Related papers: Atomic and Molecular Carbon as a Tracer of Translu…
ABRIDGED: Context: HI and CO large scale surveys of the Milky Way trace the diffuse atomic clouds and the dense shielded regions of molecular hydrogen clouds. However, until recently, we have not had spectrally resolved C+ surveys to…
We investigate the correlation between OH and H2 column densities in diffuse Galactic clouds, in order to identify potential molecular tracers of interstellar H2. For this, we analyse near-UV spectra extracted from the ESO/VLT archives…
Aims: We wish to separate and quantify the CO luminosity and CO-H2 conversion factor applicable to diffuse but partially-molecular ISM when H2 and CO are present but C+ is the dominant form of gas-phase carbon. Methods: We discuss galactic…
Infrared stellar photometry from 2MASS and spectral line imaging observations of 12CO and 13CO J = 1-0 line emission from the FCRAO 14m telescope are analysed to assess the variation of the CO abundance with physical conditions throughout…
We analyze the conditions for detection of CO(1-0) emission in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using the recently completed second NANTEN CO survey. In particular, we investigate correlations between CO integrated intensity and HI…
To complement the optical absorption-line survey of diffuse molecular gas in Paper I, we obtained and analyzed far ultraviolet H$_2$ and CO data on lines of sight toward stars in Cep OB2 and Cep OB3. Possible correlations between column…
The rotational transitions of carbon monoxide (CO) are the primary means of investigating the density and velocity structure of the molecular interstellar medium. Here we study the lowest four rotational transitions of CO towards…
We examine the fine structure lines $^{3}P_{1}\to $$^{3}P_{0}$ (492 GHz) and $ ^{3}P_2\to $$^{3}P_1$ (809 GHz) of neutral atomic carbon as bulk molecular gas mass tracers and find that they can be good and on many occasions better than $…
Our understanding of how molecular clouds form in the interstellar medium (ISM) would be greatly helped if we had a reliable observational tracer of the gas flows responsible for forming the clouds. Fine structure emission from singly…
We aim to compare variations in the full-UV dust extinction curve (912-3000 Angstrom), with the HI/H$_2$/total H content along diffuse Milky Way sightlines, to investigate possible connections between ISM conditions and dust properties. We…
We investigate the chemical evolution of a forming molecular cloud behind an interstellar shock wave. We conduct three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the converging flow of atomic gas, including a simple chemical network…
Deuterium fractionation in molecular ions, in particular HCO+, has been extensively used to estimate the degree of ionization in molecular clouds. This paper reviews recent work on ionization degree in homogeneous clouds. We will show that…
Observations of interstellar dust are often used as a proxy for total gas column density $N_\mathrm{H}$. By comparing $\textit{Planck}$ thermal dust data (Release 1.2) and new dust reddening maps from Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS (Green et al.…
We used archival data acquired with the Copernicus satellite to reexamine CO column densities because self-consistent oscillator strengths are now available. Our focus is on lines of sight containing modest amounts of molecular species. Our…
Gas in galactic disks is collected by gravitational instabilities into giant atomic-molecular complexes, but only the inner, molecular parts of these structures are able to collapse to form stars. Determining what controls the ratio of…
The cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR, $\zeta_2$) is one of the key parameters controlling the formation and destruction of various molecules in molecular clouds. However, the current most commonly used CRIR tracers, such as H$_3^+$, OH$^+$,…
We wish to relate the degree scale structure of galactic diffuse clouds to sub-arcsecond atomic and molecular absorption spectra obtained against extragalactic continuum background sources. To do this, we used the ARO 12m telescope to map…
The abundance of H2 in molecular clouds, relative to the commonly used tracer CO, has only been measured toward a few embedded stars, which may be surrounded by atypical gas. We present observations of near-infrared absorption by H2, CO,…
We use the COMPLETE Survey's observations of the Perseus star-forming region to assess and intercompare three methods for measuring column density in molecular clouds: extinction mapping (NIR); thermal emission mapping (FIR); and mapping…
Carbon monoxide (CO) is widely used as a tracer of molecular hydrogen (H2) in metal-rich galaxies, but is known to become ineffective in low metallicity dwarf galaxies. Atomic carbon has been suggested as a superior tracer of H2 in these…