Excitation Of CO Research Articles

High-J CO emission spatial distribution and excitation in the Orion Bar

Context. With Herschel, we can for the first time observe a wealth of high-J CO lines in the interstellar medium with a high angular resolution. These lines are specifically useful for tracing the warm and dense gas and are therefore very appropriate for a study of strongly irradiated dense photodissocation regions (PDRs). Aims. We characterize the morphology of CO J = 19–18 emission and study the high-J CO excitation in a highly UV-irradiated prototypical PDR, the Orion Bar. Methods. We used fully sampled maps of CO J = 19–18 emission with the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) on board the Herschel Space Observatory over an area of ~110′′ × 110′′ with an angular resolution of 9′′. We studied the morphology of this high-J CO line in the Orion Bar and in the region in front and behind the Bar, and compared it with lower-J lines of CO from J = 5–4 to J = 13–12 and 13CO from J = 5–4 to J = 11–10 emission observed with the Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE). In addition, we compared the high-J CO to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission and vibrationally excited H2. We used the CO and 13CO observations and the RADEX model to derive the physical conditions in the warm molecular gas layers. Results. The CO J = 19–18 line is detected unambiguously everywhere in the observed region, in the Bar, and in front and behind of it. In the Bar, the most striking features are several knots of enhanced emission that probably result from column and/or volume density enhancements. The corresponding structures are most likely even smaller than what PACS is able to resolve. The high-J CO line mostly arises from the warm edge of the Orion Bar PDR, while the lower-J lines arise from a colder region farther inside the molecular cloud. Even if it is slightly shifted farther into the PDR, the high-J CO emission peaks are very close to the H/H2 dissociation front, as traced by the peaks of H2 vibrational emission. Our results also suggest that the high-J CO emitting gas is mainly excited by photoelectric heating. The CO J = 19–18/J = 12–11 line intensity ratio peaks in front of the CO J = 19–18 emission between the dissociation and ionization fronts, where the PAH emission also peak. A warm or hot molecular gas could thus be present in the atomic region where the intense UV radiation is mostly unshielded. In agreement with recent ALMA detections, low column densities of hot molecular gas seem to exist between the ionization and dissociation fronts. As found in other studies, the best fit with RADEX modeling for beam-averaged physical conditions is for a density of 106 cm−3 and a high thermal pressure (P∕k = nH × T) of ~1–2 × 108 K cm−3. Conclusions. The high-J CO emission is concentrated close to the dissociation front in the Orion Bar. Hot CO may also lie in the atomic PDR between the ionization and dissociation fronts, which is consistent with the dynamical and photoevaporation effects.

Non-equilibrium excitation of CO2 in an atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet

The energy efficient excitation of CO2 in atmospheric pressure plasmas may be a method to generate solar fuels from renewable energies. This energy efficiency can be very high, if only specific states of the molecules in the plasma are populated creating a strong non-equilibrium. This requires a specific design of the plasma source, method of plasma excitation and choice of gases and admixtures. In this paper, non-equilibrium excitation and dissociation of CO2 in an atmospheric pressure helium RF plasma jet is analysed for varying absorbed plasma power and admixture levels of CO2. The concentrations of CO2 and of CO, as well as the vibrational and rotational temperatures of the possible degrees of freedom of the molecules are evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The molecular rotational vibrational spectra are modelled based on Maxwell–Boltzmann state populations using individual temperatures for each degree of freedom. A strong non-equilibrium excitation of CO2 and CO has been found. Whereas the rotational temperatures are 400 K or below, the vibrational temperature for CO reaches values up to 1600 K and that of the asymmetric vibration of CO2 of 700 K. The dependence of these excitation temperatures on plasma power and admixture level is rather weak. The mass balance, the energy and conversion efficiency are consistent with a very simple chemistry model that is dominated by CO2 dissociation via Penning collisions with helium metastables. A conversion efficiency up to 30% and an energy efficiency up to 10% is observed in the parameter range of the experiment.

