您选择的条件: Miaomiao Zhang
  • Gas Column Density Distribution of Molecular Clouds in the Third Quadrant of the Milky Way

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We have obtained column density maps for an unbiased sample of 120 molecular clouds in the third quadrant of the Milky Way mid-plane (b$\le |5|^{\circ}$) within the galactic longitude range from 195$^{\circ}$ to 225$^{\circ}$, using the high sensitivity $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO ($J=1-0$) data from the Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting (MWISP) project. The probability density functions of the molecular hydrogen column density of the clouds, N-PDFs, are fitted with both log-normal (LN) function and log-normal plus power-law (LN+PL) function. The molecular clouds are classified into three categories according to their shapes of N-PDFs, i.e., LN, LN+PL, and UN (unclear), respectively. About 72\% of the molecular clouds fall into the LN category, while 18\% and 10\% into the LN+PL and UN categories, respectively. A power-law scaling relation, $\sigma_s\propto N_{H_2}^{0.44}$, exists between the width of the N-PDF, $\sigma_s$, and the average column density, $N_{H_2}$, of the molecular clouds. However, $\sigma_s$ shows no correlation with the mass of the clouds. A correlation is found between the dispersion of normalized column density, $\sigma_{N/\rm }$, and the sonic Mach number, $\mathcal{M}$, of molecular clouds. Overall, as predicted by numerical simulations, the N-PDFs of the molecular clouds with active star formation activity tend to have N-PDFs with power-law high-density tails.

  • Distances to nearby molecular clouds traced by young stars

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: I present a catalog of distances to 63 molecular clouds located within ~2.5 kpc of the Sun. The cloud distances are derived based on utilizing the Gaia DR3 parallaxes of the young stellar objects (YSOs). By identifying AllWISE YSO candidates (YSOCs) with infrared excesses and combining them with published YSOC catalogs, I compile an all-sky YSOC sample that is devoid of a significant proportion of contaminants. Using Gaia DR3 astrometric measurements, I associate over 3000 YSOCs with 63 local clouds and obtain the average distance to each cloud by fitting the YSOC parallax distribution within the cloud. I find good agreements with typical scatter of <10% between my new cloud distances and previous distance estimates. Unlike cloud distances obtained using stellar extinction, my catalog provides distances to the relatively dense areas of local clouds, which makes them more appropriate references for investigating the physical properties of nearby dense regions.

  • Dust extinction map of the Galactic plane based on the VVV survey data

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Dust extinction is one of the most reliable tracers of the gas distribution in the Milky Way. The near-infrared (NIR) Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey enables extinction mapping based on stellar photometry over a large area in the Galactic plane. We devise a novel extinction mapping approach, XPNICER, by bringing together VVV photometric catalogs, stellar parameter data from StarHorse catalogs, and previously published Xpercentile and PNICER extinction mapping techniques. We apply the approach to the VVV survey area, resulting in an extinction map that covers the Galactic disk between 295 and 350 degrees at longitude and -2 to 2 degrees at latitude, and the Galactic bulge between -10 and 5 degrees at latitude. The map has 30 arcseconds spatial resolution and it traces extinctions typically up to about 10-20 mag of visual extinction and maximally up to Av~30 mag. We compare our map to previous dust based maps, concluding that it provides a high-fidelity extinction-based map, especially in its ability to recover both the diffuse dust component of the Galaxy and moderately extincted giant molecular cloud regions. The map is especially useful as independent, extinction-based data on the Galactic dust distribution and applicable for a wide range of studies from individual molecular clouds to the studies of the Galactic stellar populations.

  • The Cassiopeia Filament: A Blown Spur of the Local Arm

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We present wide-field and high-sensitivity CO(1-0) molecular line observations toward the Cassiopeia region, using the 13.7m millimeter telescope of the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO). The CO observations reveal a large-scale highly filamentary molecular cloud within the Galactic region of 132\fdg0\,$\geq$\,$l$\,$\geq$\,122\fdg0 and -1\fdg0\,$\leq$\,$b$\,$\leq$\,3\fdg0 and the velocity range from approximately +1 to +4 km/s. The measured length of the large-scale filament, referred to as the Cassiopeia Filament, is about 390 pc. The observed properties of the Cassiopeia Filament, such as length, column density, and velocity gradient, are consistent with those synthetic large-scale filaments in the inter-arm regions. Based on its observed properties and location on the Galactic plane, we suggest that the Cassiopeia Filament is a spur of the Local arm, which is formed due to the galactic shear. The western end of the Cassiopeia Filament shows a giant arc-like molecular gas shell, which is extending in the velocity range from roughly -1 to +7 km/s. Finger-like structures, with systematic velocity gradients, are detected in the shell. The CO kinematics suggest that the large shell is expanding at a velocity of ~6.5 km/s. Both the shell and finger-like structures outline a giant bubble with a radius of ~16 pc, which is likely produced by stellar wind from the progenitor star of a supernova remnant. The observed spectral linewidths suggest that the whole Cassiopeia Filament was quiescent initially until its west part was blown by stellar wind and became supersonically turbulent.

