TY - JOUR
T1 - Ammonia excitation imaging of shocked gas towards the W28 gamma-ray source HESS J1801-233
AU - Maxted, Nigel I.
AU - Wilt, Phoebe de
AU - Rowell, Gavin P.
AU - Nicholas, Brent P.
AU - Burton, Michael G.
AU - Walsh, Andrew
AU - Fukui, Yasuo
AU - Kawamura, Akiko
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - We present 12 mm Mopra observations of the dense (>103 cm-3) molecular gas towards the north-east of the W28 supernova remnant (SNR). This cloud is spatially well matched to the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1801-233 and is known to be an SNR-molecular cloud interaction region. Shock-disruption is evident from broad NH3 (1,1) spectral linewidths in regions towards the W28 SNR, while strong detections of spatially extended NH3 (3,3), NH3(4,4) and NH3(6,6) inversion emission towards the cloud strengthen the case for the existence of high temperatures within the cloud. Velocity dispersion measurements and NH3(n,n)/(1,1) ratio maps, where n = 2, 3, 4 and 6, indicate that the source of disruption is from the side of the cloud nearest to the W28 SNR, suggesting that it is the source of cloud-disruption. Towards part of the cloud, the ratio of ortho to para-NH3 is observed to exceed 2, suggesting gas-phase NH3 enrichment due to NH3 liberation from dust-grain mantles. The measured NH3 abundance with respect to H2 is ~(1.2 ± 0.5) × 10-9, which is not high, as might be expected for a hot, dense molecular cloud enriched by sublimated grain-surface molecules. The results are suggestive of NH3 sublimation and destruction in this molecular cloud, which is likely to be interacting with the W28 SNR shock.
AB - We present 12 mm Mopra observations of the dense (>103 cm-3) molecular gas towards the north-east of the W28 supernova remnant (SNR). This cloud is spatially well matched to the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1801-233 and is known to be an SNR-molecular cloud interaction region. Shock-disruption is evident from broad NH3 (1,1) spectral linewidths in regions towards the W28 SNR, while strong detections of spatially extended NH3 (3,3), NH3(4,4) and NH3(6,6) inversion emission towards the cloud strengthen the case for the existence of high temperatures within the cloud. Velocity dispersion measurements and NH3(n,n)/(1,1) ratio maps, where n = 2, 3, 4 and 6, indicate that the source of disruption is from the side of the cloud nearest to the W28 SNR, suggesting that it is the source of cloud-disruption. Towards part of the cloud, the ratio of ortho to para-NH3 is observed to exceed 2, suggesting gas-phase NH3 enrichment due to NH3 liberation from dust-grain mantles. The measured NH3 abundance with respect to H2 is ~(1.2 ± 0.5) × 10-9, which is not high, as might be expected for a hot, dense molecular cloud enriched by sublimated grain-surface molecules. The results are suggestive of NH3 sublimation and destruction in this molecular cloud, which is likely to be interacting with the W28 SNR shock.
KW - ammonia
KW - clouds
KW - cosmic rays
KW - gamma rays
KW - supernovae
UR - http://handle.westernsydney.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:49358
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stw1687
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stw1687
M3 - Article
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 462
SP - 532
EP - 546
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 1
ER -