The Structure of the Inner Circumstellar Shell in Miras

AbstractWe have measured CO line profiles in a time series of 42 high-resolution 1.6 − 2.5 μm spectra of R Cas. The low-excitation CO first overtone lines have a contribution from a ∼1000 K region. We show that this region undergoes a periodic changes on time scales many times longer than the photospheric pulsation. Comparison with interferometry and models suggests that the ∼1000 K region is at ∼2 R* and cospatial with the region of SiO masers and grain condensation. The CO lines are entirely in absorption requiring formation in a layer thin compared to the stellar diameter. The CO excitation temperature has been measured as low as 600 K suggesting that grains with a variety of compositions condense at ∼2 R*.

The Discovery of a New Massive Molecular Gas Component Associated with the Submillimeter Galaxy SMM J02399-0136

Abstract We present CO(1–0), CO(3–2), and CO(7–6) observations using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) of the z = 2.8 submillimeter galaxy SMM J02399−0136. This was the first submillimeter-selected galaxy discovered and remains an archetype of the class, comprising a merger of several massive and active components, including a quasar-luminosity AGN and a highly obscured, gas-rich starburst spread over a ∼25 kpc extent. The GBT CO(1–0) line profile is comprised of two distinct velocity components separated by about 600 km s−1 and suggests the presence of a new component of molecular gas that had not been previously identified. The CO(3–2) observations with ALMA show that this new component, designated W1, is associated with a large extended structure stretching 13 kpc westward from the AGN. W1 is not detected in the ALMA CO(7–6) data, implying that this gas has much lower CO excitation than the central starburst regions, which are bright in CO(7–6). The molecular gas mass of W1 is about 30% of the total molecular gas mass in the system, depending on the CO-to-H2 conversion factor. W1 is arguably a merger remnant; alternatively, it could be a massive molecular outflow associated with the AGN, or perhaps inflowing metal-enriched molecular gas fueling the ongoing activity.

The Interstellar Medium Properties of Heavily Reddened Quasars & Companions at z ∼ 2.5 with ALMA & JVLA

We study the interstellar medium (ISM) properties of three heavily reddened quasars at $z\sim2.5$ as well as three millimetre-bright companion galaxies near these quasars. New JVLA and ALMA observations constrain the CO(1-0), CO(7-6) and [CI]$^3$P$_2-^3$P$_1$ line emission as well as the far infrared to radio continuum. The gas excitation and physical properties of the ISM are constrained by comparing our observations to photo-dissociation region (PDR) models. The ISM in our high-redshift quasars is composed of very high-density, high-temperature gas which is already highly enriched in elements like carbon. One of our quasar hosts is shown to be a close-separation ($<$2 arcsec) major merger with different line emission properties in the millimeter-bright galaxy and quasar components. Low angular resolution observations of high-redshift quasars used to assess quasar excitation properties should therefore be interpreted with caution as they could potentially be averaging over multiple components with different ISM conditions. Our quasars and their companion galaxies show a range of CO excitation properties spanning the full extent from starburst-like to quasar-like spectral line energy distributions. We compare gas masses based on CO, CI and dust emission, and find that these can disagree when standard assumptions are made regarding the values of $\alpha_{\rm{CO}}$, the gas-to-dust ratio and the atomic carbon abundances. We conclude that the ISM properties of our quasars and their companion galaxies are diverse and likely vary spatially across the full extent of these complex, merging systems.

