ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer Research Articles

Silicates in D-Type Symbiotic Stars: AnInfrared Space ObservatoryOverview

We investigate the IR spectral features of a sample of D-type symbiotic stars in order to constrain the emitting properties of coupled dust-gas particles across the whole system. In particular, by analyzing unexploited ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer data, deriving the basic observational parameters of dust bands, and comparing them with respect to those observed in other astronomical sources, we try to highlight the effect of environment on grain chemistry and physics. We find strong amorphous silicate emission bands at ~10 and ~18 ?m in a large fraction of the sample. The analysis of the ~10 ?m band, along with a direct comparison with several astronomical sources, reveals that silicate dust in symbiotic stars shows features between the characteristic circumstellar environments and the interstellar medium. This indicates an increasing reprocessing of grains in relation to specific symbiotic behavior of the objects. A correlation between the central wavelengths of the ~10 and ~18 ?m dust bands is found. By modeling IR spectral lines we also investigate dust grain conditions within the shocked nebulae. Both the unusual depletion values and the high sputtering efficiency might be explained by the formation of SiO molecules, which are known to be a very reliable shock tracer. We conclude that the signature of dust chemical disturbance due to symbiotic activity should be looked for in the outer, circumbinary, expanding shells where the environmental conditions for grain processing might be achieved. Symbiotic stars are thus attractive targets for new mid-IR and millimeter observations.

A mid-infrared spectroscopic survey of starburst galaxies: Excitation and abundances

We present spectroscopy of MIR emission lines in twelve starburst regions, located in eleven starburst galaxies, for which a significant number of lines between 2.38 and 45micron were observed with the ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer, with the intention of providing a reference resource for MIR spectra of starburst galaxies. The observation apertures were centred on actively star forming regions, including those which are inaccessible at optical wavelengths due to high levels of obscuration. We use this data set, which includes fine structure and hydrogen recombination lines, to investigate excitation and to derive gas phase abundances of neon, argon, and sulphur of the starburst galaxies. The derived Ne abundances span approximately an order of magnitude, up to values of ~3 times solar. The excitation ratios measured from the Ne and Ar lines correlate well with each other (positively) and with abundances (negatively). Both in excitation and abundance, a separation of objects with visible Wolf-Rayet features (high excitation, low abundance) is noted from those without (low excitation, high abundance). For a given abundance, the starbursts are of relatively lower excitation than a comparative sample of HII regions, possibly due to ageing stellar populations. By considering the abundance ratios of S with Ne and Ar we find that, in our higher metallicity systems, S is relatively underabundant by a factor of ~3. We discuss the origin of this deficit and favour depletion of S onto dust grains as a likely explanation. This weakness of the MIR fine structure lines of S has ramifications for future infrared missions such as SIRTF and Herschel since it indicates that the S lines are less favourable tracers of star formation than is suggested by nebular models which do not consider this effect.

H2and CO Emission from Disks around T Tauri and Herbig Ae Pre–Main‐Sequence Stars and from Debris Disks around Young Stars: Warm and Cold Circumstellar Gas

We present ISO Short-Wavelength Spectrometer observations of H_2 pure-rotational line emission from the disks around low- and intermediate-mass pre-main-sequence stars as well as from young stars thought to be surrounded by debris disks. The pre-main-sequence sources have been selected to be isolated from molecular clouds and to have circumstellar disks revealed by millimeter interferometry. We detect ��warm (T ≈100-200 K) H_2 gas around many sources, including tentatively the debris-disk objects. The mass of this warm gas ranges from ~ 10^(-4) M_☉ up to 8 x 10^(-3) and can constitute a nonnegligible fraction of the total disk mass. Complementary single-dish ^(12)CO 3-2/^(13)CO 3-2, and ^(12)CO 6-5 observations have been obtained as well. These transitions probe cooler gas at T ≈ 20-80 K. Most objects show a double-peaked CO emission profile characteristic of a disk in Keplerian rotation, consistent with interferometer data on the lower J lines. The ratios of the ^(12)CO 3-2/^(13)CO 3-2 integrated fluxes indicate that ^(12)CO 3-2 is optically thick but that ^(13)CO 3-2 is optically or at most moderately thick. The ^(13)CO 3-2 lines have been used to estimate the cold gas mass. If a H_2/CO conversion factor of 1 x 10^(-4) is adopted, the derived cold gas masses are factors of 10-200 lower than those deduced from 1.3 millimeter dust emission assuming a gas/dust ratio of 100, in accordance with previous studies. These findings confirm that CO is not a good tracer of the total gas content in disks since it can be photodissociated in the outer layers and frozen onto grains in the cold dense part of disks, but that it is a robust tracer of the disk velocity field. In contrast, H_2 can shield itself from photodissociation even in low-mass ��optically thin debris disks and can therefore survive longer. The warm gas is typically 1%-10% of the total mass deduced from millimeter continuum emission, but it can increase up to 100% or more for the debris-disk objects. Thus, residual molecular gas may persist into the debris-disk phase. No significant evolution in the H_2 CO, or dust masses is found for stars with ages in the range of 10^6-10^7 yr, although a decrease is found for the older debris-disk star β Pictoris. The large amount of warm gas derived from H_2 raises the question of the heating mechanism(s). Radiation from the central star as well as the general interstellar radiation field heat an extended surface layer of the disk, but existing models fail to explain the amount of warm gas quantitatively. The existence of a gap in the disk can increase the area of material influenced by radiation. Prospects for future observations with ground- and space-borne observations are discussed.

