Issue |
A&A
Volume 506, Number 3, November II 2009
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 1243 - 1247 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200912770 | |
Published online | 03 September 2009 |
A&A 506, 1243-1247 (2009)
Constraining the ortho-to-para ratio of H2 with anomalous
H2CO absorption![[*]](/icons/foot_motif.png)
N. Troscompt - A. Faure - S. Maret - C. Ceccarelli - P. Hily-Blant - L. Wiesenfeld
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, UMR 5571-CNRS, Grenoble, France
Received 26 June 2009 / Accepted 5 August 2009
Abstract
Context. The ortho-to-para ratio (OPR) of molecular hydrogen is
a fundamental parameter in understanding the physics and chemistry of
molecular clouds. In dark and cold regions, however, H2 is not directly observable and the OPR of H2 in these sources has so far remained elusive.
Aims. We show that the 6 cm absorption line of ortho-formaldehyde (H2CO) can be employed to constrain both the density and the OPR of H2 in dark clouds.
Methods. Green Bank Telescope (GBT) observations of ortho-H2CO
toward the molecular cloud Barnard 68 (B68) are reported. Non-LTE
radiative transfer calculations combined with the well-constrained
structure of B68 are then employed to derive the physical conditions in
the absorption region.
Results. We provide the first firm confirmation of the Townes & Cheung mechanism: propensity rules for the collisions of H2CO with H2 molecules
are responsible for the sub-2.7 K cooling of the 6 cm
doublet. Non-LTE calculations show that in the absorption region
of B68, the kinetic temperature is 10 K, the ortho-H2CO column density amounts to
cm-2, the H2 density is in the range
cm-3, and the OPR of H2 is close to zero. Our observations thus provide fresh evidence that H2
is mostly in its para form in the cold gas, as expected from
theoretical considerations. Our results also suggest that formaldehyde
absorption originates in the edge of B68, at visual extinctions
mag.
Key words: astrochemistry - ISM: molecules - ISM: abundances - ISM: individual objects: Barnard 68
1 Introduction
The ortho-to-para ratio (OPR) of molecular hydrogen (H2) is a
fundamental parameter in understanding the physics and chemistry of
interstellar molecular clouds. Chemical models have shown, in
particular, that the degree of deuteration of molecular ions and
molecules during the pre-protostellar collapse is very sensitive to
the form of H2 (Pagani et al. 2009; Flower et al. 2006). In these environments, H2forms on grain surfaces, and it is generally assumed that the initial
OPR is equal to the statistical value of 3. Although the details of the
H2 formation mechanism remain uncertain, it is also commonly
accepted that ortho-to-para conversion of H2 occurs subsequently in
the gas phase by means of proton exchange reactions with H+ and
H3+. Although the timescales associated with these reactions
are large, the OPR of H2 is expected to decrease toward
zero (the Boltzmann equilibrium value at 10 K is
)
during the lifetime of a molecular cloud and it is,
therefore, a potentially valuable probe of the age of the cloud.
This ratio is however expected to be not fully thermalized in dark
clouds because of the recycling of hydrogen via gas phase
reactions and catalysis on grains (Le Bourlot 1991). The chemical
modelling of Flower et al. (2006) for
cm-3 and T=10 K
thus suggests that the OPR is
10-3 at steady-state, that
is exceeds the Boltzmann equilibrium value by 4 orders of
magnitude. In addition, in the warm gas associated with molecular
shocks (
K), direct observations of H2rovibrational lines have shown that the OPR is generally not equal to
the Boltzmann equilibrium value of 3, but lies in the range 0.5-2
(e.g., Maret et al. 2009; Lefloch et al. 2003; Neufeld et al. 1998, and references therein). These
relatively low values are interpreted as the legacy of earlier stages
of the thermal history of the gas. There is therefore evidence, both observational and theoretical, that H2 is
mostly in its para form in cold and dark progenitor molecular
clouds. However, since the gas temperature in this latter type of clouds is too
low to populate excited levels of H2, a direct measure of the OPR
of cold H2 has remained so far elusive.