The XCO Conversion Factor from Galactic Multiphase ISM Simulations

Abstract line emission is a widely used observational tracer of molecular gas, rendering essential the X CO factor, which is applied to convert CO luminosity to mass. We use numerical simulations to study how X CO depends on numerical resolution, non-steady-state chemistry, physical environment, and observational beam size. Our study employs 3D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of galactic disks with solar neighborhood conditions, where star formation and the three-phase interstellar medium (ISM) are self-consistently regulated by gravity and stellar feedback. Synthetic CO maps are obtained by postprocessing the MHD simulations with chemistry and radiation transfer. We find that CO is only an approximate tracer of . On parsec scales, W CO is more fundamentally a measure of mass-weighted volume density, rather than column density. Nevertheless, , which is consistent with observations and insensitive to the evolutionary ISM state or radiation field strength if steady-state chemistry is assumed. Due to non-steady-state chemistry, younger molecular clouds have slightly lower and flatter profiles of X CO versus extinction than older ones. The -dark fraction is 26%–79%, anticorrelated with the average extinction. As the observational beam size increases from 1 to 100 pc, increases by a factor of ∼2. Under solar neighborhood conditions, in molecular clouds is converged at a numerical resolution of 2 pc. However, the total CO abundance and luminosity are not converged even at the numerical resolution of 1 pc. Our simulations successfully reproduce the observed variations of X CO on parsec scales, as well as the dependence of X CO on extinction and the CO excitation temperature.

Brillouin Light Scattering from Magnetic Excitations in Superparamagnetic and Ferromagnetic Co–Al–O Granular Films

A systematic study of Brillouin light scattering (BLS) from superparamagnetic (SPM) and ferromagnetic (FM) Co–Al–O granular films was performed under magnetic fields of up to 4.6 kOe in the standard backscattering geometry at room temperature. The SPM and FM boundary, defined as the Co composition at which the exchange field vanishes, was found to be located at xC(Co) = 59.3 ± 1.3 at. %. From FM films we observed a pair of bulk spin-wave peaks on both the positive- and negative-frequency sides and a surface localized Damon–Eshbach peak only on the positive-frequency side under the present scattering conditions. From SPM films, a pair of broader but propagative excitation peaks with asymmetric intensity were observed on both frequency sides in a spectrum. We performed a numerical analysis of the BLS spectrum by employing the theory developed by Camley and Mills (CM) while retaining dipole and exchange couplings for FM films and only dipole coupling for SPM films. The CM theory successfully reproduced the o...

Molecular outflow and feedback in the obscured quasar XID2028 revealed by ALMA

We imaged, with ALMA and ARGOS/LUCI, the molecular gas and dust and stellar continuum in XID2028, which is an obscured quasi-stellar object (QSO) at z = 1.593, where the presence of a massive outflow in the ionised gas component traced by the [OIII]5007 emission has been resolved up to 10 kpc. This target represents a unique test case to study QSO feedback in action at the peak epoch of AGN-galaxy co-evolution. The QSO was detected in the CO(5 − 4) transition and in the 1.3 mm continuum at ~30 and ~20σ significance, respectively; both emissions are confined in the central (&lt;2 kpc) radius area. Our analysis suggests the presence of a fast rotating molecular disc (v ~ 400 km s−1) on very compact scales well inside the galaxy extent seen in the rest-frame optical light (~10 kpc, as inferred from the LUCI data). Adding available measurements in additional two CO transitions, CO(2 − 1) and CO(3 − 2), we could derive a total gas mass of ~1010 M⊙, thanks to a critical assessment of CO excitation and the comparison with the Rayleigh–Jeans continuum estimate. This translates into a very low gas fraction (&lt;5%) and depletion timescales of 40–75 Myr, reinforcing the result of atypical gas consumption conditions in XID2028, possibly because of feedback effects on the host galaxy. Finally, we also detect the presence of high velocity CO gas at ~5σ, which we interpret as a signature of galaxy-scale molecular outflow that is spatially coincident with the ionised gas outflow. XID2028 therefore represents a unique case in which the measurement of total outflowing mass, of ~500–800 M⊙ yr−1 including the molecular and atomic components in both the ionised and neutral phases, was attempted for a high-z QSO.

