Issue |
A&A
Volume 616, August 2018
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A107 | |
Number of page(s) | 19 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732330 | |
Published online | 28 August 2018 |
New detections of (sub)millimeter hydrogen radio recombination lines towards high-mass star-forming clumps★
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie,
Auf dem Hügel 69,
53121
Bonn, Germany
e-mail: wjkim@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
2
Present address: Instituto de Radioastronomía Milimétrica,
Avenida Divina Pastora 7,
18012
Granada, Spain
e-mail: kim@iram.es
3
School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent,
Ingram Building, Canterbury,
Kent
CT2 7NH, UK
Received:
20
November
2017
Accepted:
28
March
2018
Aims. Previous radio recombination line (RRL) observations of dust clumps identified in the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) have led to the detection of a large number of RRLs in the 3 mm range. Here, we aim to study their excitation with shorter wavelength (sub)millimeter radio recombination line (submm-RRL) observations.
Methods. We made observations of submm-RRLs with low principal quantum numbers (n ≤ 30) using the APEX 12 m telescope, toward 104 H II regions associated with massive dust clumps from ATLASGAL. The observations covered the H25α, H28α, and H35β transitions. Toward a small subsample the H26α, H27α, H29α, and H30α lines were observed to avoid contamination by molecular lines at adjacent frequencies.
Results. We have detected submm-RRLs (signal-to-noise (S∕N)≥ 3 σ) from compact H II regions embedded within 93 clumps. The submm-RRLs are approximately a factor of two brighter than the mm-RRLs and consistent with optically thin emission in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). The average ratio (0.31) of the measured H35β/H28α fluxes is close to the LTE value of 0.28. No indication of RRL maser emission has been found. The Lyman photon flux, bolometric, and submm-RRL luminosities toward the submm-RRL detected sources present significant correlations. The trends of dust temperature and the ratio of bolometric luminosity to clump mass, Lbol ∕Mclump, indicate that the H II regions are related to the most massive and luminous clumps. By estimating the production rate of ionizing photons, Q, from the submm-RRL flux, we find that the Q(H28α) measurements provide estimates of the Lyman continuum photon flux consistent with those determined from 5 GHz radio continuum emission. Six RRL sources show line profiles that are a combination of a narrow and a broad Gaussian feature. The broad features are likely associated with high-velocity ionized flows.
Conclusions. We have detected submm-RRLs toward 93 ATLASGAL clumps. Six RRL sources have high-velocity RRL components likely driven by high-velocity ionized flows. Their observed properties are consistent with thermal emission that correlates well with the Lyman continuum flux of the H II regions. The sample of H II regions with mm/submm-RRL detections probes, in our Galaxy, luminous clumps (Lbol > 104 L⊙) with high Lbol∕Mclump. We also provide suitable candidates for further studies of the morphology and kinematics of embedded, compact H II regions with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
Key words: surveys / stars: massive / stars: formation / HII regions / submillimeter: ISM
Full Tables 4 and 6, all spectra line plots (Fig. 2), and reducted spectra are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/616/A107
© ESO 2018
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