Issue |
A&A
Volume 482, Number 3, May II 2008
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 809 - 829 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20078900 | |
Published online | 18 February 2008 |
SiO line emission from C-type shock waves: interstellar jets and outflows
1
Physics Department, The University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK e-mail: david.flower@durham.ac.uk
2
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), Bâtiment 121, 91405 Orsay, France
3
LERMA (UMR 8112 du CNRS), Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
4
Université Paris-Sud 11 and CNRS (UMR 8617), France
Received:
23
October
2007
Accepted:
12
February
2008
We study the production of SiO in the gas phase of molecular outflows, through the sputtering of Si-bearing material in refractory grain cores, which are taken to be olivine. We calculate also the rotational line spectrum of the SiO. The sputtering is driven by neutral particle impact on charged grains, in steady-state C-type shock waves, at the speed of ambipolar diffusion. The emission of the SiO molecule is calculated by means of an LVG code. A grid of models, with shock speeds in the range 20 < vs < 50 km s-1 and preshock gas densities 104 < nH < 106 cm-3, has been generated. We compare our results with those of an earlier study (Schilke et al. 1997). Improvements in the treatment of the coupling between the charged grains and the neutral fluid lead to narrower shock waves and lower fractions of Si (10%) being released into the gas phase. Erosion of grain cores is significant (
1%) only for C-type shock speeds vs > 25 km s-1, given the adopted properties of olivine. More realistic assumptions
concerning the initial fractional abundance of O2 lead to SiO formation being delayed, so that it occurs in the cool, dense postshock flow. Good agreement is obtained with recent observations of SiO line intensities in the L1157 and L1448 molecular outflows. The inferred temperature, opacity, and SiO column density in the emission region differ significantly from those
estimated by means of LVG “slab” models. The fractional
abundance of SiO is deduced and found to be in the range 4
10-8
3
10-7. Observed line
profiles are wider than predicted and imply multiple, unresolved
shock regions within the beam.
Key words: astrochemistry / atomic processes / magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) / molecular processes / radiative transfer / shock waves
© ESO, 2008
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