Molecular Reconnaissance of the β Pictoris Gas Disk with the SMA: A Low HCN/(CO+CO2) Outgassing Ratio and Predictions for Future Surveys

Abstract The exocometary origin of CO gas has been confirmed in several extrasolar Kuiper belts, with CO ice abundances consistent with solar system comets. We here present a molecular survey of the β Pictoris belt with the Submillimeter Array (SMA), reporting upper limits for CN, HCN, HCO+, N2H+, and H2CO, as well as for H2S, CH3OH, SiO, and DCN from archival ALMA data. Nondetections can be attributed to rapid molecular photodissociation due to the A-star’s strong UV flux. CN is the longest lasting and most easily detectable molecule after CO in this environment. We update our nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium excitation model to include UV fluorescence, finding it plays a key role in CO and CN excitation, and we use it to turn the SMA CN/CO flux ratio constraint into an upper limit of % on the HCN/(CO+CO2) ratio of outgassing rates. This value is consistent with, but at the low end of, the broad range observed in solar system comets. If sublimation dominates outgassing, then this low value may be caused by decreased outgassing for the less volatile molecule HCN compared to CO. If instead UV photodesorption or collisional vaporization of unbound grains dominates outgassing, then this low ratio of rates would imply a low ice abundance ratio, which would in turn indicate a variation in cometary cyanide abundances across planetary systems. To conclude, we make predictions for future molecular surveys and show that CN and HCN should be readily detectable with ALMA around β Pictoris for solar-system-like exocometary compositions.

Time evolution of vibrational temperatures in a CO2 glow discharge measured with infrared absorption spectroscopy

Vibrational temperatures of CO2 are studied in a pulsed glow discharge by means of time-resolved in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, with a 10 μs temporal resolution. A method to analyze the infrared transmittance through vibrationally excited CO2 is presented and validated on a previously published CO2 spectrum, showing good agreement between fit and data. The discharge under study is pulsed with a typical duty cycle of 5–10 ms on–off, at 50 mA and 6.7 mbar. A rapid increase of the temperature of the asymmetric stretch vibration (T3) is observed at the start of the pulse, reaching 1050 K, which is an elevation of 550 K above the rotational temperature () of 500 K. After the plasma pulse, the characteristic relaxation time of T3 to strongly depends on the rotational temperature. By adjusting the duty cycle, the rotational temperature directly after the discharge is varied from 530 to 860 K, resulting in relaxation times between 0.4 and 0.1 ms. Equivalently, as the gas heats up during the plasma pulse, the elevation of T3 above decreases strongly.

ALMA Resolves the Molecular Gas in a Young Low-metallicity Starburst Galaxy at z = 1.7

Abstract We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of CO lines and dust continuum emission of the source RCSGA 032727–132609, a young z = 1.7 low-metallicity starburst galaxy. The CO(3–2) and CO(6–5) lines and continuum at rest-frame 450 μm are detected and show a resolved structure in the image plane. We use the corresponding lensing model to obtain a source plane reconstruction of the detected emissions revealing an intrinsic flux density of μJy and intrinsic CO luminosities and . We used the resolved properties in the source plane to obtain molecular gas and star formation rate surface densities of and , respectively. The intrinsic properties of RCSGA 032727–132609 show an enhanced star formation activity compared to local spiral galaxies with similar molecular gas densities, supporting the ongoing merger–starburst phase scenario. RCSGA 032727–132609 also appears to be a low-density starburst galaxy similar to local blue compact dwarf galaxies, which have been suggested as local analogs to high-redshift low-metallicity starburst systems. Finally, the CO excitation level in the galaxy is consistent with having the peak at , with a higher excitation concentrated in the star-forming clumps.

Molecular gas properties of a lensed star-forming galaxy at z ~ 3.6: a case study

