Publications (119)76.32 Total impact
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Article: Complete infrared spectral energy distributions of mm detected quasars at z>5
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ABSTRACT: We present Herschel far-infrared (FIR) photometry of eleven quasars at redshift z>5 that have previously been detected at 1.2mm. We perform full spectral energy distribution (SED) fits over the wavelength range lambda_rest ~0.1-400mu for those objects with good Herschel detections. These fits reveal the need for an additional far-infrared (FIR) component besides the emission from a dusty AGN-powered torus. This additional FIR component has temperatures of T_FIR ~ 40-60K with luminosities of L_(8-1000mu) ~ 10^13 L_sun (accounting for 25-60% of the bolometric FIR luminosity). If the FIR dust emission is due to star formation it would suggest star formation rates in excess of 1000 solar masses per year. We show that at long wavelengths (lambda_rest > 50mu) the contribution of the AGN-powered torus emission is negligible. This explains how previous FIR studies of high-redshift quasars that relied on single component fits to (ground-based) observations at lambda_obs > 350mu reached T_FIR and L_FIR values similar to our complete SED fits. Stacking the Herschel data of four individually undetected sources reveals a significant average signal in the PACS bands but not in SPIRE. The average SED of sources with individual Herschel detections shows a striking surplus in near- and mid-infrared emission when compared to common AGN templates. The comparison between two average SEDs (sources with and without individual Herschel detections) matched in the UV/optical indicates that for these objects the strength of the MIR emission may correlate with the strength of the FIR emission.05/2013; -
Article: Characterizing Exoplanets in the Visible and Infrared: A Spectrometer Concept for the EChO Space Mission
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ABSTRACT: Transit-spectroscopy of exoplanets is one of the key observational techniques to characterize the extrasolar planet and its atmosphere. The observational challenges of these measurements require dedicated instrumentation and only the space environment allows an undisturbed access to earth-like atmospheric features such as water or carbon-dioxide. Therefore, several exoplanet-specific space missions are currently being studied. One of them is EChO, the Exoplanet Characterization Observatory, which is part of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program, and which is one of four candidates for the M3 launch slot in 2024. In this paper we present the results of our assessment study of the EChO spectrometer, the only science instrument onboard this spacecraft. The instrument is a multi-channel all-reflective dispersive spectrometer, covering the wavelength range from 400 nm to 16 microns simultaneously with a moderately low spectral resolution. We illustrate how the key technical challenge of the EChO mission - the high photometric stability - influences the choice of spectrometer concept and drives fundamentally the instrument design. First performance evaluations underline the fitness of the elaborated design solution for the needs of the EChO mission.05/2013; -
Article: Fragmentation and dynamical collapse of the starless high-mass star-forming region IRDC18310-4
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ABSTRACT: Aims: We study the fragmentation and dynamical properties of a massive starless gas clump at the onset of high-mass star formation. Methods: Based on Herschel continuum data we identify a massive gas clump that remains far-infrared dark up to 100mum wavelengths. The fragmentation and dynamical properties are investigated by means of Plateau de Bure Interferometer and Nobeyama 45m single-dish spectral line and continuum observations. Results: The massive gas reservoir fragments at spatial scales of ~18000AU in four cores. Comparing the spatial extent of this high-mass region with intermediate- to low-mass starless cores from the literature, we find that linear sizes do not vary significantly over the whole mass regime. However, the high-mass regions squeeze much more gas into these similar volumes and hence have orders of magnitude larger densities. The fragmentation properties of the presented low-to high-mass regions are consistent with gravitational instable Jeans fragmentation. Furthermore, we find multiple velocity components associated with the resolved cores. Recent radiative transfer hydrodynamic simulations of the dynamic collapse of massive gas clumps also result in multiple velocity components along the line of sight because of the clumpy structure of the regions. This result is supported by a ratio between viral and total gas mass for the whole region <1. Conclusions: This apparently still starless high-mass gas clump exhibits clear signatures of early fragmentation and dynamic collapse prior to the formation of an embedded heating source. A comparison with regions of lower mass reveals that the linear size of star-forming regions does not necessarily have to vary much for different masses, however, the mass reservoirs and gas densities are orders of magnitude enhanced for high-mass regions compared to their lower-mass siblings.04/2013; -
