分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Pre-stellar cores represent the initial conditions of star formation. Although these initial conditions in nearby low-mass star-forming regions have been investigated in detail, such initial conditions remain vastly unexplored for massive star-forming regions. We report the detection of a cluster of low-mass starless and pre-stellar core candidates in a massive star protocluster forming cloud, NGC6334S. With the ALMA observations at a $\sim$0.02 pc spatial resolution, we identified 17 low-mass starless core candidates that do not show any evidence of protostellar activity. These candidates present small velocity dispersions, high fractional abundances of NH$_{2}$D, high NH$_{3}$ deuterium fractionations, and are completely dark in the infrared wavelengths from 3.6 up to 70~$\mu$m. Turbulence is significantly dissipated and the gas kinematics are dominated by thermal motions toward these candidates. Nine out of the 17 cores are gravitationally bound, and therefore are identified as pre-stellar core candidates. The embedded cores of NGC6334S show a wide diversity in masses and evolutionary stages.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We report the first detection of radio recombination lines (RRLs) of ions heavier than helium. In a highly sensitive multi-band (12--50 GHz) line survey toward Orion KL with the TianMa 65-m Radio Telescope (TMRT), we successfully detected more than fifteen unblended $\alpha$ lines of RRLs of singly ionized species (XII) recombined from XIII. The Ka-band (35--50 GHz) spectrum also shows tentative signals of $\beta$ lines of ions. The detected lines can be successfully crossmatched with the the rest frequencies of RRLs of CII and/or OII. This finding greatly expands the connotation of ion RRLs, since before this work only two blended lines (105$\alpha$ and 121$\alpha$) of HeII had been reported. Our detected lines can be fitted simultaneously under assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). An abundance of CIII and OIII of 8.8$\times$10$^{-4}$ is obtained, avoiding the complexities of optical/infrared observations and the blending of RRLs of atoms. It is consistent with but approaches the upper bound of the value (10$^{-4}$--$10^{-3}$) estimated from optical/infrared observations. The effects of dielectronic recombination may contribute to enhancing the level populations even at large $n$. We expect future observations using radio interferometers could break the degeneracy between C and O, and help to reveal the ionization structure and dynamical evolution of various ionized regions.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We present one of the first Shanghai Tian Ma Radio Telescope (TMRT) K Band observations towards a sample of 26 infrared dark clouds (IRDCs). We observed the (1,1), (2,2), (3,3), and (4,4) transitions of NH$_{3}$ together with CCS (2$_{1}$-1$_{0}$) and HC$_{3}$N $J\,$=2-1, simultaneously. The survey dramatically increases the existing CCS-detected IRDC sample from 8 to 23, enabling a better statistical study of the ratios of carbon-chain molecules (CCM) to N-bearing molecules in IRDCs. With the newly developed hyperfine group ratio (HFGR) method of fitting NH$_{3}$ inversion lines, we found the gas temperature to be between 10 and 18 K. The column density ratios of CCS to NH$_{3}$ for most of the IRDCs are less than 10$^{-2}$, distinguishing IRDCs from low-mass star-forming regions. We carried out chemical evolution simulations based on a three-phase chemical model NAUTILUS. Our measurements of the column density ratios between CCM and NH$_{3}$ are consistent with chemical evolutionary ages of $\lesssim$10$^{5}$ yr in the models. Comparisons of the data and chemical models suggest that CCS, HC$_{3}$N, and NH$_{3}$ are sensitive to the chemical evolutionary stages of the sources.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We present sensitive observations of NH2D at 110.153599 GHz toward 50 Galactic massive star-forming regions with IRAM 30-m telescope. The NH2D transition is detected toward 36 objects, yielding a detection rate of 72%. Column densities of NH2D, HC3N and C18O for each source are derived by assuming local thermal equilibrium conditions with a fixed excitation temperature. The deuterium ratio of NH$_3$, defined as the abundance ratio of NH2D to NH3, for 19 sources is also obtained with the information of NH3 from the literature. The range of deuterium fractionation bends to be large in the late-stage star-forming regions in this work, with the value from 0.043 to 0.0006. The highest deuterium ratio of NH3 is 0.043 in G081.75+00.78 (DR21). We also find that the deuterium ratio of NH3 increases with the Galactocentric distances and decreases with the line width.