We report on the galaxy MACSJ0032-arc at z=3.6314 discovered during the Herschel Lensing snapshot Survey of massive galaxy clusters, and strongly lensed by the cluster MACSJ0032.1+1808. The successful detections of its rest-frame UV, optical, FIR, millimeter, and radio continua, and of its CO emission enable us to characterize, for the first time at such a high redshift, the stellar, dust, and molecular gas properties of a compact star-forming galaxy with a size smaller than 2.5 kpc, a fairly low stellar mass of 4.8x10^9 Msun, and a moderate IR luminosity of 4.8x10^11 Lsun. We find that the bulk of the molecular gas mass and star formation seems to be spatially decoupled from the rest-frame UV emission. About 90% of the total star formation rate is undetected at rest-frame UV wavelengths because of severe obscuration by dust, but is seen through the thermal FIR dust emission and the radio synchrotron radiation. The observed CO(4-3) and CO(6-5) lines demonstrate that high-J transitions, at least up to J=6, remain excited in this galaxy, whose CO spectral line energy distribution resembles that of high-redshift submm galaxies, even though the IR luminosity of MACSJ0032-arc is ten times lower. This high CO excitation is possibly due to the compactness of the galaxy. We find evidence that this high CO excitation has to be considered in the balance when estimating the CO-to-H2 conversion factor. The inferred depletion time of the molecular gas in MACSJ0032-arc supports the decrease in the gas depletion timescale of galaxies with redshift, although to a lesser degree than predicted by galaxy evolution models. Instead, the measured molecular gas fraction as high as 60-79% in MACSJ0032-arc favors the continued increase in the gas fraction of galaxies with redshift as expected, despite the plateau observed between z~1.5 and z~2.5.

Origin of warm and hot gas emission from low-mass protostars: Herschel-HIFI observations of CO J = 16–15

(Abridged) Through spectrally unresolved observations of high-J CO transitions, Herschel-PACS has revealed large reservoirs of warm (300 K) and hot (700 K) molecular gas around low-mass protostars. We aim to shed light on the excitation and origin of the CO ladder observed toward protostars, and on the water abundance in different physical components using spectrally resolved Herschel-HIFI data. Observations are presented of the highly excited CO line J=16-15 with Herschel-HIFI toward 24 low-mass protostellar objects. The spectrally resolved profiles show two distinct velocity components: a broad component with an average FWHM of 20 km/s, and a narrower component with a FWHM of 5 km/s that is often offset from the source velocity. The average rotational temperature over the entire profile, as measured from comparison between CO J=16-15 and 10-9 emission, is ~300 K. A radiative-transfer analysis shows that the average H2O/CO column-density ratio is ~0.02, suggesting a total H2O abundance of ~2x10^-6. Two distinct velocity profiles observed in the HIFI line profiles suggest that the CO ladder observed with PACS consists of two excitation components. The warm component (300 K) is associated with the broad HIFI component, and the hot component (700 K) is associated with the offset HIFI component. The former originates in either outflow cavity shocks or the disk wind, and the latter in irradiated shocks. The ubiquity of the warm and hot CO components suggests that fundamental mechanisms govern the excitation of these components; we hypothesize that the warm component arises when H2 stops being the dominant coolant. In this scenario, the hot component arises in cooling molecular H2-poor gas just prior to the onset of H2 formation. High spectral resolution observations of highly excited CO transitions uniquely shed light on the origin of warm and hot gas in low-mass protostellar objects.

Different dust and gas radial extents in protoplanetary disks: consistent models of grain growth and CO emission

ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks confirm earlier indications that there is a clear difference between the dust and gas radial extents. The origin of this difference is still debated, with both radial drift of the dust and optical depth effects suggested in the literature. In this work, the feedback of realistic dust particle distributions onto the gas chemistry and molecular emissivity is investigated, with a particular focus on CO isotopologues. The radial dust grain size distribution is determined using dust evolution models that include growth, fragmentation and radial drift. A new version of the code DALI is used to take into account how dust surface area and density influence the disk thermal structure, molecular abundances and excitation. The difference of dust and gas radial sizes is largely due to differences in the optical depth of CO lines and millimeter continuum, without the need to invoke radial drift. The effect of radial drift is primarily visible in the sharp outer edge of the continuum intensity profile. The gas outer radius probed by $^{12}$CO emission can easily differ by a factor of $\sim 2$ between the models for a turbulent $\alpha$ ranging between typical values. Grain growth and settling concur in thermally decoupling the gas and dust components, due to the low collision rate with large grains. As a result, the gas can be much colder than the dust at intermediate heights, reducing the CO excitation and emission, especially for low turbulence values. Also, due to disk mid-plane shadowing, a second CO thermal desorption (rather than photodesorption) front can occur in the warmer outer mid-plane disk. The models are compared to ALMA observations of HD 163296 as a test case. In order to reproduce the observed CO snowline of the system, a binding energy for CO typical of ice mixtures needs to be used rather than the lower pure CO value.

