Atomic carbon in interstellar clouds

Details Atomic carbon in interstellar clouds Atomic carbon in interstellar clouds

Feb 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994a%26a...282..225f&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 282, no. 1, p. 225-232

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

39

Astronomical Models, Carbon, Carbon Monoxide, Interstellar Matter, Line Spectra, Molecular Clouds, Radio Astronomy, Radio Spectra, Astronomical Spectroscopy, Cyanogen, Fine Structure, Interstellar Gas, Mathematical Models, Metallicity, Photoionization, Rotational Spectra

Scientific paper

We have computed models of interstellar clouds in order to determine the transition from the warm, photon-dominated region at the edge to the cold, dark interior. We find that the equilibrium value of the C/CO ratio in the interior is crucially dependent on the fractional ionization of the gas, which varies with the cosmic ray flux, the metallicity, and the kinetic temperature. When the degree of ionization in the cloud center exceeds a critical value, the ratio n(C)/n(CO) increases by about two orders of magnitude, to n(C)/n(CO) approximately equal 0.1. However, this increase is not reflected in the intensities of the C I fine structure emission lines, when they arise predominantly in the photon-dominated region. Instead, the rotational transitions of carbon-bearing species, such as CH and CN, are better indicators of the atomic carbon content of the cloud interior.

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