Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Distribution Ofwater Vapor In Molecular Clouds, G Melrick, V Tolls, Ronald L. Snell, E Bergin, D Hollenbach, M Kaufman, D Li, D Neufeld

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We report the results of a large-area study of water vapor along the Orion Molecular Cloud ridge, the purpose of which was to determine the depth-dependent distribution of gas-phase water in dense molecular clouds. We find that the water vapor measured toward 77 spatial positions along the face-on Orion ridge, excluding positions surrounding the outflow associated with BN/KL and IRc2, display integrated intensities that correlate strongly with known cloud surface tracers such as CN, C₂H, ¹³CO J = 5-4, and HCN, and less well with the volume tracer N₂H⁺. Moreover, at total column …