Special issue: Plasma Conversion

With growing concern of energy and environmental issues, the combination of plasma and heterogeneous catalysts receives special attention in greenhouse gas conversion, nitrogen fixation and hydrocarbon chemistry. Plasma gas conversion driven by renewable electricity is particularly important for the electrification of the chemical industry, which is currently dominated by water electrolysis, producing CO2-free renewable hydrogen. Meanwhile, electrochemical conversion of CO2, CH4 and other gaseous materials has yet to be successful because the material and energy conversion efficiency as well as productivity of the electrochemical processes greatly depend on the electrolyte material in terms of the solubility of gaseous materials and mass transport capability, which needs to be dramatically improved. As for fuel processing, the majority of reactions are categorized as uphill (endothermic) reactions where energy input is indispensable due to the conservation of energy. Ideally, such energy should be supplied by low temperature heat while plasma-generated reactive species promote initiation reactions. One promising approach is the use of vibrationally excited molecules which enhance the probability of chemisorption onto the catalyst surfaces. The role of vibrational species has been well investigated through molecular beam studies. However, the way to create such species has not been studied yet. Non-thermal plasma creates an oversaturated amount of vibrational species even at low temperature, showing great promises towards low temperature plasma catalysis of stable molecules. Furthermore, vibrational species uniquely create reaction pathways in homogeneous reactions via stepwise energy transfer gradually populating higher vibrational levels which eventually leads to the dissociation of stable molecules such as CO2. The special issue entitled “Plasma Conversion” consists of three review articles and 11 original research papers, focusing on the state-of-the-art plasma technology that is used for enhancing homogeneous/heterogeneous plasma catalytic conversion of greenhouse gases, nitrogen fixation and hydrocarbon chemistry. Review articles include the new catalyst synthesis approach using nonthermal plasma processes and the potential application of such unique catalysts is introduced (Rahimpour et al.) [1]. CH4 and CO2 reforming is one of the hot topics in plasma catalysis and research has been conducted mostly by experimental approaches. Bogaerts et al. discuss CH4 reforming and CO2 splitting and various mixtures from a modeling perspective, paying special attention to plasma chemistry and the role of plasma-generated vibrationally excited molecules [2]. Reactions involving vibrationally excited species need to be explored further and a numerical approach is truly beneficial providing insightful information towards the reaction mechanisms. Liquefaction of CH4 is to produce higher hydrocarbons via CH4 polymerization at ambient conditions (not for cryogenic methane condensation) [3]. Carbon containing liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesels produced via renewable electricity improve transportability and storage of renewable energy. Two research papers are related to heterogeneous plasma catalysis of CH4 and CO2 where nonthermal plasma is combined with Ni-supported reforming catalysts [4,5]. Research was conducted experimentally and plasma induced synergistic effects are highlighted. Van Rooij and Bongers discuss the homogeneous CO2 conversion with warm discharge, or low pressure microwave plasma [6,7]. Special emphasis on the vibrationally excited CO2 chemistry and CO2 dissociation by the latter mechanism is discussed. A novel heterogeneous plasma catalysis approach of CO2, where nonthermal plasma is combined with an oxygen permeating solid electrolyte membrane, is presented by Mori [8]. O2 is extracted directly from the plasma reaction field, and thus the CO2 conversion and energy efficiency were greatly improved. Moreover, CO2 microwave plasma diagnostics by optical emission spectroscopy [9], diagnostics plasma-catalyst interfacial phenomena [10], and atomistic simulations of plasma catalytic interactions [11] are included in the collection of this special issue. Three other papers focus on ammonia synthesis with atmospheric pressure plasma combined with heterogeneous catalysts [12–14]. Finally we would like to thank all contributors to this special issue and the editorial staff of Plasma Processes and Polymers for their great support. We hope that this issue contributes to exploring the new frontiers of plasma chemistry, and also to promoting the interdisciplinary interaction among the plasma science, chemical catalysis and surface science community, as well as other science specialists.

