Estimating Column Density in Molecular Clouds with FIR and Sub-mm Emission Maps

Details Estimating Column Density in Molecular Clouds with FIR and Sub-mm Emission Maps Estimating Column Density in Molecular Clouds with FIR and Sub-mm Emission Maps

2006-02-13

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0602286v1

Astrophys.J. 640 (2006) L47-L50

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Accepted to ApJ Letters

Scientific paper

10.1086/503292

We have used a numerical simulation of a turbulent cloud to synthesize maps of the thermal emission from dust at a variety of far-IR and sub-mm wavelengths. The average column density and external radiation field in the simulation is well matched to clouds such as Perseus and Ophiuchus. We use pairs of single-wavelength emission maps to derive the dust color temperature and column density, and we compare the derived column densities with the true column density. We demonstrate that longer wavelength emission maps yield less biased estimates of column density than maps made towards the peak of the dust emission spectrum. We compare the scatter in the derived column density with the observed scatter in Perseus and Ophiuchus. We find that while in Perseus all of the observed scatter in the emission-derived versus the extinction-derived column density can be attributed to the flawed assumption of isothermal dust along each line of sight, in Ophiuchus there is additional scatter above what can be explained by the isothermal assumption. Our results imply that variations in dust emission properties within a molecular cloud are not necessarily a major source of uncertainty in column density measurements.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Estimating Column Density in Molecular Clouds with FIR and Sub-mm Emission Maps does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Estimating Column Density in Molecular Clouds with FIR and Sub-mm Emission Maps, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Estimating Column Density in Molecular Clouds with FIR and Sub-mm Emission Maps will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-166791