Water and ammonia abundances in S140 with the Odin satellite^*

¹ Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology, 439 92 Onsala, Sweden e-mail: carina.persson@chalmers.se
² Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
³ Swedish Space Corporation, PO Box 4207, 171 04 Solna, Sweden
⁴ Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Helsinki University of Technology, Otakaari 5A, 02150 Espoo, Finland
⁵ GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
⁶ SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS, UK
⁷ Stockholm Observatory, AlbaNova University Center, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Received: 7 September 2008
Accepted: 14 November 2008

Abstract

Aims. We investigate the effect of the physical environment on water and ammonia abundances across the S140 photodissociation region (PDR) with an embedded outflow.

Methods. We used the Odin satellite to obtain strip maps of the ground-state rotational transitions of ortho-water and ortho-ammonia, as well as CO(5-4) and ¹³CO(5-4) across the PDR, and H₂¹⁸O in the central position. A physi-chemical inhomogeneous PDR model was used to compute the temperature and abundance distributions for water, ammonia, and CO. A multi-zone escape probability method then calculated the level populations and intensity distributions. These results are compared to a homogeneous model computed with an enhanced version of the RADEX code.

Results. H₂O, NH₃, and ¹³CO show emission from an extended PDR with a narrow line width of ~3 km s^-1. Like CO, the water line profile is dominated by outflow emission, but mainly in the red wing. Even though CO shows strong self-absorption, no signs of self-absorption are seen in the water line. The HO molecule is not detected. The PDR model suggests that the water emission arises mainly from the surfaces of optically thick, high-density clumps with n 10⁶ cm^-3 and a clump water abundance, with respect to H₂, of 5  10^-8. The mean water abundance in the PDR is 5  10^-9 and between ~4  10^-8-4  10^-7 in the outflow derived from a simple two-level approximation. The RADEX model points to a somewhat higher average PDR water abundance of 1  10^-8. At low temperatures deep in the cloud, the water emission is weaker, likely due to adsorption onto dust grains, while ammonia is still abundant. Ammonia is also observed in the extended clumpy PDR, likely from the same high density and warm clumps as water. The average ammonia abundance is about the same as for water: 4  10^-9 and 8  10^-9 given by the PDR model and RADEX, respectively. The differences between the models most likely arise from uncertainties in density, beam-filling, and volume-filling of clumps. The similarity of water and ammonia PDR emission is also seen in the almost identical line profiles observed close to the bright rim. Around the central position, ammonia also shows some outflow emission, although weaker than water in the red wing. Predictions of the H₂O 1-1 and 1 – 0 antenna temperatures across the PDR are estimated with our PDR model for the forthcoming observations with the Herschel Space Observatory.