![]() |
Figure 1:
Spectrum of the
|
Open with DEXTER |
The OPR of H2 is also important for collisional excitation
processes at low temperature because the interaction potential is
different for ground state para-H2 (J=0) and ortho-H2(J=1). This is because the permanent quadrupole moment of H2vanishes when H2 is in its spherically symmetric ground para
state (J=0). As a result, rate coefficients with ortho-H2(J=1)
are generally higher than those with para-H2(J=0). Collisional
propensity rules can also be different for the two forms of H2, as
shown for example by Flower et al. (1990) in the case of ammonia and, more
recently, by Troscompt et al. (2009) in the case of formaldehyde (H2CO). One
particularly interesting observation of (ortho) H2CO is the
absorption of the 6 cm line (
)
against
the 2.7 K Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This ``anomalous''
absorption, which implies an excitation temperature
K for the doublet, was first discovered by
Palmer et al. (1969) in the direction of dark nebulae. Numerous theoretical
studies (in particular Evans et al. 1975; Garrison et al. 1976; Townes & Cheung 1969) proposed an
explanation in terms of competing radiative and collisional population
transfer mechanisms. The H2CO absorption was thus found to provide
a sensitive probe of the temperature and density conditions in dark
sources. All previous studies were however hampered by i) the
lack of accurate collisional rates between H2CO and H2 (He atoms
were employed as substitutes for H2 molecules) and ii) low
spectral resolution, which did not allow to properly resolve the
hyperfine structure.
In this study, we present the first high spectral resolution observation of the H2CO 6 cm absorption line toward Barnard 68 (hereafter B68), the prototype of a dense molecular cloud (Burkert & Alves 2009, and references therein). Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) radiative transfer calculations based on the theoretical collisional rates of Troscompt et al. (2009) are then employed to derive the physical conditions in the absorption region, including constraints on the OPR of H2 in this source. The observations and data reduction are described in Sect. 2. Radiative transfer modelling is presented in Sect. 3, and results are discussed in Sect. 4.
2 Observations
We observed the
transition of
ortho-H2CO (
GHz) towards B68 (
,
[J2000]) using the NRAO
Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The observation was performed on
October 17, 2008. The C-band (
3.95-6.1 GHz) receiver was used
together with the GBT auto-correlator in nine-level sampling mode,
providing a spectral resolution of 762.9 Hz (0.047 km s-1). At the observed frequency, the HPBW of the GBT is
and the main beam efficiency is
.
The observations
were performed in frequency switching mode, with a frequency throw of
100 MHz. Finally, the observation is an average of
min scans, for a total integration time of 40 min.
The data was reduced with the CLASS software
package. A
first order polynomial baseline was subtracted from the spectrum,
which is shown in Fig. 1. Because of the high resolution
and high signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum, several hyperfine
components are resolved. Especially, the F=1-1 and the (blended)
F=1-2 and 2-1 components are clearly distinguishable from the
(blended) F=2-2 and 0-1 components. The F=1-0 component is also
easily resolved. The line parameters were fitted with the HFS method
in CLASS, which allows the simultaneous fitting of all the hyperfine
components of a rotational transition, based on the assumption that the
excitation temperature is the same for all hyperfine components and
the lines do not overlap. We note that the frequencies and relative
intensities of hyperfine components were taken from the laboratory
measurements of Tucker et al. (1971). As shown in Fig. 1, an
excellent fit to the observed spectrum is obtained, with a rms of
10-2 K.
We derived an antenna temperature
of the main hyperfine
component (F=2-2) of
K, a source velocity
km s-1, a total opacity of the
transition
,
and a line width
km s-1. The excitation temperature
was then derived from
within the Rayleigh-Jeans
approximation (e.g., Martin & Barrett 1978) by assuming no clumping,
that is a beam dilution factor of 1 since the spatial extent of B68 (2
)
and the beam extension (2.5
)
are similar. We obtained
K. The present excitation
temperature and opacity are thus in good agreement with those obtained
by Heiles (1973), who found an average excitation temperature of
1.6 K and total opacities of
1 for a sample of dark clouds.
