H2 infrared emission and the formation of dense structures in the Orion molecular cloud

Details H2 infrared emission and the formation of dense structures in the Orion molecular cloud H2 infrared emission and the formation of dense structures in the Orion molecular cloud

Feb 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001a%26a...366..651v&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.366, p.651-661 (2001) Publication date: 00/2001

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

22

Ism: Individual Objects: Omc1, Ism: Kinematics And Dynamics, Ism: Molecules, Shock Waves, Infrared: Ism: Lines And Bands

Scientific paper

Observations are reported of IR emission of H_2 from a region of the Orion molecular cloud (OMC1) between the Becklin-Neugebauer object and IRc2 to the north and the Trapezium stars to the south. Data were obtained using the ESO 3.6 m telescope in the K-band around 2 mu m with the ADONIS adaptive optics system. Images of H_2 v=1-0 S(1) show a spatial resolution of ~ 0.15''. Detailed investigations of the distribution of sizes of structures in our images have been performed by area-perimeter analysis, Fourier analysis and brightness distribution studies. These demonstrate that structure is not fractal but shows a preferred scales of between 3 10-3 and 4 10-3 pc. In an attempt to estimate the density in observed structures, predictions of both shock models and photodissociation region models have been compared with measured emission brightness in the H_2 v=1-0 S(1) line. Magnetic (C-type) shocks with velocities of 30 km s-1 and pre-shock densities of 106 cm-3 yield the best representation of our data, notwithstanding significant discrepancies for the brightness ratio between v=2-1 S(1) and v=1-0 S(1) lines. Our results show that post-shock densities are several times 107 cm-3. This is sufficiently high that the passage of C-type shocks in Orion yields gravitational instability which may in turn trigger star formation in the post-shock gas.

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