Article: Star Formation Rates in Resolved Galaxies: Calibrations with Near and Far Infrared Data for NGC5055 and NGC6946
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ABSTRACT: We use the near--infrared Br\gamma hydrogen recombination line as a reference star formation rate (SFR) indicator to test the validity and establish the calibration of the {\it Herschel} PACS 70 \mu m emission as a SFR tracer for sub--galactic regions in external galaxies. Br\gamma offers the double advantage of directly tracing ionizing photons and of being relatively insensitive to the effects of dust attenuation. For our first experiment, we use archival CFHT Br\gamma and Ks images of two nearby galaxies: NGC\,5055 and NGC\,6946, which are also part of the {\it Herschel} program KINGFISH (Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: a Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel). We use the extinction corrected Br\gamma emission to derive the SFR(70) calibration for H{\sc ii} regions in these two galaxies. A comparison of the SFR(70) calibrations at different spatial scales, from 200 pc to the size of the whole galaxy, reveals that about 50% of the total 70\mu m emission is due to dust heated by stellar populations that are unrelated to the current star formation. We use a simple model to qualitatively relate the increase of the SFR(70) calibration coefficient with decreasing region size to the star formation timescale. We provide a calibration for an unbiased SFR indicator that combines the observed H\alpha with the 70 \mu m emission, also for use in H{\sc ii} regions. We briefly analyze the PACS 100 and 160 \mu m maps and find that longer wavelengths are not as good SFR indicators as 70\mu m, in agreement with previous results. We find that the calibrations show about 50% difference between the two galaxies, possibly due to effects of inclination.04/2013; -
Article: The earliest phases of star formation - A Herschel key project. Thethermal structure of low-mass molecular cloud cores
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ABSTRACT: The temperature and density structure of molecular cloud cores are the most important physical quantities that determine the course of the protostellar collapse and the properties of the stars they form. Nevertheless, density profiles often rely either on the simplifying assumption of isothermality or on observationally poorly constrained model temperature profiles. With the aim of better constraining the initial physical conditions in molecular cloud cores at the onset of protostellar collapse, we initiated the Guaranteed Time Key Project (GTKP) "The Earliest Phases of Star Formation" (EPoS) with the Herschel satellite. This paper gives an overview of the low-mass sources in the EPoS project, including all observations, the analysis method, and the initial results of the survey. We study the thermal dust emission of 12 previously well-characterized, isolated, nearby globules using FIR and submm continuum maps at up to eight wavelengths between 100 micron and 1.2 mm. Our sample contains both globules with starless cores and embedded protostars at different early evolutionary stages. The dust emission maps are used to extract spatially resolved SEDs, which are then fit independently with modified blackbody curves to obtain line-of-sight-averaged dust temperature and column density maps. We find that the thermal structure of all globules is dominated by external heating from the interstellar radiation field and moderate shielding by thin extended halos. All globules have warm outer envelopes (14-20 K) and colder dense interiors (8-12 K). The protostars embedded in some of the globules raise the local temperature of the dense cores only within radii out to about 5000 AU, but do not significantly affect the overall thermal balance of the globules.Astronomy and Astrophysics 01/2013; 551(A98):35. · 4.59 Impact Factor -
Article: The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor and Dust-to-Gas Ratio on Kiloparsec Scales in Nearby Galaxies
