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At least 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2023

Interpretation of Flat Energy Spectra Upstream of Fast Interplanetary Shocks

Interplanetary shocks are large-scale heliospheric structures often caused by eruptive phenomena at the Sun, and represent one of the main sources of energetic particles. Several interplanetary (IP) shock crossings by spacecraft at 1 au have revealed enhanced energetic-ion fluxes that extend far upstream of the shock. Surprisingly, in some shock events ion fluxes with energies between 100 keV and about 2 MeV acquire similar values (which we refer to as "overlapped" fluxes), corresponding to flat energy spectra in that range. In contrast, closer to the shock the fluxes are observed to depend on energy. In this work, we analyze three IP-shock-related energetic particle events observed by the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft where flat ion energy spectra were observed upstream of the shock. We interpret these observations via a velocity-filter mechanism for particles in a given energy range. In particular, ions with velocity parallel to the local magnetic field larger than the speed of the upstream plasma, in the reference frame of the shock, can easily propagate back upstream, while lower-energy ions tend to be confined to the shock front, thus reducing their fluxes far upstream and giving rise to flat energy spectra. The velocity-filter mechanism has been corroborated from observations of particle flux anisotropy by the Solid-State Telescope of Wind/3DP.

Shock waves↗
DOE OSTI2022

Novel method to control explosive shock sensitivity: A mesoscale study to understand the effect of thermally expandable microsphere (TEM) inclusions in high explosives (HE) microstructure

When the void content and/or void structure of a high explosive (HE) is altered by some means (i.e., bulk heating or mechanical damage), the shock initiation behavior of the material changes. The ability to precisely predict the change in shock sensitivity after an HE has undergone microstructural changes is a crucial capability in multi-scale reactive flow models. Here, we utilize thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) as a dopant in a polymer bonded explosive (PBX) matrix to alter the shock initiation properties in a controlled fashion. Here, using a mesoscale modeling approach, we evaluated how a single TEM (before and after thermal expansion) behaves under shock compression, as well as how the matrix PBX in the direct vicinity of the TEM is affected. We first examined the effect of an unexpanded TEM in the explosive matrix and found that its presence does not significantly perturb the bulk flow and by extension will not affect bulk sensitivity. Next, we examined the effect of an expanded TEM and found that its presence significantly perturbs the flow via hydrodynamic jetting, which causes a secondary shock wave with a strength that exceeds that of the incident wave. Finally, we showed that this secondary shock interacts with the downstream porosity to ignite a larger fraction of the overall pore volume, commensurate with the secondary shock strength and the affected volume, increasing the global (bulk) shock sensitivity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Shock initiation of low density polymer bonded explosive LX-14: A study of two morphologies

A series of six shock initiation experiments have been carried out on low density LX-14 powder in order to simulate a shock insult on the heavily damage polymer bonded explosive, LX-14. Two distinct morphologies were studied (tap density molding powder and machined swarf), both at the same density of 0.942 g/cm 3 , or 50.1% theoretical maximum density. The purpose of these experiments was to provide data to help make an assessment of the effects that damage has on the material sensitivity to a planar shock. This was achieved primarily by providing shock sensitivity data in the form of a Pop plot, and also reactants equation of state data, which aids in the determination of input conditions for both the experiments performed in this work and also future experiments of this material type. The experiments were of a cut-back format, consisting of four sample heights on each shot and diagnosed with optical velocimetry. The experiments were carried out at the Technical Area 40 Chamber 9 gas gun facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the LX-14 targets were subjected to Al 6061 and Oxygen Free High Conductivity copper impactors launched to velocities up to 2.14 km/s. Time corrected reactive growth wave profiles are presented in this paper along with the derivation of the following Hugoniot parameters for this explosive, where the molding powder and machine swarf are represented by the following linear equations, respectively, U s = 1.64 (±0.64)u p + 2.25 (±0.49) and U s = 0.87 (±.0.60)u p + 4.08 (±0.49). The results show that the steady increase in shock sensitivity with increasing void fraction reaches an inflection point beyond which the shock sensitivity begins to decease. This inflection point lies between 65% and 50% of the theoretical maximum density of the LX-14. In both cases, the damaged LX-14 was not as sensitive as expected, with a relative shock sensitivity of the molding powder being less than the pressed LX-14, and the machined swarf having a shock sensitivity that is comparable to pressed LX-14.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

