Ortho-to-para ratio of NH2. Herschel-HIFI observations of ortho- and para-NH2 rotational transitions towards W31C, W49N, W51, and G34.3+0.1
Persson, C. M.; Gerin, M.; Herbst, E.; Olberg, M.; Wyrowski, F.; Black, J. H.; Hily-Blant, P.; Lis, D.; Faure, A.; Olofsson, A. O. H.; Wirström, E. S.; Le Gal, R.; Hassel, G. E.
Sweden, United States, France, Germany
Abstract
We have used the Herschel-HIFI instrument to observe the two nuclear spin symmetries of amidogen (NH2) towards the high-mass star-forming regions W31C (G10.6-0.4), W49N (G43.2-0.1), W51 (G49.5-0.4), and G34.3+0.1. The aim is to investigate the ratio of nuclear spin types, the ortho-to-para ratio (OPR) of NH2 in the translucent interstellar gas, where it is traced by the line-of-sight absorption, and in the envelopes that surround the hot cores. The HIFI instrument allows spectrally resolved observations of NH2 that show a complicated pattern of hyperfine structure components in all its rotational transitions. The excited NH2 transitions were used to construct radiative transfer models of the hot cores and surrounding envelopes to investigate the excitation and possible emission of the ground-state rotational transitions of ortho-NH2NKa,KcJ = 11,1 3/2-00,0 1/2 (953 GHz) and para-NH2 21,2 5/2-10,1 3/2 (1444 GHz) used in the OPR calculations. Our best estimate of the average OPR in the envelopes lie above the high-temperature limit of three for W49N, specifically 3.5 with formal errors of ±0.1, but for W31C, W51, and G34.3+0.1 we find lower values of 2.5 ± 0.1, 2.7 ± 0.1, and 2.3 ± 0.1, respectively. Values this low are strictly forbidden in thermodynamical equilibrium since the OPR is expected to increase above three at low temperatures. In the translucent interstellar gas towards W31C, where the excitation effects are low, we find similar values between 2.2 ± 0.2 and 2.9 ± 0.2. In contrast, we find an OPR of 3.4 ± 0.1 in the dense and cold filament connected to W51 and also two lower limits of ≳4.2 and ≳5.0 in two other translucent gas components towards W31C and W49N. At low temperatures (T ≲ 50 K) the OPR of H2 is <10-1, far lower than the terrestrial laboratory normal value of three. In this para-enriched H2 gas, our astrochemical models can reproduce the variations of the observed OPR, both below and above the thermodynamical equilibrium value, by considering nuclear-spin gas-phase chemistry. The models suggest that values below three arise in regions with temperatures ≳20-25 K, depending on time, and values above three at lower temperatures.
Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.