Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Extended [C I] And (Co)-C-13 (5 -> 4) Emission In M17sw, Je Howe, Mln Ashby, Ea Bergin, G Chin, Nr Erickson, Pf Goldsmith, M Harwit, Dj Hollenbach, Mj Kaufman, Sc Kleiner, Dg Koch, Da Neufeld, Bm Patten, R Plume, R Schieder, Ronald L. Snell, Jr Stauffer, V Tolls, Z Wang, G Winnewisser, Yf Zhang, Gj Melnick

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We mapped a 13 × 22 pc region in emission from 492 GHz [C I] and, for the first time, 551 GHz ¹³CO (5 → 4) in the giant molecular cloud M17SW. The morphologies of the [C I] and ¹³CO emission are strikingly similar. The extent and intensity of the [C I] and ¹³CO (5 → 4) emission is explained as arising from photodissociation regions on the surfaces of embedded molecular clumps. Modeling of the ¹³CO (5 → 4) emission in comparison to ¹³CO (1 → 0) indicates a temperature gradient across the cloud, peaking …