The stability of expanding reactive shocks in a van der Waals fluid

Despite the extensive literature accumulated since the pioneering works of D'yakov and Kontorovich in the 1950s, the stability of steady shocks is still an open question when realistic boundary conditions are accounted. The consideration of a supporting mechanism, which is indeed a necessary condition for shock steadiness, modifies the perturbation shock dynamics in the unstable range. The Noh problem is a suitable example to form steady expanding shocks. This configuration is of great interest to the high-energy-density-physics community because of its direct application to inertial confinement fusion and astrophysics, for which the stagnation of a supersonically converging material via an accretion shock front is ubiquitous. Here in this work, we extend the generalized Noh problem, both base-flow solution and linear stability analysis, to conditions where endothermic or exothermic transformations undergo across the shock. Within the spontaneous acoustic emission conditions found for a van der Waals gas, we find that cylindrical and spherical expanding shocks become literally unstable for sufficiently high mode numbers. Counterintuitively, the effect of exothermicity or endothermicity across the shock is found to be stabilizing or destabilizing, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Vorticity dynamics after the shock–turbulence interaction

In this article, the interaction of a shock wave with quasi-vortical isotropic turbulence (IT) represents a basic problem for studying some of the phenomena associated with high speed flows, such as hypersonic flight, supersonic combustion and Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). In general, in practical applications, the shock width is much smaller than the turbulence scales and the upstream turbulent Mach number is modest. In this case, recent high resolution shock-resolved Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) (Ryu and Livescu, J Fluid Mech 756, R1, 2014) show that the interaction can be described by the Linear Interaction Approximation (LIA). Using LIA to alleviate the need to resolve the shock, DNS post-shock data can be generated at much higher Reynolds numbers than previously possible. Here, such results with Taylor Reynolds number approximately 180 are used to investigate the changes in the vortical structure as a function of the shock Mach number, M s , up to M s = 10. It is shown that, as M s increases, the shock interaction induces a tendency towards a local axisymmetric state perpendicular to the shock front, which has a profound influence on the vortex-stretching mechanism and divergence of the Lamb vector and, ultimately, on the flow evolution away from the shock.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Heat shock-induced interactions among nuclear HSFs detected by fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy

The cellular response to stress is primarily controlled in cells via transcriptional activation by heat shock factor 1 (HSF1). HSF1 is well-known to form homotrimers for activation upon heat shock and subsequently bind to target DNAs, such as heat-shock elements, by forming stress granules. A previous study demonstrated that nuclear HSF1 and HSF2 molecules in live cells interacted with target DNAs on the stress granules. However, the process underlying the binding interactions of HSF family in cells upon heat shock remains unclear. This study demonstrate for the first time that the interaction kinetics among nuclear HSF1, HSF2, and HSF4 upon heat shock can be detected directly in live cells using dual color fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCCS). FCCS analyses indicated that the binding between HSFs was dramatically changed by heat shock. Interestingly, the recovery kinetics of interaction between HSF1 molecules after heat shock could be represented by changes in the relative interaction amplitude and mobility. - Highlights: • The binding interactions among nuclear HSFs were successfully detected. • The binding kinetics between HSF1s during recovery was quantified. • HSF2 and HSF4 strongly formed hetero-complex, even before heat shock. • Nuclear HSF2 and HSF4 bound to HSF1 only after heat shock.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Emission lifetimes of a fluorescent dye under shock compression

The emission lifetimes of rhodamine 6G (R6G), were measured under shock compression to 9.1 GPa, with the dual intent of better understanding molecular photophysics in extreme environments and assessing the usefulness of fluorescence lifetime microscopy to measure spatially-dependent pressure distributions in shocked microstructured media. R6G was studied as free dye dissolved in poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA), or dye encapsulated in silica microparticles suspended in PMMA. Thin layers of these materials in impedance-matched geometries were subjected to planar single-stage shocks created by laser-driven flyer plates. A synchronized femtosecond laser excited the dye at selected times relative to flyer plate arrival and the emission lifetimes were measured with a streak camera. Lifetimes decreased when shocks arrived. The lifetime decrease was attributed to a shock-induced enhancement of R6G nonradiative relaxation. At least part of the relaxation involved shock-enhanced intersystem crossing. For free dye in PMMA, the lifetime decrease during the shock was shown to be a linear function of shock pressure from 0-9 GPa, with a slope of -0.22 ns·GPa -1 . Furthermore, the linear relationship makes it simple to convert lifetimes into pressures. Lifetime measurements in shocked microenvironments may be better than emission intensity measurements, since lifetimes are sensitive to the surrounding environment, but insensitive to intensity variations associated with the motion and optical properties of a dynamically changing structure.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Strongly Anisotropic Thermomechanical Response to Shock Wave Loading in Oriented Samples of the Triclinic Molecular Crystal 1,3,5-Triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene

All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to study shock wave loading in oriented single crystals of the highly anisotropic triclinic molecular crystal 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB). The crystal structure consists of planar hydrogen-bonded sheets of individually planar TATB molecules that stack into graphitic-like layers. Shocks were studied for seven systematically prepared crystal orientations with limiting cases that correspond to shock propagation exactly perpendicular and exactly parallel to the graphitic-like layers. The simulations were performed for initially defect-free crystals using a reverse-ballistic configuration that generates explicit, supported shocks. Final longitudinal stress components are between ≈8.5 and ≈10.5 GPa for the 1.0 km s –1 impact speed studied. Orientation-dependent properties are reported including shock speeds, stresses, temperatures, compression ratios, and local material strain rates. Spatiotemporal maps of the temperature, stress tensor, material flow, and molecular orientations reveal complicated processes that arise for specific shock directions. Furthermore, the results indicate that TATB shock response is highly sensitive to crystal orientation, with significant qualitative differences for the time evolution of the stress tensor and temperature, elastic/inelastic compression response, defect formation and growth, critical von Mises stress, and strain rates during shock rise that span nearly an order of magnitude. A variety of inelastic deformation mechanisms are identified, ranging from crumpling of graphitic-like layers to dislocation-mediated plasticity to intense shear strain localization. To our knowledge, these are the first systematic MD simulations and analysis of explicit shock wave propagation along nontrivial crystal directions in a triclinic molecular crystal.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Global Hybrid Simulations of Interaction Between Interplanetary Rotational Discontinuity and Bow Shock/Magnetosphere: Can Ion-Scale Magnetic Reconnection be Driven by Rotational Discontinuity Downstream of Quasi-Parallel Shock?

Ion-scale magnetic reconnection has been observed downstream of the terrestrial quasi-parallel (Q-∥) shock. Whether it is driven by interplanetary discontinuities or turbulent Q-∥ shock, however, is unclear. Using three-dimensional global hybrid simulation, we investigate the generation of magnetic reconnection downstream of the Q-∥ shock, while an interplanetary rotational discontinuity (RD) is launched to the bow shock. Cases with various solar wind Alfvén Mach numbers, M A = 3.0 to 8, and propagation directions of the RD are presented. The propagation direction n is assumed to be in the GSE xz plane and pointing earthward, with n = (-sin(θ 12 /2),0,-cos(θ 12 /2)), where θ 12 is the angle between the upstream (B1) and downstream (B2) magnetic fields across the transmitted RD. It is found that magnetic reconnection occurs inside the RD downstream of the Q-∥ shock, forming flux ropes extending along the dawn-dusk direction about tens of ion inertial lengths. Large-amplitude low-frequency waves originated from the Q-∥ shock lead to the bending and squeezing of the field lines around the RD, which play an important role in triggering reconnection inside the RD. As the RD impacts the dayside magnetopause, magnetopause reconnection takes place between the field lines behind the RD and geomagnetic field lines. Nevertheless, no reconnection is found downstream of the Q-∥ shock itself or outside the RD in the magnetosheath. The existent and structure of reconnection in the magnetosheath are found to strongly depend on the parameters M A and n. Our simulation shows that ion-scale magnetic reconnection is driven by an external driver in the form of the compression of an RD around the bow shock and in the magnetosheath, rather than caused by the turbulent Q-∥ shock alone.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

In situ X-ray diffraction measurement of shock-wave-driven twinning and lattice dynamics

