The Carbon Inventory in a Quiescent, Filamentary Molecular Cloud in G328

• Main Authors: Burton, Michael, Ashley, Michael, Braiding, Catherine, Storey, John, Kulesa, Craig, Hollenbach, David, Wolfire, Mark, Glueck, Christian, Rowell, Gavin
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2014
• Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies astro-ph.GA; FOS Physical sciences; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1401.0421; https://arxiv.org/abs/1401.0421

We present spectral line images of [CI] 809 GHz, CO J=1-0 115 GHz and HI 1.4 GHz line emission, and calculate the corresponding C, CO and H column densities, for a sinuous, quiescent Giant Molecular Cloud about 5 kpc distant along the l=328° sightline (hereafter G328) in our Galaxy. The [CI] data comes from the High Elevation Antarctic Terahertz (HEAT) telescope, a new facility on the summit of the Antarctic plateau where the precipitable water vapor falls to the lowest values found on the surface of the Earth. The CO and HI datasets come from the Mopra and Parkes/ATCA telescopes, respectively. We identify a filamentary molecular cloud, ~75 x 5 pc long with mass ~4 x 10E4 Msun and a narrow velocity emission range of just 4 km/s. The morphology and kinematics of this filament are similar in CO, [CI] and HI, though in the latter appears as self-absorption. We calculate line fluxes and column densities for the three emitting species, which are broadly consistent with a PDR model for a GMC exposed to the average interstellar radiation field. The [C/CO] abundance ratio averaged through the filament is found to be approximately unity. The G328 filament is constrained to be cold (Tdust < 20K) by the lack of far-IR emission, to show no clear signs of star formation, and to only be mildly turbulent from the narrow line width. We suggest that it may represent a GMC shortly after formation, or perhaps still be in the process of formation. : 29 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (2014)