Excitation of the lowest CO2 vibrational states by electrons in hypersonic boundary layers

The state-to-state vibrational kinetics of a CO2/O2/CO/C/O/e− mixture in a hypersonic boundary layer under conditions compatible with the Mars re-entry is studied. The model adopted treats three CO2 modes (the two degenerated bending modes are approximated as a unique one) as not independent ones. Vibrational-translational transitions in the bending mode, inter-mode exchanges within CO2 molecule and between molecules of different chemical species as well as dissociation-recombination reactions are considered. Attention is paid to the electron-CO2 collisions that cause transitions from the ground vibrational state, CO2(0,0,0), to the first excited ones, CO2(1,0,0), CO2(0,1,0) and CO2(0,0,1). The corresponding processes rate coefficients are obtained starting from the electron energy distribution function, calculated either as an equilibrium Boltzmann distribution at the local temperature or by solving the Boltzmann equation.Results obtained either neglecting or including in the kinetic scheme the electron-CO2 collisions are compared and explained by analysing the rate coefficients of the electron-CO2 collisions.

Temperature dependence of the photodissociation of CO2 from high vibrational levels: 205-230 nm imaging studies of CO(X1Σ+) and O(3P, 1D) products.

The 205-230 nm photodissociation of vibrationally excited CO2 at temperatures up to 1800 K was studied using Resonance Enhanced Multiphoton Ionization (REMPI) and time-sliced Velocity Map Imaging (VMI). CO2 molecules seeded in He were heated in an SiC tube attached to a pulsed valve and supersonically expanded to create a molecular beam of rotationally cooled but vibrationally hot CO2. Photodissociation was observed from vibrationally excited CO2 with internal energies up to about 20 000 cm-1, and CO(X1Σ+), O(3P), and O(1D) products were detected by REMPI. The large enhancement in the absorption cross section with increasing CO2 vibrational excitation made this investigation feasible. The internal energies of heated CO2 molecules that absorbed 230 nm radiation were estimated from the kinetic energy release (KER) distributions of CO(X1Σ+) products in v″ = 0. At 230 nm, CO2 needs to have at least 4000 cm-1 of rovibrational energy to absorb the UV radiation and produce CO(X1Σ+) + O(3P). CO2 internal energies in excess of 16 000 cm-1 were confirmed by observing O(1D) products. It is likely that initial absorption from levels with high bending excitation accesses both the A1B2 and B1A2 states, explaining the nearly isotropic angular distributions of the products. CO(X1Σ+) product internal energies were estimated from REMPI spectroscopy, and the KER distributions of the CO(X1Σ+), O(3P), and O(1D) products were obtained by VMI. The CO product internal energy distributions change with increasing CO2 temperature, suggesting that more than one dynamical pathway is involved when the internal energy of CO2 (and the corresponding available energy) increases. The KER distributions of O(1D) and O(3P) show broad internal energy distributions in the CO(X1Σ+) cofragment, extending up to the maximum allowed by energy but peaking at low KER values. Although not all the observations can be explained at this time, with the aid of available theoretical studies of CO2 VUV photodissociation and O + CO recombination, it is proposed that following UV absorption, the two lowest lying triplet states, a3B2 and b3A2, and the ground electronic state are involved in the dynamical pathways that lead to product formation.

Spatial distribution of FIR rotationally excited CH+ and OH emission lines in the Orion Bar PDR.

