Work

Nuclear de-excitation line emissions from giant molecular clouds

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Understanding how cosmic rays (CRs) propagate within the giant molecular clouds (GMCs) is critical for studying the dynamics and chemical processes inside the clouds. The flux of low-energy CRs inside the dense cores of GMCs strongly affects the heating and ionization of the gases and further influences the star-forming process. We analytically calculated the CR distribution inside GMCs assuming different diffusion coefficients, and estimated the corresponding nuclear de-excitation line emission and the ionization rate resulting from the interaction between the penetrating CRs and gases. We find that future MeV observations can be used as a unique probe to measure the low-energy CR density in situ and test different CR propagation scenario inside GMCs.

Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451973

Authors: Zhaodong Shi, Bing Liu, Rui-zhi Yang

Institutions: University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Deep Space Exploration Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,732

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China