Mass Flows in Cometary UCHII Regions

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0506116

From: Qingfeng Zhu [view email]

Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 16:29:05 GMT   (748kb)

High spectral and spatial resolution, mid-infrared fine structure line
observations toward two ultracompact HII (UCHII) regions (G29.96 -0.02 and Mon
R2) allow us to study the structure and kinematics of cometary UCHII regions.
In our earlier study of Mon R2, we showed that highly organized mass motions
accounted for most of the velocity structure in that UCHII region. In this
work, we show that the kinematics in both Mon R2 and G29.96 are consistent with
motion along an approximately paraboloidal shell. We model the velocity
structure seen in our mapping data and test the stellar wind bow shock model
for such paraboloidal like flows. The observations and the simulation indicate
that the ram pressures of the stellar wind and ambient interstellar medium
cause the accumulated mass in the bow shock to flow along the surface of the
shock. A relaxation code reproduces the mass flow’s velocity structure as
derived by the analytical solution. It further predicts that the pressure
gradient along the flow can accelerate ionized gas to a speed higher than that
of the moving star. In the original bow shock model, the star speed relative to
the ambient medium was considered to be the exit speed of ionized gas in the
shell.

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