3 Non-LTE modelling
The collisional pumping mechanism invoked to explain the anomalous
absorption of H2CO was first proposed by Townes & Cheung (1969). It was based
on a classical formulation showing that collisions with neutral
particles should favor excitation to the lower level of each doublet
of ortho-H2CO. This collisional propensity rule, combined with the
dipolar radiative selection rules, leads to an overpopulation of the
111 level and a cooling of the excitation temperature of the
transition below 2.7 K
. This scheme was subsequently
supported by semi-classical and quantum calculations
(Garrison et al. 1976). However, as mentioned in the introduction, He atoms
were employed as substitutes for H2 in all previous
studies. Troscompt et al. (2009) showed that the propensity rule is weaker for H2 than for He and, furthermore, that it depends
significantly on the ortho/para form of H2.
This is clearly illustrated in Fig. 2, where we plot the results of a non-LTE computation based on collisional
excitation by either para-H2 (J=0) and He atoms or ortho-H2(J=1) and He atoms. We note, however, that excitation by
H2 is entirely predominant, that is the contribution of He atoms was
found to be negligible. Excitation by the far less abundant free
electrons was neglected. The hyperfine structure of H2CO
levels was neglected in the calculations (see below). We employed
the MOLPOP program, written by Moshe Elitzur and Philip
Lockett, to solve the radiative transfer equations using the escape
probability method for a homogeneous slab (Krolik & McKee 1978). The 10 first
levels of ortho-H2CO were considered in the computation with the
following basic parameters: the ortho-H2CO column density was fixed
to N(H2CO) =
cm-2, the kinetic temperature
to
K, and the Doppler linewidth to
1 km s-1. The 2.7 K CMB radiation field was obviously included
but all other possible sources of radiation were
neglected. The collisional data was those of Troscompt et al. (2009) and
Green (1991) for excitation by H2 and He, respectively. It is
first observed, in agreement with previous calculations based on He as
a collider, that cooling of the 6 cm doublet below 2.7 K does occur for
densities lower than a few 104 cm-3. This provides the first robust
confirmation of the Townes & Cheung mechanism in the case of H2 as a
collider. Secondly, it is noticed that the cooling is significantly
stronger for para-H2 (J=0) than for ortho-H2 (J=1), and that
it occurs over a wider range of density. Hence, the cooling of the
doublet is expected to depend markedly on the OPR of H2, with
diminishing intensity of the 6 cm absorption line as the OPR
increases.
![]() |
Figure 2:
Excitation temperature for the
|
Open with DEXTER |
![]() |
Figure 3:
Total opacity,
|
Open with DEXTER |
As mentioned above, we neglected the hyperfine splitting of the
H2CO transitions in our radiative transfer treatment. This
approximation is strictly valid only when the separation of the
hyperfine lines is negligible compared to the line broadening. For
linear molecules with large splittings, e.g., HCN or N2H+,
detailed treatments have shown that the total opacity of rotational
lines can be uncertain by up to a factor of two (for
if the hyperfine structure is neglected
(Daniel et al. 2006). In the case of H2CO, accurate hyperfine collisional
rates are not available because the two-spin recoupling formalism
(see Daniel et al. 2004) has not yet been extended to asymmetric
tops. However, we assessed the effect of the hyperfine structure
by resorting to the approximation that hyperfine rates are
proportional to the degeneracy (2F'+1) of the final hyperfine
level. Ad hoc selection rules such as
were also tested
at both low and high opacitites (
). Line overlap
was included using the absorption probability method
(Lockett & Elitzur 1989). The total opacity and excitation temperature
(common to all hyperfine levels) were found to agree to within 10%
with calculations considering only the rotational structure. As a
result, in contrast to molecules containing a 14N nucleus, the
hyperfine structure in H2CO can safely be neglected.