  • Deep Near-Infrared Survey Toward the W40 and Serpens South Region in Aquila Rift: A Comprehensive Catalog of Young Stellar Objects

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Active star forming regions are excellent laboratories for studying the origins and evolution of young stellar object (YSO) clustering. The W40 - Serpens South region is such a region, and we compile a super near-and-mid-infrared catalog of point sources in it, based on deep NIR observations of CFHT in combination with 2MASS, UKIDSS, and Spitzer catalogs. From this catalog, we identify 832 YSOs, and classify 15, 135, 647, and 35 of them to be the deeply embedded sources, Class I, Class II YSOs, and transition disk sources, respectively. In general, these YSOs are well correlated with the filamentary structures of molecular clouds, especially the deeply embedded sources and the Class I YSOs. The W40 central region is dominated by Class II YSOs, but in the Serpens South region, a half of the YSOs are Class I. We further generate a minimum spanning tree (MST) for all the YSOs. Around the W40 cluster, there are eight prominent MST branches that may trace vestigial molecular gas filaments that once fed gas to the central natal gas clump. Of the eight, only two now include detectable filamentary gas in Herschel data and corresponding Class I YSOs, while the other six are exclusively populated with Class II. Four MST branches overlap with the Serpens South main filament, and where they intersect, molecular gas "hubs" and more Class I YSOs are found. Our results imply a mixture of YSO distributions composed of both primordial and somewhat evolved YSOs in this star forming region.

  • The Cassiopeia Filament: A Blown Spur of the Local Arm

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We present wide-field and high-sensitivity CO(1-0) molecular line observations toward the Cassiopeia region, using the 13.7m millimeter telescope of the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO). The CO observations reveal a large-scale highly filamentary molecular cloud within the Galactic region of 132\fdg0\,$\geq$\,$l$\,$\geq$\,122\fdg0 and -1\fdg0\,$\leq$\,$b$\,$\leq$\,3\fdg0 and the velocity range from approximately +1 to +4 km/s. The measured length of the large-scale filament, referred to as the Cassiopeia Filament, is about 390 pc. The observed properties of the Cassiopeia Filament, such as length, column density, and velocity gradient, are consistent with those synthetic large-scale filaments in the inter-arm regions. Based on its observed properties and location on the Galactic plane, we suggest that the Cassiopeia Filament is a spur of the Local arm, which is formed due to the galactic shear. The western end of the Cassiopeia Filament shows a giant arc-like molecular gas shell, which is extending in the velocity range from roughly -1 to +7 km/s. Finger-like structures, with systematic velocity gradients, are detected in the shell. The CO kinematics suggest that the large shell is expanding at a velocity of ~6.5 km/s. Both the shell and finger-like structures outline a giant bubble with a radius of ~16 pc, which is likely produced by stellar wind from the progenitor star of a supernova remnant. The observed spectral linewidths suggest that the whole Cassiopeia Filament was quiescent initially until its west part was blown by stellar wind and became supersonically turbulent.

  • Distances to nearby molecular clouds traced by young stars

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: I present a catalog of distances to 63 molecular clouds located within ~2.5 kpc of the Sun. The cloud distances are derived based on utilizing the Gaia DR3 parallaxes of the young stellar objects (YSOs). By identifying AllWISE YSO candidates (YSOCs) with infrared excesses and combining them with published YSOC catalogs, I compile an all-sky YSOC sample that is devoid of a significant proportion of contaminants. Using Gaia DR3 astrometric measurements, I associate over 3000 YSOCs with 63 local clouds and obtain the average distance to each cloud by fitting the YSOC parallax distribution within the cloud. I find good agreements with typical scatter of <10% between my new cloud distances and previous distance estimates. Unlike cloud distances obtained using stellar extinction, my catalog provides distances to the relatively dense areas of local clouds, which makes them more appropriate references for investigating the physical properties of nearby dense regions.

  • Dust extinction map of the Galactic plane based on the VVV survey data

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Dust extinction is one of the most reliable tracers of the gas distribution in the Milky Way. The near-infrared (NIR) Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey enables extinction mapping based on stellar photometry over a large area in the Galactic plane. We devise a novel extinction mapping approach, XPNICER, by bringing together VVV photometric catalogs, stellar parameter data from StarHorse catalogs, and previously published Xpercentile and PNICER extinction mapping techniques. We apply the approach to the VVV survey area, resulting in an extinction map that covers the Galactic disk between 295 and 350 degrees at longitude and -2 to 2 degrees at latitude, and the Galactic bulge between -10 and 5 degrees at latitude. The map has 30 arcseconds spatial resolution and it traces extinctions typically up to about 10-20 mag of visual extinction and maximally up to Av~30 mag. We compare our map to previous dust based maps, concluding that it provides a high-fidelity extinction-based map, especially in its ability to recover both the diffuse dust component of the Galaxy and moderately extincted giant molecular cloud regions. The map is especially useful as independent, extinction-based data on the Galactic dust distribution and applicable for a wide range of studies from individual molecular clouds to the studies of the Galactic stellar populations.