DETECTION OF HF TOWARD PKS 1830–211, SEARCH FOR INTERSTELLAR H{sub 2}F{sup +}, AND LABORATORY STUDY OF H{sub 2}F{sup +} AND H{sub 2}Cl{sup +} DISSOCIATIVE RECOMBINATION
- Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530 (Japan)
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, SE-43992 Onsala (Sweden)
- Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1 (Canada)
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555 (Japan)
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan)
We report extragalactic observations of two fluorine-bearing species, hydrogen fluoride (HF) and fluoronium (H{sub 2}F{sup +}), in the z = 0.89 absorber in front of the lensed blazar PKS 1830−211 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. HF was detected toward both southwest and northeast images of the blazar, with column densities >3.4 × 10{sup 14} cm{sup −2} and 0.18 × 10{sup 14} cm{sup −2}, respectively. H{sub 2}F{sup +} was not detected, down to an upper limit (3σ) of 8.8 × 10{sup 11} cm{sup −2} and an abundance ratio of [H{sub 2}F{sup +}]/[HF] ⩽ 1/386. We also searched for H{sub 2}F{sup +} toward the Galactic sources NGC 6334 I and W51C, and toward Galactic center clouds with the Herschel HIFI spectrometer.{sup 6} The upper limit on the column density was derived to be 2.5 × 10{sup 11} cm{sup −2} in NGC 6334 I, which is 1/68 of that for H{sub 2}Cl{sup +}. In constrast, the ortho transition of H{sub 2}Cl{sup +} is detected toward PKS 1830–211. To understand the small abundance of interstellar H{sub 2}F{sup +}, we carried out laboratory experiments to determine the rate constants for the ion–electron recombination reaction by infrared time-resolved spectroscopy. The constants determined are k {sub e}(209 K) = (1.1±0.3)×10{sup −7} cm{sup 3} s{sup −1} and (0.46±0.05)×10{sup −7} cm{sup 3} s{sup −1} for H{sub 2}F{sup +} and H{sub 2}Cl{sup +}, respectively. The difference in the dissociative recombination rates between H{sub 2}F{sup +} and H{sub 2}Cl{sup +} by a factor ∼2 and the cosmic abundance ratio [F]/[Cl] ≈ 1/6 are not enough to explain the much smaller abundance of H{sub 2}F{sup +}. The difference in the formation mechanism of H{sub 2}F{sup +} and H{sub 2}Cl{sup +} in interstellar space would be a major factor in the small abundance of H{sub 2}F{sup +}.
- OSTI ID:
- 22862947
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 822, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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