Browsing by Author "Downes, Turlough"

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    A JWST Preview: Adaptive-optics Images of H2, Br-γ, and K-continuum in Carina's Western Wall
    (IOP, 2020) Hartigan, Patrick; Downes, Turlough; Isella, Andrea
    We present the first wide-field near-infrared adaptive-optics images of Carina's Western Wall (G287.38-0.62), one of the brightest and most well-defined irradiated interfaces known in a region of massive star formation. The new narrowband H2 2.12 μm, Br-γ and K-continuum images from Gemini South trace the photoevaporative flow from the cloud and identify locations where UV radiation from the surrounding massive stars excites molecular hydrogen to fluoresce. With a field of view of ~1farcm5 × 2farcm9 and spatial resolution between 60 and 110 mas, the new images show a spectacular level of detail over a large area, and presage what the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) should achieve. The Wall is convex in shape, with a large triangular-shaped extension near its apex. The interface near the apex consists of 3–4 regularly spaced ridges with projected spacings of ~2000 au, suggestive of a large-scale dynamically important magnetic field. The northern edge of the Wall breaks into several swept-back fragments of width ~1800 au that resemble Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities, and the southern part of the Wall also shows complex morphologies including a sinusoidal-like variation with a half-wavelength of 2500 au. Though the dissociation front must increase the density along the surface of the Wall, it does not resolve into pillars that point back to the ionization sources, as could occur if the front triggered new stars to form. We discovered that MHO 1630, an H2 outflow with no clear driving source in the northern portion of the Wall, consists of a series of bow shocks arrayed in a line.
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    ALMA Data Cubes and Continuum Maps of the Irradiated Western Wall in Carina
    (IOP Publishing, 2022) Hartigan, Patrick; Hummel, Maxwell; Isella, Andrea; Downes, Turlough
    We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the continuum and line emission of 12CO, 13CO, C18O, and [C i] for a portion of the G287.38-0.62 (Car 1-E) region in the Carina star-forming complex. The new data record how a molecular cloud responds on subarcsecond scales when subjected to a powerful radiation front, and provide insights into the overall process of star formation within regions that contain the most-massive young stars. The maps show several molecular clouds superpose upon the line of sight, including a portion of the Western Wall, a highly irradiated cloud situated near the young star cluster Trumpler 14. In agreement with theory, there is a clear progression from fluoresced H2, to [C i], to C18O with distance into the photodissociation region (PDR) front. Emission from optically thick 12CO extends across the region, while 13CO, [C i] and especially C18O are more optically thin, and concentrate into clumps and filaments closer to the PDR interface. Within the Western Wall cloud itself we identify 254 distinct core-sized clumps in our data cube of C18O. The mass distribution of these objects is similar to that of the stellar initial mass function. Aside from a large-scale velocity gradient, the clump radial velocities lack any spatial coherence size. There is no direct evidence for triggering of star formation in the Western Wall in that its C18O clumps and continuum cores appear starless, with no pillars present. However, the densest portion of the cloud lies closest to the PDR, and the C18O emission is flattened along the radiation front.