Gas‐Phase Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Absorption toward Protostellar Sources?

One of the major criticisms of identifying the infrared emission bands with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules has been the lack of a match between laboratory spectra of individual PAHs and the emission features. Part of the difficulty arises from the complexity of modeling the emission mechanism with an a priori unknown mixture of ionized and neutral PAHs. A direct comparison between laboratory spectra of PAHs and astronomical sources is possible for absorption spectra. However, because of poor atmospheric transmission, ground-based spectra of the PAH absorption band in the C-H stretch region are too noisy to make a detailed comparison with laboratory spectra. In this paper we show that ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer spectra of a few protostars that show a 3.25 μm absorption band can be well matched by laboratory absorption spectra of a mixture of isolated PAHs.

ISO's Short Wavelength Spectrometer: Ultimate sensitivity. Reducing the effects of cosmic weather

Compared to the pre-launch measurements, the in-orbit noise levels ofthe Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) detectors show a significantincrease, considerably lowering the overall sensitivity. Cosmic rayimpacts on the detectors and/or on the instrument electronics play animportant role in the noise levels and consequently many observations offaint sources are affected by this increased noise. However, by takingadvantage of the high read-out frequency of 24 Hz and the redundanciesprovided by the observing strategy, it is possible to significantlyimprove the quality of the data. Here, we present the concept ofself-calibration and additional algorithms, which are successfullyapplied to recover the weak signals of molecular hydrogen lines undetectable in a standard data reduction.

Neon abundances in three Wolf-Rayet stars observed with the ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer

We are motivated to study the Ne/He abundance ratio at the surfaces of Wolf-Rayet stars by evolutionary models, which have predicted enhancements by more than an order of magnitude over cosmic levels during the WC stage (e.g., Maeder 1991). This should occur early in the WC phase, as core-hydrogen is exhausted and the CNO bi-cycle gives way to the following chain of reactions for the Galactic stars: The latest evolutionary models, which include the effects of interior mixing due to stellar rotation, indicate that the enhancement may be somewhat more gradual, but that the Ne/He ratio is essentially unchanged in its peak value, coinciding with complete H-depletion (e.g., Meynet, these Proceedings).

ISOSWS Spectral Variations of Oxygen-Rich Miras

In conjunction with an extensive ground-based monitoring program of 32 oxygen-rich Mira variables, a subset of this sample has been monitored with phase using ISO's Short Wavelength Spectrometer (ISOSWS) and ground-based mid-infrared spectrometers. Some of the six sources will be presented here in 2.5–45 μm ISOSWS spectra and 7.5–13.5 μm ground-based spectra using CGS3. Discussion of the spectral features of SiO, CO, H2O, and silicates will be presented. These data are considered in the context of recent demonstrations of variations in the spectral features with phase of the Miras.

ISO-SWS Spectral Characterization of Stars

Spectral classification in the infrared is necessary to complete the spectral classification in the visual and to understand the physics and evolution of stars. A major contribution was made by the IRAS Low Resolution Spectrometer, which allowed a characterization of the sources according to both spectral features and general shape of the energy distribution in the 8–22 µ,m (IRAS Science Working group, 1986). However, spectra obtained with the ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) (de Graauw et al. 1996, Kessler et al. 1996) provide the basis for a more complete data-base. Compared with LRS, SWS spectra cover a wider flux range and a wider spectral range 2.4–44.5 µm at a significantly higher spectral resolution. This work is part of an extensive ISO dedicated time program STARTYP1/2, which aims to provide a comprehensive spectral classification scheme of over 700 of the brightest representative infrared sources.

A search for interstellar gas-phase CO2

CO2 is one of the simplest carbon- and oxygen-containing molecules, for which little is known in interstellar space, because of its high abundance in the Earth's atmosphere. Only indirect searches of the chemically related HOCO+ ion have been possible from the ground (Thaddeus et al. 1981; Minh et al. 1988, 1991). The ISO Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) (de Graauw et al. 1996a) opens up the possibility to search for the infraredactive asymmetric stretch and bending modes of gas-phase CO2 around 4.3 and 15.0 μm toward bright infrared sources.