We report that pressure-driven shock waves in solid materials can cause extreme damage and deformation. Understanding this deformation and the associated defects that are created in the material is crucial in the study of a wide range of phenomena, including planetary formation and asteroid impact sites, the formation of interstellar dust clouds, ballistic penetrators, spacecraft shielding and ductility in high-performance ceramics. At the lattice level, the basic mechanisms of plastic deformation are twinning (whereby crystallites with a mirror-image lattice form) and slip (whereby lattice dislocations are generated and move), but determining which of these mechanisms is active during deformation is challenging. Experiments that characterized lattice defects have typically examined the microstructure of samples after deformation, and so are complicated by post-shock annealing and reverberations. In addition, measurements have been limited to relatively modest pressures (less than 100 gigapascals). In situ X-ray diffraction experiments can provide insights into the dynamic behaviour of materials, but have only recently been applied to plasticity during shock compression and have yet to provide detailed insight into competing deformation mechanisms. Here we present X-ray diffraction experiments with femtosecond resolution that capture in situ, lattice-level information on the microstructural processes that drive shock-wave-driven deformation. To demonstrate this method we shock-compress the body-centred-cubic material tantalum—an important material for high-energy-density physics owing to its high shock impedance and high X-ray opacity. Tantalum is also a material for which previous shock compression simulations and experiments have provided conflicting information about the dominant deformation mechanism. Our experiments reveal twinning and related lattice rotation occurring on the timescale of tens of picoseconds. In addition, despite the common association between twinning and strong shocks, we find a transition from twinning to dislocation-slip-dominated plasticity at high pressure (more than 150 gigapascals), a regime that recovery experiments cannot accurately access. Lastly, the techniques demonstrated here will be useful for studying shock waves and other high-strain-rate phenomena, as well as a broad range of processes induced by plasticity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Systematic search for high-energy gamma-ray emission from bow shocks of runaway stars

Context. It has been suggested that the bow shocks of runaway stars are sources of high-energy gamma rays (E > 100 MeV). Theoretical models predicting high-energy gamma-ray emission from these sources were followed by the first detection of non-thermal radio emission from the bow shock of BD+43°3654 and non-thermal X-ray emission from the bow shock of AE Aurigae. Aims. We perform the first systematic search for MeV and GeV emission from 27 bow shocks of runaway stars using data collected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi). Methods. We analysed 57 months of Fermi-LAT data at the positions of 27 bow shocks of runaway stars extracted from the Extensive stellar BOw Shock Survey catalogue (E-BOSS). A likelihood analysis was performed to search for gamma-ray emission that is not compatible with diffuse background or emission from neighbouring sources and that could be associated with the bow shocks. Results. None of the bow shock candidates is detected significantly in the Fermi-LAT energy range. We therefore present upper limits on the high-energy emission in the energy range from 100MeV to 300 GeV for 27 bow shocks of runaway stars in four energy bands. For the three cases where models of the high-energy emission are published we compare our upper limits to the modelled spectra. Our limits exclude the model predictions for ζ Ophiuchi by a factor ≈ 5.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Numerical simulation of shock initiation of Ni/Al multilayered composites

The initiation of chemical reaction in cold-rolled Ni/Al multilayered composites by shock compression is investigated numerically. A simplified approach is adopted that exploits the disparity between the reaction and shock loading timescales. The impact of shock compression is modeled using CTH simulations that yield pressure, strain, and temperature distributions within the composites due to the shock propagation. The resulting temperature distribution is then used as initial condition to simulate the evolution of the subsequent shock-induced mixing and chemical reaction. To this end, a reduced reaction model is used that expresses the local atomic mixing and heat release rates in terms of an evolution equation for a dimensionless time scale reflecting the age of the mixed layer. The computations are used to assess the effect of bilayer thickness on the reaction, as well as the impact of shock velocity and orientation with respect to the layering. Computed results indicate that initiation and evolution of the reaction are substantially affected by both the shock velocity and the bilayer thickness. In particular, at low impact velocity, Ni/Al multilayered composites with thick bilayers react completely in 100 ms while at high impact velocity and thin bilayers, reaction time was less than 100 μs. Quantitative trends for the dependence of the reaction time on the shock velocity are also determined, for different bilayer thickness and shock orientation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

The link between shocks, turbulence, and magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas

