Related papers: Non-Thermal Chemistry in Diffuse Clouds with Low M…
The intermittent dissipation of interstellar turbulence is an important energy source in the diffuse ISM. Though on average smaller than the heating rates due to cosmic rays and the photoelectric effect on dust grains, the turbulent cascade…
The formation of CH+ in the interstellar medium has long been an outstanding problem in chemical models. In order to probe the physical conditions of the ISM in which CH+ forms, we propose the use of CH3+ observations. The pathway to…
Near ultraviolet observations of OH+ and OH in diffuse molecular clouds reveal a preference for different environments. The dominant absorption feature in OH+ arises from a main component seen in CH+ (that with the highest CH+/CH column…
Observations of CO+ suggest column densities on the order 10^12 cm^-2 that can not be reproduced by many chemical models. CO+ is more likely to be destroyed than excited in collisions with hydrogen. An anomalous excitation mechanism may…
We present very high signal-to-noise ratio absorption-line observations of CN and CH+ along 13 lines of sight through diffuse molecular clouds. The data are examined to extract precise isotopologic ratios of 12CN/13CN and 12CH+/13CH+ in…
Aims: The large abundances of CH$^+$ in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) are a long standing issue of our understanding of the thermodynamical and chemical states of the gas. We investigate, here, the formation of CH+ in turbulent and…
The chemistry of the diffuse interstellar medium is driven by the combined influences of cosmic rays, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and turbulence. Previously detected at the outer edges of photodissociation regions (PDRs) and formed from the…
We present high-resolution (FWHM ~ 0.3-1.5 km/s) spectra of interstellar Ca I absorption toward 30 Galactic stars. Comparisons of the column densities of Ca I, Ca II, K I, and other species -- for individual components identified in the…
Using the Plateau de Bure interferometer, we observed the 3mm absorption lines of CN, HCN and HNC from some of the diffuse clouds which lie toward our well-studied sample of compact extragalactic mm-wave continuum sources. The column…
We reanalyzed interstellar Cl I and Cl II spectra acquired with the Copernicus satellite. The directions for this study come from those of Crenny & Federman and sample the transition from atomic to molecular rich clouds where the unique…
While recent studies of the solar-mass protostar IRAS16293-2422 have focused on its inner arcsecond, the wealth of Herschel/HIFI data has shown that the structure of the outer envelope and of the transition region to the more diffuse ISM is…
We used the Plateau de Bure Interferometer to search for $\lambda$3mm absorption lines of HOC+ from local diffuse and translucent clouds occulting compact extragalactic mm-wave continuum sources. We detected HOC+ in three directions with…
The z=0.89 molecular absorber toward PKS1830-211 provides us with the opportunity to probe the chemical and physical properties of the interstellar medium in the disk of a galaxy at a look-back time of half the present age of the Universe.…
The methylidyne radical CH is commonly used as a proxy for H$_2$ in the cold, neutral phase of the interstellar medium. The optical spectroscopy of CH is limited by interstellar extinction, whereas far-infrared observations provide an…
We discuss the abundances of interstellar CH, CH+, and CN in the Magellanic Clouds (MC), derived from spectra of 7 SMC and 13 LMC stars obtained (mostly) with the VLT/UVES. CH and/or CH+ are detected toward 3 SMC and 9 LMC stars; CN is…
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 chemical composition of diffuse interstellar clouds is not fully established. They host an active chemistry despite their relatively low density and the ubiquitous presence of far-UV radiation. To further explore the chemical…
We analyze mutual relations between interstellar extinction E(B-V) and column densities of diatomic molecules such as CN, CH and CH cation observed along translucent sightlines. Observational material acquired using five echelle…
We have obtained deep HI observations in the direction of 22 continuum sources without previously detected cold neutral medium (CNM). 18 CNM clouds were detected with the typical HI column density of $3\times10^{18}$ cm$^{-2}$. Our…
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…