Ammonia observations in the LBV nebula G79.29+0.46

Discovery of a cold ring and some warm spots ^⋆,⋆⋆

¹ Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Ctra. M-108, km. 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: ricardo@cab.inta-csic.es
² Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB Facultat de Ciències, Torre C5-parell 2, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
³ Suffolk University, Madrid Campus, C/ Valle de la Viña 3, 28003 Madrid, Spain
⁴ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
⁵ Astronomy Department, King Abdulaziz University, PO Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Received: 2 December 2013
Accepted: 29 January 2014

Abstract

Context. The surroundings of luminous blue variable (LBV) stars are excellent laboratories to study the effects of their high UV radiation, powerful winds, and strong ejection events onto the surrounding gas and dust.

Aims. We aim at determining the physical parameters of the dense gas near G79.29+0.46, an LBV-candidate located at the centre of two concentric infrared rings, which may interact with the infrared dark cloud (IRDC) G79.3+0.3.

Methods. The Effelsberg 100 m telescope was used to observe the NH₃ (1, 1) and (2, 2) emission in a field of view of 7′ × 7′ including the infrared rings and a part of the IRDC. In addition, we observed particular positions in the NH₃ (3,3) transition toward the strongest region of the IRDC, which is also closest to the ring nebula.

Results. We report here the first coherent ring-like structure of dense NH₃ gas associated with an evolved massive star. It is well traced in both ammonia lines, surrounding an already known infrared ring nebula; its column density is two orders of magnitude lower than the IRDC. The NH₃ emission in the IRDC is characterized by a low and uniform rotational temperature (T_rot~10 K) and moderately high opacities in the (1, 1) line. The rest of the observed field is spotted by warm or hot zones (T_rot>30 K) and characterized by optically thin emission of the (1, 1) line. The NH₃ abundances are about 10^-8 in the IRDC, and 10^-10–10^-9 elsewhere. The warm temperatures and low abundances of NH₃ in the ring suggest that the gas is being heated and photo-dissociated by the intense UV field of the LBV star. An outstanding region is found to the south-west (SW) of the LBV star within the IRDC. The NH₃ (3, 3) emission at the centre of the SW region reveals two velocity components tracing gas at temperatures >30 K. Of particular interest is the northern edge of the SW region, which coincides with the border of the ring nebula and a region of strong 6 cm continuum emission; here, the opacity of the (1, 1) line and the NH₃ abundance do not decrease as expected in a typical clump of an isolated cold dark cloud. This strongly suggests some kind of interaction between the ring nebula (powered by the LBV star) and the IRDC. We finally discuss the possibility of NH₃ evaporation from the dust grain mantles due to the already known presence of low-velocity shocks in the area.

Conclusions. The detection of the NH₃ associated with this LBV ring nebula, as well as the special characteristics of the northern border of the SW region, confirm that the surroundings of G79.29+0.46 constitute an exemplary scenario, which merits to be studied in detail by other molecular tracers and higher angular resolutions.