Based on the previous considerations, grids of models were constructed
by varying the H2 density between 103 and 106 cm-3 and
the kinetic temperature between 7 and 12 K, in accordance with the
known physical structure of B68 (Bergin et al. 2006); the ortho-H2CO
column density was varied between 1011 and 1015 cm-2,
and the OPR of H2 between 0 and 3, with the objective of
reproducing both the total opacity
and the excitation
temperature
reported in Sect. 2. The line width was
fixed at 0.294 km s-1,
as deduced from the CLASS HFS fit. It
should be noted that the impact of temperature variation (7-12 K)
was found to be negligible in our modelling. In the following, we
therefore assume a constant temperature of 10 K. On the other
hand,
the ortho-H2CO column density was found to be very well constrained
by our observations, with a value of
cm-2. Interestingly, both the
excitation temperature and line total opacity were found to depend
strongly on the assumed H2 density and OPR. This is illustrated in
Fig. 3, which shows the predicted opacity and excitation
temperature as a function of the H2 density, assuming an OPR equal
to zero. In this particular case, our observations constrain the H2density to the narrow range
.
For a higher OPR, the observed
and
can still be reproduced simultaneously but for much
lower H2 densities. This is shown in Fig. 4, where we
plot the allowed range of densities for an OPR of 0, 1, and 2
respectively. It should be noted that the dependence of our model
on the OPR is linear and not logarithmic. As a result, we can
obviously not discriminate between an OPR of zero and, e.g.,
10-3. We also report in Fig. 4 the visual
extinction of B68 as a function of density, as derived by
Alves et al. (2001). The case OPR = 3 is not plotted because it is not
compatible with the observations. This figure shows that the H2densities compatible with our H2CO observation relate to the low visual
extinction,
mag, that is in the outer parts of the
core. In the following paragraph, we discuss the implications of this
result.
![]() |
Figure 4:
Visual extinction |
Open with DEXTER |
4 Discussion
Our observations and modelling have demonstrated that the H2CO
abnormal absorption originates in regions of the core of moderate
extinction. However, the precise origin of the absorption depends on the
H2 OPR. Conversely, one can place constraints on the OPR from
simple arguments about the chemistry of the molecule. In particular, it
is unlikely that the absorption of H2CO occurs in regions where
mag. In these regions, the external UV field dissociates
molecules and forms a photon-dominated layer. For example, in their
detail modelling of the photon-dominated region (PDR) surface layer of B68, Pineda & Bensch (2007) found that the CO abundance peaks at higher
visual extinctions (
mag). Although
Pineda & Bensch do not present predictions for H2CO, we
expect its abundance to peak at a similar or slightly greater
because, unlike CO, H2CO should not be self-shielded from the UV
field. Deeper inside the cloud, the abundance of both molecules are
expected to decrease, because of the freeze-out on grain mantles
(e.g., Bergin et al. 2002; Maret & Bergin 2007, in the case of B68). If we assume that
the observed H2CO originates in a region where
mag, our modelling indicates that the OPR is close to 0 (see
Fig. 4). As mentioned above, it is very unlikely that the
absorption originates in a region where
mag, and therefore
the OPR is necessarily smaller than 1. Thus, our modelling and
observations are consistent with
,
that is with H2 mostly in para form.
Furthermore, we have shown that the absorption originates in regions
where
mag, that is the ortho-H2CO 6 cm
absorption line probes the outermost envelope of B68. This
conclusion was first reached by Minn & Greenberg (1975). Additional
evidence supporting this scenario was subsequently obtained by
Henkel et al. (1981) for TMC-1 and by Vanden Bout et al. (1983) for a sample of
seven dark clouds. It is interesting to note that our estimate of the
ortho-H2CO column density in B68
(
cm-2) is consistent with the range
obtained by the previous authors
(
1012-1014 cm-2). Assuming
mag and using the
relation
cm-2 mag-1(Frerking et al. 1982), we obtained an H2CO relative abundance (in
the absorption region) of X(H2CO)
.
