Modelling Herschel observations of infrared-dark clouds in the Hi-GAL survey

Stamatelos, Dimitrios, Griffin, Matthew Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0033-177X, Kirk, Jason M., Molinari, S., Sibthorpe, B., Ward-Thompson, Derek ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1140-2761, Whitworth, Anthony Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-5486 and Wilcock, Lucy Ann 2010. Modelling Herschel observations of infrared-dark clouds in the Hi-GAL survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 409 (1) , pp. 12-21. 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17093.x

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Abstract

We demonstrate the use of the 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code phaethon to model infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs) that are externally illuminated by the interstellar radiation field (ISRF). These clouds are believed to be the earliest observed phase of high-mass star formation, and may be the high-mass equivalent of lower mass pre-stellar cores. We model three different cases as examples of the use of the code, in which we vary the mass, density, radius, morphology and internal velocity field of the IRDC. We show the predicted output of the models at different wavelengths chosen to match the observing wavebands of Herschel and Spitzer. For the wavebands of the long-wavelength Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) photometer on Herschel, we also pass the model output through the SPIRE simulator to generate output images that are as close as possible to the ones that would be seen using SPIRE. We then analyse the images as if they were real observations, and compare the results of this analysis with the results of the radiative transfer models. We find that detailed radiative transfer modelling is necessary to accurately determine the physical parameters of IRDCs (e.g. dust temperature, density profile). This method is applied to study G29.55+00.18, an IRDC observed by the Herschel Infrared Galactic Plane Survey (Hi-GAL), and in the future it will be used to model a larger sample of IRDCs from the same survey.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Advanced Research Computing @ Cardiff (ARCCA) Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	radiative transfer; methods: numerical; stars: formation; ISM: clouds; dust, extinction; ISM: structure
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0035-8711/ (accessed 20/02/2014).
Publisher:	Royal Astronomical Society
ISSN:	0035-8711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	03 Nov 2023 07:25
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/11039

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