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ABSTRACT: We present maps of the CO-to-H2 conversion factor (alpha_co) and dust-to-gas ratio (DGR) in 26 nearby, star-forming galaxies with ~kiloparsec spatial resolution. We have simultaneously solved for alpha_co and DGR by assuming that the DGR is approximately constant on kpc scales. With this assumption, we can combine maps of dust mass surface density, CO integrated intensity and HI column density to solve for both alpha_co and DGR with no assumptions about their value or dependence on metallicity or other parameters. Such a study has just become possible with the availability of high resolution far-IR maps from the Herschel key program KINGFISH, 12CO J=(2-1) maps from the IRAM 30m large program HERACLES and HI 21-cm line maps from THINGS. We use a fixed ratio between the (2-1) and (1-0) lines to present our alpha_co results on the more typically used 12CO J=(1-0) scale and show using literature measurements that variations in the line ratio do not effect our results. In total, we derive 782 individual solutions for alpha_co and DGR. On average, alpha_co = 3.1 Msun pc^-2 (K km s^-1)^-1 for our sample with a standard deviation of 0.3 dex. Within galaxies we observe a generally flat profile of alpha_co as a function of galactocentric radius. However, most galaxies exhibit a lower alpha_co in the central kiloparsec---a factor of ~2 below the galaxy mean, on average. In some cases, the central alpha_co value can be factors of 5 to 10 below the standard MW value of alpha_co,MW = 4.4 Msun pc^-2 (K km s^-1)^-1. While for alpha_co we find only weak correlations with metallicity, DGR is well-correlated with metallicity, with an approximately linear slope. Finally, we present several recommendations for choosing an appropriate alpha_co for studies of nearby galaxies.12/2012; -
Article: The Earliest Phases of Star formation (EPoS) observed with Herschel: the dust temperature and density distributions of B68
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ABSTRACT: Context. Isolated starless cores within molecular clouds can be used as a testbed to investigate the conditions prior to the onset of fragmentation and gravitational proto-stellar collapse. Aims. We aim to determine the distribution of the dust temperature and the density of the starless core B68. Methods. In the framework of the Herschel guaranteed time key programme The earliest phases of star formation (EPoS), we have imaged B68 between 100 and 500 µm. Ancillary data at (sub)millimetre wavelengths, spectral line maps of the 12 CO (2–1) and 13 CO (2–1) transitions as well as a NIR extinction map were added to the analysis. We employed a ray-tracing algorithm to derive the 2D mid-plane dust temperature and volume density distribution without suffering from line-of-sight averaging effects of simple SED fitting procedures. Additional 3D radiative transfer calculations were employed to investigate the connection between the external irradiation and the peculiar crescent shaped morphology found in the FIR maps. Results. For the first time, we spatially resolve the dust temperature and density distribution of B68, convolved to a beam size of 36. 4. We find a temperature gradient dropping from (16.7 +1.3 −1.0) K at the edge to (8.2 +2.1 −0.7) K in the centre, which is about 4 K lower than the result of the simple SED fitting approach. The column density peaks at N H = (4.3 +1.4 −2.8) × 10 22 cm −2 and the central volume density was determined to n H = (3.4 +0.9 −2.5) × 10 5 cm −3 . B68 has a mass of 3.1 M of material with A K > 0.2 mag for an assumed distance of 150 pc. We detect a compact source in the southeastern trunk, which is also seen in extinction and CO. At 100 and 160 µm, we observe a crescent of enhanced emission to the south. Conclusions. The dust temperature profile of B68 agrees well with previous estimates. We find the radial density distribution from the edge of the inner plateau outward to be n H ∝ r −3.5 . Such a steep profile can arise from either or both of the following: external irradiation with a significant UV contribution or the fragmentation of filamentary structures. Our 3D radiative transfer model of an externally irradiated core by an anisotropic ISRF reproduces the crescent morphology seen at 100 and 160 µm. Our CO observations show that B68 is part of a chain of globules in both space and velocity, which may indicate that it was once part of a filament which dispersed. We also resolve a new compact source in the southeastern trunk and find that it is slightly shifted in centroid velocity from B68, lending qualitative support to core collision scenarios.Astronomy and Astrophysics 11/2012; 547:A11. · 4.59 Impact Factor -
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Top co-authors
Top Journals
Institutions
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2012
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University of Wyoming
- Physics & Astronomy
Laramie, WY, USA
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2006–2012
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Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
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2008
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The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ, USA
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