In the
envelope of dark clouds, such a large abundance cannot be reproduced
by gas phase chemistry models, as first pointed out by
Federman & Allen (1991). In the gas phase, H2CO is mainly formed by the
reaction of atomic oxygen with CH3. However, there is never
enough CH3 in the tenuous envelopes of dark clouds and, in
addition, H2CO is rapidly destroyed by photodissociation and by
reactions with C+ (Federman & Allen 1991). Alternatively, H2CO may form
by successive hydrogenation of CO at the surface of the grains
(Tielens & Hagen 1982). This mechanism is expected to be more efficient in
the innermost regions of the cores, where the depletion of CO is at its
highest. Thus, this scenario would require an efficient mixing
mechanism to bring the grains from the interior to the surface, where
CO and H2CO could be photo-evaporated. However, turbulence is
observed to be small in B68 with both C18O and 13CO line widths being close to the thermal line width (Lada et al. 2003). Complex radial motions
have been observed in this source, but their amplitude is also small
(<0.05 km s-1, Maret et al. 2007). As a result, we are currently
unable to distinguish between gas phase and grain surface chemistry for the
H2CO formation, which has long been enigmatic in a variety of
objects (e.g., Roueff et al. 2006). Future studies will address this
important issue further. It will be interesting, in particular,
to model other observable H2CO lines, in particular the 2 mm
emission (
)
and 2 cm absorption
(
). These two lines are, however, understood to
originate in higher density regions than the 6 cm line
(Vanden Bout et al. 1983). Interferometric observations would also
clearly be desirable to probe the spatial distribution of H2CO
absorption in B68. We note that such observations were undertaken by
Zhou et al. (1990) in a VLA study of the Bok globule B335.
It is finally interesting to compare the OPR that we derive in B68 to other estimates. Based on observations and modelling of the DCO+ and HCO+ emission in this source, Maret & Bergin (2007) inferred an OPR of 0.015, a value that is consistent with the value obtained here. Furthermore, Pagani et al. (2009) used N2D+, N2H+ and ortho-H2D+ observations to derive the OPR in the L183 prestellar core, and found that it is 0.1 in most parts of the cloud. Finally, Maret et al. (2009) recently obtained maps of the H2 OPR in the shocked gas in NGC 1333 cloud, from which they concluded that the OPR in cold, pre-shock gas is lower than 1. Thus, all these studies are consistent with the result presented here, that is H2 is mostly in para form in cold gas.
AcknowledgementsPart of this work is funded by the french national program ``Physico-Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire'' (PCMI). Michel Guélin is acknowledged for fruitful suggestions. We specially thank Jim Braatz and all the staff of the Green Bank Telescope for all the valuable help they provided for a very successful observation.
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Footnotes
- ... absorption
- This work has been inspired by our colleague and friend Pierre Valiron, who passed away in August 2008. This paper is dedicated to his memory.
- ...
package
- GILDAS package, http://www.iram.fr/IRAMFR/GILDAS
- ... 2.7 K
- This phenomenon is also observed for the
transition of ortho-H2CO at 2 cm.
- ... neglected
- We note that electron excitation of H2CO
can play an important role at high electron fraction (
), in particular in diffuse clouds where electron collisions are expected to cancel the anomalous 6 cm absorption (Turner 1993).
All Figures
![]() |
Figure 1:
Spectrum of the
|
Open with DEXTER | |
In the text |
![]() |
Figure 2:
Excitation temperature for the
|
Open with DEXTER | |
In the text |
![]() |
Figure 3:
Total opacity,
|
Open with DEXTER | |
In the text |
![]() |
Figure 4:
Visual extinction |
Open with DEXTER | |
In the text |
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