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NASA NTRS1994

Molecular abundances and low-mass star formation. 1: Si- and S-bearing species toward IRAS 16293-2422

Results from millimeter and submillimeter spectral line surveys of the protobinary source Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) 16293-2422 are presented. Here we outline the abundances of silicon- and sulfur-containing species. A combination of rotation diagram and full statistical equilibrium/radiative transfer calculations is used to constrain the physical conditions toward IRAS 16293 and to construct its beam-averaged chemical composition over a 10 to 20 sec (1600 to 3200 AU) scale. The chemical complexity as judged by species such as SiO, OCS, and H2S, is intermediate between that of dark molecular clouds such as L134N and hot molecular cloud cores such as Orion KL. From the richness of the spectra compared to other young stellar objects of similar luminosity, it is clear that molecular abundances do not scale simply with mass; rather, the chemistry is a strong function of evolutionary state, i.e., age.

Blake, Geoffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Star Formation and Environment Properties of an X-Ray Sample of E and SO Galaxies

The proposed work did not result in refereed publications, but it contributed greatly to our knowledge of E and S0 galaxies, and the results were quoted in a number of talks and reviews. In particular, the effects of merging and interactions in clusters of early-type galaxies on their ability to retain an X-ray emitting halo are addressed in the recent review papers. These results were also quoted in conference papers. The galpipe data processing was completed and the database assembled in collaboration with our colleagues of the Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo (Italy). Results on E and SO galaxies include the analysis of the ROSAT HRI images of NGC 1399 and NGC 507, which also include Galpipe source detection results.

Fabbiano, Giuseppina↗
NASA NTRS2001

Chemical differentiation in regions of massive star formation

We have reexamined the origin of the apparent differentiation between nitrogen-bearing molecules and complex oxygen-bearing molecules that is observed in hot molecular cores associated with massive protostars. Observations show that methanol is an ubiquitous and abundant component of protostellar ices. Recent observations suggest that ammonia may constitute an appreciable fraction of the ices toward some sources. In contrast to previous theories that suggested that N/O differentiation was caused by an anticorrelation between methanol and ammonia in the precursor grain mantles, we show that the presence of ammonia in mantles and the core temperature are key quantities in determining N/O differentiation. Calculations are presented which show that when large amounts of ammonia are evaporated alkyl cation transfer reactions are suppressed and the abundances of complex O-bearing organic molecules greatly reduced. Cooler cores (100 K) eventually evolve to an oxygen-rich chemical state similar to that attained when no ammonia was injected, but on a timescale that is an order of magnitude longer (~10(5) yr). Hotter cores (300 K) never evolve an O-rich chemistry unless ammonia is almost absent from the mantles. In this latter case, a complex O-rich chemistry develops on a timescale of ~10(4) yr, as in previous models, but disappears in about 2 x 10(5) yr, after which time the core is rich in NH3, HCN, and other N-bearing molecules. There are thus two ways in which N-rich cores can occur. We briefly discuss the implications for the determination of hot-core ages and for explaining N/O differentiation in several well-studied sources.

NASA Center ARC↗
NASA NTRS2004

Infrared Spectroscopy of Star Formation in Galactic and Extragalactic Regions

Last year we submitted and had accepted a paper entitled "The Far-Infrared Emission Line and Continuum Spectrum of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 1068," by Spinoglio, L., Malkan, M., Smith. HA, Gonzalez-Alfonso, E., and Fischer, J. This analysis was based on the SWAS Monte Carlo code modeling of the OH lines in galaxies observed by ISO. Since that meeting last spring considerable effort has been put into improving the Monte Carlo code. A group of European astronomers, including Prof. Eduardo Gonzalez-Alfonso, had been performing Monte Carlo modeling of other molecules seen in ISO galaxies. We used portions of this grant to bring Prof. Gonzalez-Alfonso to Cambridge for an intensive working visit. A second major paper on the ISO IR spectroscopy of galaxies, "The Far Infrared Spectrum of Arp 220," Gonzalez-Alfonso, E., Smith. H., Fischer, J., and Cernicharo, J., is in press. Spitzer science development was the major component of this past year;s research. This program supported the development of five Early Release Objects for Spitzer observations on which Dr. Smith was Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator, and another five proposals for GO time. The early release program is designed to rapidly present to the public and the scientific community some exciting results from Spitzer in the first months of its operation. The Spitzer instrument and science teams submitted proposals for ERO objects, and a competitive selection process narrowed these down to a small group with exciting science and realistic observational parameters. This grant supported Dr. Smith's participation in the ERO process, including developing science goals, identifying key objects for observation, and developing the detailed AOR (observing formulae) to be use by the instruments for mapping, integrating, etc.). During this year Dr. Smith worked on writing up and publishing these early results. The attached bibliography includes six of Dr. Smith's articles. During this past year Dr. Smith also led or helped to develop proposals for ten Spitzer GO Programs, and three others. Appendix B lists the programs involved.

