Comparison of13CO line and far-infrared continuum emission as a diagnostic of dust and molecular gas physical conditions - III. Systematic effects and scientific implications

Abstract

Far-infrared continuum data from the COBE/DIRBE instrument were combined with Nagoya 4-m 13 CO J = 1 → 0 spectral line data to infer the multiparsec-scale physical conditions in the OrionA and B molecular clouds, using 140 � m/240 � m dust color temperatures and the 240 � m/ 13 CO J = 1 → 0 intensity ratios. In theory, the ratio of far-IR, submillimeter, or millimeter continuum to that of a 13 CO (or C 18 O) rotational line can place reliable upper limits on the temperature of the dust and molecular gas on multi-parsec scales; on such scales, both the line and continuum emission are optically thin, resulting in a continuum-to-line ratio that suffers no loss of temperature sensitivity in the high-temperature limit as occurs for ratios of CO rotational lines or ratios of continuum emission in different wavelength bands. Two-component models fit the Orion data best, where one has a fixedtemperature and the other has a spatially varying temperature. The former represents gas and dust towards the surface of the clouds that are heated primarily by a very large-scale (i.e. ∼ 1kpc) interstellar radiation field. The latter represents gas and dust at greater depths into the clouds and are shielded from this interstellar radiation field and heated by local stars. The inferred physical conditions are consistent with those determined from previously observed maps of 12 CO J = 1 → 0 and J = 2 → 1 that cover the entire OrionA and B molecular clouds. The models require that the dust-gas temperature difference is 0±2K. If this surprising result applies to much of the Galactic ISM, except in