involved in the analysis. The new result confirms the previous conclusion that CHs did not show any evident effect on CMEs in causing SEP events.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Detection of interstellar oxidaniumyl: abundant H2O+ towards the star-forming regions DR21, Sgr B2, and NGC6334

We identify a prominent absorption feature at 1115 GHz, detected in first HIFI spectra towards high-mass star-forming regions, and interpret its astrophysical origin. The characteristic hyperfine pattern of the H2O+ ground-state rotational transition, and the lack of other known low-energy transitions in this frequency range, identifies the feature as H2O+ absorption against the dust continuum background and allows us to derive the velocity profile of the absorbing gas. By comparing this velocity profile with velocity profiles of other tracers in the DR21 star-forming region, we constrain the frequency of the transition and the conditions for its formation. In DR21, the velocity distribution of H2O+ matches that of the [CII] line at 158μ\m and of OH cm-wave absorption, both stemming from the hot and dense clump surfaces facing the HII-region and dynamically affected by the blister outflow. Diffuse foreground gas dominates the absorption towards Sgr B2. The integrated intensity of the absorption line allows us to derive lower limits to the H2O+ column density of 7.2e12 cm^-2 in NGC 6334, 2.3e13 cm^-2 in DR21, and 1.1e15 cm^-2 in Sgr B2.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Solar LImb Prominence CAtcher and Tracker (SLIPCAT): An Automated System and Its Preliminary Statistical Results

In this paper, we present an automated system, which has the capability to catch and track solar limb prominences based on observations from EUV 304 passband. The characteristic parameters and their evolution, including height, position angle, area, length and brightness, are obtained without manual interventions. By applying the system to the STEREO-B/SECCHI/EUVI 304 data during 2007 April -2009 October, we obtain a total of 9477 well-tracked prominences and a catalog of these events available online at http://space.ustc.edu.cn/dreams/slipcat/. A detailed analysis of these prominences suggests that the system has a rather good performance. We have obtained several interesting statistical results based on the catalog. Most prominences appear below the latitude of 60 degrees and at the height of about 26 Mm above the solar surface. Most of them are quite stable during the period they are tracked. Nevertheless, some prominences have an upward speed of more than 100 km/s, and some others show significant downward and/or azimuthal speeds. There are strong correlations among the brightness, area and height. The expansion of a prominence is probably one major cause of its fading during the rising or erupting process.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Superconducting plasmonics and extraordinary transmission

Negative dielectric constant and dominant kinetic resistance make superconductors an intriguing plasmonic media. Here we report on the first study of one of the most important and disputed manifestations of plasmonics, the effect of extraordinary transmission through an array of sub-wavelength holes, using a perforated film of high-temperature superconductor.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2009

Superconducting transition at 38 K in insulating-overdoped La2CuO4-La1.64Sr0.36CuO4 superlattices: Evidence for interface electronic redistribution from resonant soft x-ray scattering

We use resonant soft x-ray scattering (RSXS) to quantify the hole distribution in a superlattice of insulating La2CuO4 (LCO) and overdoped La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO4 (LSCO). Despite its non-superconducting constituents, this structure is superconducting with T_{c}=38 K. We found that the conducting holes redistribute electronically from LSCO to the LCO layers. The LCO layers were found to be optimally doped, suggesting they are the main drivers of superconductivity. Our results demonstrate the utility of RSXS for separating electronic from structural effects at oxide interfaces.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Strength of Coronal Mass Ejection-Driven Shocks Near the Sun, and Its Importance in Predicting Solar Energetic Particle Events

Coronal shocks are important structures, but there are no direct observations of them in solar and space physics. The strength of shocks plays a key role in shock-related phenomena, such as radio bursts and solar energetic particle (SEP) generation. This paper presents an improved method of calculating Alfven speed and shock strength near the Sun. This method is based on using as many observations as possible, rather than one-dimensional global models. Two events, a relatively slow CME on 2001 September 15 and a very fast CME on 2000 June 15, are selected to illustrate the calculation process. The calculation results suggest that the slow CME drove a strong shock, with Mach number of 3.43 - 4.18, while the fast CME drove a relatively weak shock, with Mach number of 1.90 - 3.21. This is consistent with the radio observations, which find a stronger and longer decameter-hectometric (DH) type II radio burst during the first event, and a short DH type II radio burst during the second event. In particular, the alculation results explain the observational fact that the slow CME produced a major solar energetic particle (SEP) event, while the fast CME did not. Through a comparison of the two events, the importance of shock strength in predicting SEP events is addressed.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Tunable frequency band-gap and pulse propagation in a strongly nonlinear diatomic chain

One-dimensional nonlinear phononic crystals have been assembled from periodic diatomic chains of stainless steel cylinders alternated with Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) spheres. We report the presence of acoustic band gaps in the dispersion relation of the linearized systems and study the transformation of single and multiple pulses in linear, nonlinear and strongly nonlinear regimes with numerical calculations and experiments. The limiting frequencies of the band gap are within the audible frequency range (20-20,000 Hz) and can be tuned by varying the particle's material properties, mass and initial compression. Pulses rapidly transform within very short distances from the impacted end due to the influence of the band gap in the linear and in nonlinear elastic chains. The effects of an in situ band gap created by a mean dynamic compression are observed in the strongly nonlinear wave regime.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Inductively Coupled Circuits with Spin Wave Bus for Information Processing

We describe a new approach to logic devices interconnection by the inductive coupling via a ferromagnetic film. The information among the distant devices is transmitted in a wireless manner via a magnetic field produced by spin waves propagating in the ferromagnetic film, referred to as the spin wave bus. As an alternative approach to the transistor-based architecture, logic circuits with spin wave bus do not use charge as an information carrier. A bit of information can be encoded into the phase or the amplitude of the spin wave signal. We present experimental data demonstrating inductive coupling through the 100nm thick NiFe and CoFe films at room temperature. The performance of logic circuits with spin wave bus is illustrated by numerical modeling based on the experimental data. Potentially, logic circuits with spin wave bus may resolve the interconnect problem and provide "wireless" read-in and read-out. Another expected benefit is in the enhanced logic functionality. A set of NOT, AND, and OR logic gates can be realized in one device structure. The coupling between the circuits and the spin wave bus can be controlled. We present the results of numerical simulations showing the controllable switching of a bi-stable logic cell inductively coupled to the spin wave bus. The shortcomings and limitations of circuits with spin wave bus are also discussed.

cond-mat.other↗