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Peptide bonds, as the molecular bridges that connect amino acids, are crucial to the formation of proteins. Searches and studies of molecules with embedded peptide-like bonds are thus important for the understanding of protein formation in space. Here we report the first tentative detection of propionamide (C2H5CONH2), the largest peptide-like molecule detected in space toward Sagittarius B2(N1) at a position called N1E that is slightly offset from the continuum peak. A new laboratory measurements of the propionamide spectrum were carried out in the 9-461 GHz, which provide good opportunity to check directly for the transition frequencies of detected interstellar lines of propionamide. Our observing result indicates that propionamide emission comes from the warm, compact cores in Sagittarius B2, in which massive protostellars are forming. The column density of propionamide toward Sgr B2(N1E) was derived to be 1.5\times 10^{16} cm^-2, which is three fifths of that of acetamide, and one nineteenth of that of formamide. This detection suggests that large peptide-like molecules can form and survive during star-forming process and may form more complex molecules in the interstellar medium. The detection of propionamide bodes well for the presence of polypeptides, as well as other complex prebiotic molecules in the interstellar medium.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We have conducted a line survey towards Orion KL using the Q-band receiver of Tianma 65 m radio telescope (TMRT), covering 34.8--50 GHz with a velocity resolution between 0.79 km s$^{-1}$ and 0.55 km s$^{-1}$ respectively. The observations reach a sensitivity on the level of 1-8 mK, proving that the TMRT is sensitive for conducting deep line surveys. In total, 597 Gaussian features are extracted. Among them, 177 radio recombination lines (RRLs) are identified, including 126, 40 and 11 RRLs of hydrogen, helium and carbon, with a maximum $\Delta n$ of 16, 7, and 3, respectively. The carbon RRLs are confirmed to originate from photodissociation regions with a $V_{\rm LSR}\sim$9 km s$^{-1}$. In addition, 371 molecular transitions of 53 molecular species are identified. Twenty-one molecular species of this survey were not firmly detected in the Q band by Rizzo et al. (2017), including species such as H$_2$CS, HCOOH, C$_2$H$_5$OH, H$_2^{13}$CO, H$_2$CCO, CH$_3$CHO, CH$_2$OCH$_2$, HCN $v_2=1$, and CH$_3$OCHO $v_t=1$. In particular, the vibrationally excited states of ethyl cyanide (C$_2$H$_5$CN $v$13/$v$21) are for the first time firmly detected in the Q band. NH$_3$ (15,15) and (16,16) are identified, and they are so far the highest transitions of the NH$_3$ inversion lines detected towards Orion KL. All the identified lines can be reproduced by a radiative transfer model.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: The chemical differentiation of seven COMs in the extended region around Sgr B2 has been observed: CH$_2$OHCHO, CH$_3$OCHO, t-HCOOH, C$_2$H$_5$OH, and CH$_3$NH$_2$ were detected both in the extended region and near the hot cores Sgr B2(N) and Sgr B2(M), while CH$_3$OCH$_3$ and C$_2$H$_5$CN were only detected near the hot cores. The density and temperature in the extended region are relatively low. Different desorption mechanisms have been proposed to explain the observed COMs in cold regions but fail to explain the deficiency of CH$_3$OCH$_3$ and C$_2$H$_5$CN. We explored under what physical conditions the chemical simulations can fit the observations and explain the different spatial distribution of these species. We used the Monte Carlo method to perform a detailed parameter space study. We investigated how different mechanisms affect the results. All gas-grain chemical models based on static physics cannot fit the observations. The results based on evolving physical conditions can fit six COMs when $T\sim30-60$ K, but the best-fit temperature is still higher than the observed dust temperature of 20 K. The best agreement at $T\sim27$ K is achieved by considering a short-duration $\sim 10^2$ yr X-ray burst with $\zeta_{\mathrm{CR}}=1.3\times10^{-13}$ s$^{-1}$ when the temperature is 20 K. The reactive desorption is the key mechanism for producing these COMs and inducing the low abundances of CH$_3$OCH$_3$ and C$_2$H$_5$CN. The evolution of the extended region around Sgr~B2 may have begun with a cold, $T\le10$ K phase followed by a warm-up phase. When its temperature reached $T\sim20$ K, an X-ray flare from Sgr A* with a short duration of no more than 100 years was acquired, affecting strongly the Sgr B2 chemistry. The observed COMs retain their observed abundances only several hundred years after such a flare, which could imply that such short-term X-ray flares occur relatively often.