The methylidyne cation (CH+) and hydroxyl (OH) are key molecules in the warm interstellar chemistry, but their formation and excitation mechanisms are not well understood. Their abundance and excitation are predicted to be enhanced by the presence of vibrationally excited H2 or hot gas (~500-1000 K) in photodissociation regions with high incident FUV radiation field. The excitation may also originate in dense gas (> 105 cm-3) followed by nonreactive collisions with H2, H, and electrons. Previous observations of the Orion Bar suggest that the rotationally excited CH+ and OH correlate with the excited CO, a tracer of dense and warm gas, and formation pumping contributes to CH+ excitation. Our goal is to examine the spatial distribution of the rotationally excited CH+ and OH emission lines in the Orion Bar in order to establish their physical origin and main formation and excitation mechanisms. We present spatially sampled maps of the CH+ J=3-2 transition at 119.8 µm and the OH Λ-doublet at 84 µm in the Orion Bar over an area of 110″×110″ with Herschel (PACS). We compare the spatial distribution of these molecules with those of their chemical precursors, C+, O and H2, and tracers of warm and dense gas (high-J CO). We assess the spatial variation of CH+ J=2-1 velocity-resolved line profile at 1669 GHz with Herschel HIFI spectrometer observations. The OH and especially CH+ lines correlate well with the high-J CO emission and delineate the warm and dense molecular region at the edge of the Bar. While notably similar, the differences in the CH+ and OH morphologies indicate that CH+ formation and excitation are strongly related to the observed vibrationally excited H2. This, together with the observed broad CH+ line widths, indicates that formation pumping contributes to the excitation of this reactive molecular ion. Interestingly, the peak of the rotationally excited OH 84 µm emission coincides with a bright young object, proplyd 244-440, which shows that OH can be an excellent tracer of UV-irradiated dense gas. The spatial distribution of CH+ and OH revealed in our maps is consistent with previous modeling studies. Both formation pumping and nonreactive collisions in a UV-irradiated dense gas are important CH+ J=3-2 excitation processes. The excitation of the OH Λ-doublet at 84 µm is mainly sensitive to the temperature and density.

Spatially Resolved CO SLED of the Luminous Merger Remnant NGC 1614 with ALMA

Abstract We present high-resolution (1.″0) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of CO (1–0) and CO (2–1) rotational transitions toward the nearby IR-luminous merger NGC 1614 supplemented with ALMA archival data of CO (3–2) and CO (6–5) transitions. The CO (6–5) emission arises from the starburst ring (central 590 pc in radius), while the lower-J CO lines are distributed over the outer disk (∼3.3 kpc in radius). Radiative transfer and photon-dominated region (PDR) modeling reveals that the starburst ring has a single warmer gas component with more a intense far-ultraviolet radiation field ( cm−3, K, and ) relative to the outer disk ( cm−3, K, and ). A two-phase molecular interstellar medium with a warm and cold (&gt;70 and ∼19 K) component is also an applicable model for the starburst ring. A possible source for heating the warm gas component is mechanical heating due to stellar feedback rather than PDR. Furthermore, we find evidence for non-circular motions along the north–south optical bar in the lower-J CO images, suggesting a cold gas inflow. We suggest that star formation in the starburst ring is sustained by the bar-driven cold gas inflow and that starburst activities radiatively and mechanically power the CO excitation. The absence of a bright active galactic nucleus can be explained by a scenario where cold gas accumulating on the starburst ring is exhausted as the fuel for star formation or is launched as an outflow before being able to feed to the nucleus.

Comparative experimental and theoretical study of the rotational excitation of CO by collision with ortho- and para-D2 molecules.

A joint crossed beam and quantum mechanical investigation of the rotationally inelastic collisions of CO with ortho- and para-D2 molecules is reported. A new 4D potential energy surface (PES) averaged over the ground vibrational states of D2 and CO is used to calculate the rovibrational bound states of the ortho-D2-CO complexes. Close coupling calculations are then performed in the rigid rotor approximation for ortho- and para-D2 colliding with CO for the experimentally investigated transition of CO (j = 0 → 1) and for collision energies ranging from 0.1 to 25 cm-1. The agreement between theory and experiment is found to be very good for both the bound state energies of the ortho-D2-CO complexes and for the inelastic scattering cross-sections showing that the free rotation of two rigid rotors is a very good model of the D2-CO system in this low collision energy domain.