Global hybrid (electron fluid, kinetic ions) and fully kinetic simulations of the magnetosphere have been used to show surprising interconnection between shocks, turbulence, and magnetic reconnection. In particular, collisionless shocks with their reflected ions that can get upstream before retransmission can generate previously unforeseen phenomena in the post shocked flows: (i) formation of reconnecting current sheets and magnetic islands with sizes up to tens of ion inertial length. (ii) Generation of large scale low frequency electromagnetic waves that are compressed and amplified as they cross the shock. These “wavefronts” maintain their integrity for tens of ion cyclotron times but eventually disrupt and dissipate their energy. (iii) Rippling of the shock front, which can in turn lead to formation of fast collimated jets extending to hundreds of ion inertial lengths downstream of the shock. The jets, which have high dynamical pressure, “stir” the downstream region, creating large scale disturbances such as vortices, sunward flows, and can trigger flux ropes along the magnetopause. This phenomenology closes the loop between shocks, turbulence, and magnetic reconnection in ways previously unrealized. These interconnections appear generic for the collisionless plasmas typical of space and are expected even at planar shocks, although they will also occur at curved shocks as occur at planets or around ejecta.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dislocation structure produced by an ultrashort shock pulse

We found an ultrashort shock pulse driven by a femtosecond laser pulse on iron generates a different dislocation structure than the shock process which is on the nanosecond timescale. The ultrashort shock pulse produces a highly dense dislocation structure that varies by depth. According to transmission electron microscopy, dislocations away from the surface produce microbands via a network structure similar to a long shock process, but unlike a long shock process dislocations near the surface have limited intersections. Considering the dislocation motion during the shock process, the structure near the surface is attributed to the ultrashort shock duration. This approach using an ultrashort shock pulse will lead to understanding the whole process off shock deformation by clarifying the early stage.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Compaction shock dissipation in low density granular explosive

The microstructure of granular explosives can affect dissipative heating within compaction shocks that can trigger combustion and initiate detonation. Because initiation occurs over distances that are much larger than the mean particle size, homogenized (macroscale) theories are often used to describe local thermodynamic states within and behind shocks that are regarded as the average manifestation of thermodynamic fields at the particle scale. In this paper, mesoscale modeling and simulation are used to examine how the initial packing density of granular HMX (C{sub 4}H{sub 8}N{sub 8}O{sub 8}) C{sub 4}H{sub 8}N{sub 8}O{sub 8} having a narrow particle size distribution influences dissipation within resolved, planar compaction shocks. The model tracks the evolution of thermomechanical fields within large ensembles of particles due to pore collapse. Effective shock profiles, obtained by averaging mesoscale fields over space and time, are compared with those given by an independent macroscale compaction theory that predicts the variation in effective thermomechanical fields within shocks due to an imbalance between the solid pressure and a configurational stress. Reducing packing density is shown to reduce the dissipation rate within shocks but increase the integrated dissipated work over shock rise times, which is indicative of enhanced sensitivity. In all cases, dissipated work is related to shock pressure by a density-dependent power law, and shock rise time is related to pressure by a power law having an exponent of negative one.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mesoscale simulation of granular materials under weak shock compaction–pore size distribution effects

This research established a systematic method to generate various pore-size distributions (PSDs) and studied the effect of PSDs on the shock compaction response of granular materials using two-dimensional mesoscale simulations under identical porosity. Simulations utilized various PSDs for three particle shapes (circle, ellipse, and square). Contacting particle configurations using three PSDs, characterized by spatially uniform distributed pores to heterogeneous distributed pores, and non-contacting particle configurations under a single case of PSD were tested. The PSD of generated particle sets was characterized using coordination number, mean diameter, and bimodality coefficient as statistical metrics. Mesoscale simulations showed that regardless of the conditions of pore distributions, shock compaction of granular materials consistently demonstrates a precursor, shock compaction front, and end. However, the shock compaction velocity of contacting particles was dependent on the PSDs despite the constant initial porosity. The compaction velocity was faster in particle configurations with relatively uniform pore distributions than in heterogeneous pore distributions, which our study demonstrated can be attributed to particle rearrangement during compaction. Circular-shaped particles had high sensitivity in shock compaction response to the various PSDs. Furthermore, a contacting particle configuration tended to propagate the shock compaction wave relatively faster than particles that were in a non-contact configuration. This study established the relative importance of considering PSD as a metric over the coordination number in studies of the shock compaction response of granular materials. Further, insights are provided on the evolving shock substructure to characterize the shock compaction response of granular materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

