English

ISO-LWS observations of C+ and O lines in absorption toward SgrB2

Astrophysics 2009-11-07 v1

Abstract

High spectral resolution ISO-LWS observations of the [OI] 63.2 and 145.5 microns and [CII] 157.7 microns fine structure lines are presented for the center of the Sagittarius B2 complex (SgrB2). Both the [OI] 63.2 microns and the [CII] 157.7 microns lines are detected in absorption. Using observations of the CO isotopes and of the HI lines, absorption components can be associated with many clouds along the Sgr B2 line of sight. From these data, we were able to disentangle three different layers, as predicted by PDR models, which contain atomic oxygen. We derive lower limits for the column densities of C and O. The fact that the [CII] 157.7 microns line is detected in absorption implies that the main cooling line of the interstellar medium can be optically thick especially in the direction of large star-forming complexes or in the nuclei of galaxies. This could partially account for the deficiency in the [CII] 157.7 microns line which has been recently found toward infrared bright galaxies in ISO data.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0208193,
  title  = {ISO-LWS observations of C+ and O lines in absorption toward SgrB2},
  author = {Charlotte Vastel and Edward Polehampton and Jean-Paul Baluteau and Bruce Swinyard and Emmanuel Caux and Pierre Cox},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0208193},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

33 pages, 9 figures. Accepted in Astrophysical Journal