Related papers: Re-evaluation of the cosmic-ray ionization rate in…
We are studying the column density distribution of all nearby giant molecular clouds. As part of this project we generated several all sky extinction maps. They are calculated using the median near infrared colour excess technique applied…
High-resolution 3D maps of interstellar dust are critical for probing the underlying physics shaping the structure of the interstellar medium, and for foreground correction of astrophysical observations affected by dust. We aim to construct…
A simple analytic model is presented to predict the near-IR H2 fluorescent line intensities emitted by diffuse interstellar clouds with a Plummer density profile. It is applicable to sightlines where (1) the column densities of H and H2…
We describe a new method for determining total gas-phase abundances for the Galactic ISM with minimal ionization uncertainties. For sight lines toward globular clusters containing both UV-bright stars and radio pulsars, one can measure…
The dust extinction curve is a critical component of many observational programs and an important diagnostic of the physics of the interstellar medium. Here we present new measurements of the dust extinction curve and its variation towards…
A new collection of photodissociation and photoionisation cross sections for 102 atoms and molecules of astrochemical interest has been assembled, along with a brief review of the basic processes involved. These have been used to calculate…
Understanding dust attenuation in galaxies at both integrated and spatially resolved scales is fundamental for accurately determining the physical properties of galaxies. Recent high-spatial-resolution observations with ALMA and JWST enable…
We present high-resolution, high dynamic range column-density and color-temperature maps of the Orion complex using a combination of Planck dust-emission maps, Herschel dust-emission maps, and 2MASS NIR dust-extinction maps. The…
Context: Cosmic rays drive several key processes for the chemistry and dynamical evolution of star-forming regions. Their effect is quantified mainly by means of the cosmic-ray ionisation rate $\zeta_2$. Aims: We aim to obtain a sample of…
Molecular line observations may serve as diagnostics of the degree to which the number density of cosmic ray protons, having energies of 10s to 100s of MeVs each, is enhanced in starburst galaxies and galaxies with active nuclei. Results,…
The extinction curve of interstellar dust in the dense molecular cloud cores is crucial for understanding dust properties, particularly size distribution and composition. We investigate the infrared extinction law in four nearby isolated…
We have used archival FUSE data to complete a survey of interstellar HD in 41 lines of sight with a wide range of extinctions. This follow up to an earlier survey was made to further assess the utility of HD as a cosmological probe; to…
Using the Planck far-infrared and Arecibo GALFA 21-cm line surveys, we identified a set of isolated interstellar clouds (approximately degree-sized on the sky and comprising 100 solar masses) and assessed the ratio of gas mass to dust mass.…
We map the dust distribution in the central 180" (~680 pc) region of the M31 bulge, based on HST/WFC3 and ACS observations in ten bands from near-ultraviolet (2700 A) to near-infrared (1.5 micron). This large wavelength coverage gives us…
Dust extinction law is crucial to recover the intrinsic energy distribution of celestial objects and infer the characteristics of interstellar dust. Based on the traditional pair method, an improved pair method is proposed to model the dust…
We present a method for accurately and precisely inferring photometric dust extinction towards stars at mid-to-high Galactic latitudes using probabilistic machine learning to model the colour-magnitude distribution of zero-extinction stars…
Multi-wavelength, optical to IR/sub-mm observations of 5 strongly lensed galaxies identified by the Herschel Lensing Survey, plus two well-studied lensed galaxies, MS1512-cB58 and the Cosmic Eye, for which we also provide updated Herschel…
The chemistry of shielded molecular gas is primarily driven by energetic, charged particles dubbed cosmic rays (CRs), in particular those with energies under 1 GeV. CRs ionize molecular hydrogen and helium, the latter of which contributes…
We consider from a general point of view the problem of determining the extinction in dense molecular clouds. We use a rigorous statistical approach to characterize the properties of the most widely used optical and infrared techniques,…
Cosmic rays (CRs) heavily impact the chemistry and physics of cold and dense star-forming regions. However, characterising their ionisation rate is still challenging from an observational point of view. In the past, a few analytical…