A REVERSE SHOCK IN GRB 130427A

We present extensive radio and millimeter observations of the unusually bright GRB 130427A at z = 0.340, spanning 0.67-12 days after the burst. We combine these data with detailed multi-band UV, optical, NIR, and Swift X-ray observations and find that the broadband afterglow emission is composed of distinct reverse shock and forward shock contributions. The reverse shock emission dominates in the radio/millimeter and at ∼< 0.1 days in the UV/optical/NIR, while the forward shock emission dominates in the X-rays and at ∼> 0.1 days in the UV/optical/NIR. We further find that the optical and X-ray data require a wind circumburst environment, pointing to a massive star progenitor. Using the combined forward and reverse shock emission, we find that the parameters of the burst include an isotropic kinetic energy of E{sub K,{sub iso}} ≈ 2 × 10{sup 53} erg, a mass loss rate of M-dot ∼3×10{sup -8} M{sub ☉} yr{sup –1} (for a wind velocity of 1000 km s{sup –1}), and a Lorentz factor at the deceleration time of Γ(200 s) ≈ 130. Due to the low density and large isotropic energy, the absence of a jet break to ≈15 days places only a weak constraint on the opening angle, θ{sub j} ∼> 2.°5, and therefore a total energy of E{sub γ} + E{sub K} ∼> 1.2 × 10{sup 51} erg, similar to other gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The reverse shock emission is detectable in this burst due to the low circumburst density, which leads to a slow cooling shock. We speculate that this property is required for the detectability of reverse shocks in radio and millimeter bands. Following on GRB 130427A as a benchmark event, observations of future GRBs with the exquisite sensitivity of the Very Large Array and ALMA, coupled with detailed modeling of the reverse and forward shock contributions, will test this hypothesis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

O{sub 2} emission toward Orion H{sub 2} peak 1 and the role of FUV-illuminated C-shocks

Molecular oxygen (O{sub 2}) has been the target of ground-based and space-borne searches for decades. Of the thousands of lines of sight surveyed, only those toward Rho Ophiuchus and Orion H{sub 2} Peak 1 have yielded detections of any statistical significance. The detection of the O{sub 2} N{sub J} = 3{sub 3}–1{sub 2} and 5{sub 4}–3{sub 4} lines at 487.249 GHz and 773.840 GHz, respectively, toward Rho Ophiuchus has been attributed to a short-lived peak in the time-dependent, cold-cloud O{sub 2} abundance, while the detection of the O{sub 2} N{sub J} = 3{sub 3}–1{sub 2}, 5{sub 4}–3{sub 4} lines, plus the 7{sub 6}–5{sub 6} line at 1120.715 GHz, toward Orion has been ascribed to time-dependent preshock physical and chemical evolution and low-velocity (12 km s{sup −1}) non-dissociative C-type shocks, both of which are fully shielded from far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation, plus a postshock region that is exposed to an FUV field. We report a re-interpretation of the Orion O{sub 2} detection based on new C-type shock models that fully incorporate the significant effects the presence of even a weak FUV field can have on the preshock gas, shock structure, and postshock chemistry. In particular, we show that a family of solutions exists, depending on the FUV intensity, that reproduces both the observed O{sub 2} intensities and O{sub 2} line ratios. The solution in closest agreement with the shock parameters inferred for H{sub 2} Peak 1 from other gas tracers assumes a 23 km s{sup −1} shock impacting gas with a preshock density of 8 × 10{sup 4} cm{sup −3} and G{sub o} = 1, substantially different from that inferred for the fully shielded shock case. As pointed out previously, the similarity between the LSR velocity of all three O{sub 2} lines (≈11 km s{sup −1}) and recently measured H{sub 2}O 5{sub 32}–4{sub 41} maser emission at 620.701 GHz toward H{sub 2} Peak 1 suggests that the O{sub 2} emission arises behind the same shocks responsible for the maser emission, though the O{sub 2} emission is almost certainly more extended than the localized high-density maser spots. Since maser emission arises along lines of sight of low-velocity gradient, indicating shock motion largely perpendicular to our line of sight, we note that this geometry can explain not only the narrow (≲3 km s{sup −1}) observed O{sub 2} line widths despite their excitation behind a shock but also why such O{sub 2} detections are rare.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