Smith, Howard A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Star formation and the initial mass function

Supersonic turbulence fragments the interstellar medium into dense sheets, filaments, cores and large low density voids, thanks to a complex network of highly radioactive shocks. The turbulence is driven on the large scale predominantly by super novae. While on large scale the magnetic energy is in approximate equipartition with the kinetic energy of the turbulence, on the scale of a few pc the turbulent kinetic energy exceeds the magnetic energy.

supersonic turbulence IMF initial mass function↗
NASA NTRS2010

[CII] At 1 < z < 2: Observing Star Formation in the Early Universe with Zeus (1 and 2)

We report the detection of the [CII] 158 micron fine structure line from six submillimeter galaxies with redshifts between 1.12 and 1.73. This more than doubles the total number of [CII] 158 micron detections reported from high redshift sources. These observations were made with the Redshift(z) and Early Universe Spectrometer(ZEUS) at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii between December 2006 and March 2009. ZEUS is a background limited submm echelle grating spectrometer (Hailey-Dunsheath 2009). Currently we are constructing ZEUS-2. This new instrument will utilize the same grating but will feature a two dimensional transition-edge sensed bolometer array with SQUID multiplexing readout system enabling simultaneous background limited observations in the 200, 340,450 and 650 micron telluric windows. ZEUS-2 will allow for long slit imaging spectroscopy in nearby galaxies and a [CII] survey from z 0.25 to 2.5.

Ferkinhoff, Carl↗
NASA NTRS2012

Star Formation in Hi Tails: HCG 92, HCG 100 and 6 Interacting Systems

We present new Gemini spectra of 14 new objects found within the HI tails of Hickson Compact Groups 92 and 100. Nine of them are GALEX Far-UV (FUV) and Near-UV (NUV) sources. The spectra confirm that these objects are members of the compact groups and have metallicities close to solar, with an average value of 12+log(O/H)approx.8.5. They have average FUV luminosities 7 x 10(exp 40) erg/s, very young ages (< 100 Myr) and two of them resemble tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs) candidates. We suggest that they were created within gas clouds that were ejected during galaxy-galaxy interactions into the intergalactic medium, which would explain the high metallicities of the objects, inherited from the parent galaxies from which the gas originated. We conduct a search for similar objects in 6 interacting systems with extended HI tails, NGC 2623, NGC 3079, NGC 3359, NGC 3627, NGC 3718, NGC 4656. We found 35 UV sources with ages < 100 Myr, however most of them are on average less luminous/massive than the UV sources found around HCG 92 and 100. We speculate that this might be an environmental effect and that compact groups of galaxies are more favorable to TDG formation than other interacting systems.

deMello, D. F.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Dust Attenuation and H(alpha) Star Formation Rates of Z Approx. 0.5 Galaxies

Using deep narrow-band and broad-band imaging, we identify 401 z approximately 0.40 and 249 z approximately 0.49 H-alpha line-emitting galaxies in the Subaru Deep Field. Compared to other H-alpha surveys at similar redshifts, our samples are unique since they probe lower H-alpha luminosities, are augmented with multi-wavelength (rest-frame 1000AA--1.5 microns) coverage, and a large fraction (20%) of our samples has already been spectroscopically confirmed. Our spectra allow us to measure the Balmer decrement for nearly 60 galaxies with H-beta detected above 5-sigma. The Balmer decrements indicate an average extinction of A(H-alpha)=0.7(uparrow){+1.4}_{-0.7} mag. We find that the Balmer decrement systematically increases with higher H-alpha luminosities and with larger stellar masses, in agreement with previous studies with sparser samples. We find that the SFRs estimated from modeling the spectral energy distribution (SED) is reliable---we derived an "intrinsic" H-alpha luminosity which is then reddened assuming the color excess from SED modeling. The SED-predicted H-alpha luminosity agrees with H-alpha narrow-band measurements over 3 dex (rms of 0.25 dex). We then use the SED SFRs to test different statistically-based dust corrections for H-alpha and find that adopting one magnitude of extinction is inappropriate: galaxies with lower luminosities are less reddened. We find that the luminosity-dependent dust correction of Hopkins et al. yields consistent results over 3 dex (rms of 0.3 dex). Our comparisons are only possible by assuming that stellar reddening is roughly half of nebular reddening. The strong correspondence argue that with SED modeling, we can derive reliable intrinsic SFRs even in the absence of H-alpha measurements at z approximately 0.5.

Ly, Chun↗