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We present a study of narrow filaments toward a massive infrared dark cloud, NGC 6334S, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Thirteen gas filaments are identified using the H$^{13}$CO$^{+}$ line, while a single continuum filament is revealed by the continuum emission. The filaments present a compact radial distribution with a median filament width of $\sim$0.04 pc narrower than the previously proposed `quasi-universal' 0.1~pc filament width. The higher spatial resolution observations and higher-density gas tracer tend to identify even narrower and lower mass filaments. The filament widths are roughly twice the size of embedded cores. The gas filaments are largely supported by thermal motions. The nonthermal motions are predominantly subsonic and transonic in both identified gas filaments and embedded cores, which may imply that stars are likely born in environments of low turbulence. A fraction of embedded objects show a narrower velocity dispersion compared with their corresponding natal filaments, which may indicate that the turbulent dissipation is taking place in these embedded cores. The physical properties (mass, mass per unit length, gas kinematics, and width) of gas filaments are analogous to those of narrow filaments found in low- to high-mass star-forming regions. The more evolved sources are found to be farther away from the filaments, a situation that may have resulted from the relative motions between the YSOs and their natal filaments.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: HOCN and HNCO abundance ratio in molecular gas can tell us the information of their formation mechanism. We performed high-sensitivity mapping observations of HOCN, HNCO, and HNC$^{18}$O lines around Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) with IRAM 30m telescope at 3-mm wavelength. HNCO 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$ and HOCN 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$ are used to obtain the abundance ratio of HNCO to HOCN. The ratio of HNCO 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$ to HNC$^{18}$O 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$ is used to calculate the optical depth of HNCO 4$_{04}$-3$_{03}$. The abundance ratio of HOCN and HNCO is observed to range from 0.4% to 0.7% toward most positions, which agrees well with the gas-grain model. However, the relative abundance of HOCN is observed to be enhanced toward the direction of Sgr B2 (S), with HOCN to HNCO abundance ratio of $\sim$ 0.9%. The reason for that still needs further investigation.Based on the intensity ratio of HNCO and HNC$^{18}$O lines, we updated the isotopic ratio of $^{16}$O/$^{18}$O to be 296 $\pm$ 54 in Sgr B2.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We have identified 453 compact dense cores in 3 mm continuum emission maps in the ATOMS (ALMA Three-millimeter Observations of Massive Star-forming regions) survey, and compiled three catalogues of high-mass star forming cores. One catalogue, referred to as H/UC-HII catalogue, includes 89 cores that enshroud hyper/ultra compact (H/UC) HII regions as characterized by associated compact H40alpha emission. A second catalogue, referred to as pure s-cHMC, includes 32 candidate Hot Molecular Cores (HMCs) showing rich spectra (N>20lines) of complex organic molecules (COMs) but not associated with H/UC-HII regions. The third catalogue, referred to as pure w-cHMC, includes 58 candidate HMCs with relatively low levels of COM richness and not associated with H/UC-HII regions. These three catalogues of dense cores provide an important foundation for future studies of the early stages of high-mass star formation across the Milky Way. We also find that nearly half of H/UC-HII cores are candidate HMCs. From the number counts of COM-containing and H/UC-HII cores, we suggest that the duration of high-mass protostellar cores showing chemically rich features is at least comparable to the lifetime of H/UC-HII regions. For cores in the H/UC-HII catalogue, the width of the H40alpha line increases as the core size decreases, suggesting that the non-thermal dynamical and/or pressure line-broadening mechanisms dominate on the smaller scales of the H/UC-HII cores.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We report the first detection of radio recombination lines (RRLs) of ions heavier than helium. In a highly sensitive multi-band (12--50 GHz) line survey toward Orion KL with the TianMa 65-m Radio Telescope (TMRT), we successfully detected more than fifteen unblended $\alpha$ lines of RRLs of singly ionized species (XII) recombined from XIII. The Ka-band (35--50 GHz) spectrum also shows tentative signals of $\beta$ lines of ions. The detected lines can be successfully crossmatched with the the rest frequencies of RRLs of CII and/or OII. This finding greatly expands the connotation of ion RRLs, since before this work only two blended lines (105$\alpha$ and 121$\alpha$) of HeII had been reported. Our detected lines can be fitted simultaneously under assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). An abundance of CIII and OIII of 8.8$\times$10$^{-4}$ is obtained, avoiding the complexities of optical/infrared observations and the blending of RRLs of atoms. It is consistent with but approaches the upper bound of the value (10$^{-4}$--$10^{-3}$) estimated from optical/infrared observations. The effects of dielectronic recombination may contribute to enhancing the level populations even at large $n$. We expect future observations using radio interferometers could break the degeneracy between C and O, and help to reveal the ionization structure and dynamical evolution of various ionized regions.