PDRs4All VIII. Mid-infrared emission line inventory of the Orion Bar
Journal article, 2024

Context. Mid-infrared emission features are important probes of the properties of ionized gas and hot or warm molecular gas, which are difficult to probe at other wavelengths. The Orion Bar photodissociation region (PDR) is a bright, nearby, and frequently studied target containing large amounts of gas under these conditions. Under the “PDRs4All” Early Release Science Program for JWST, a part of the Orion Bar was observed with MIRI integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy, and these high-sensitivity IR spectroscopic images of very high angular resolution (0.2′′) provide a rich observational inventory of the mid-infrared (MIR) emission lines, while resolving the H II region, the ionization front, and multiple dissociation fronts.
Aims. We list, identify, and measure the most prominent gas emission lines in the Orion Bar using the new MIRI IFU data. An initial analysis summarizes the physical conditions of the gas and demonstrates the potential of these new data and future IFU observations with JWST. Methods. The MIRI IFU mosaic spatially resolves the substructure of the PDR, its footprint cutting perpendicularly across the ionization front and three dissociation fronts. We performed an up-to-date data reduction, and extracted five spectra that represent the ionized, atomic, and molecular gas layers. We identified the observed lines through a comparison with theoretical line lists derived from atomic data and simulated PDR models. The identified species and transitions are summarized in the main table of this work, with measurements of the line intensities and central wavelengths.
Results. We identified around 100 lines and report an additional 18 lines that remain unidentified. The majority consists of H I recombination lines arising from the ionized gas layer bordering the PDR. The H I line ratios are well matched by emissivity coefficients from H recombination theory, but deviate by up to 10% because of contamination by He I lines. We report the observed emission lines of various ionization stages of Ne, P, S, Cl, Ar, Fe, and Ni. We show how the Ne III/Ne II, S IV/S III, and Ar III/Ar II ratios trace the conditions in the ionized layer bordering the PDR, while Fe III/Fe II and Ni III/Ni II exhibit a different behavior, as there are significant contributions to Fe II and Ni II from the neutral PDR gas. We observe the pure-rotational H2 lines in the vibrational ground state from 0–0 S(1) to 0–0 S(8), and in the first vibrationally excited state from 1–1 S(5) to 1–1 S(9). We derive H2 excitation diagrams, and for the three observed dissociation fronts, the rotational excitation can be approximated with one thermal (∼700 K) component representative of an average gas temperature, and one nonthermal component (∼2700 K) probing the effect of UV pumping. We compare these results to an existing model of the Orion Bar PDR, and find that the predicted excitation matches the data qualitatively, while adjustments to the parameters of the PDR model are required to reproduce the intensity of the 0–0 S(6) to S(8) lines.

photon-dominated region (PDR)

ISM: atoms

ISM: lines and bands

infrared: ISM

ISM: molecules

Author

Dries Van De Putte

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Raphael Meshaka

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

Boris Trahin

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Emilie Habart

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

Els Peeters

Western University

O. Berné

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Felipe Alarcon

University of Michigan

Amelie Canin

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Ryan Chown

Western University

Ilane Schroetter

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Ameek Sidhu

Western University

Christiaan Boersma

NASA Ames Research Center

E. Bron

Paris Observatory

E. Dartois

University Paris-Saclay

J.R. Goicoechea

CSIC - Instituto de Fisica Fundamental (IFF)

K. Gordon

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Takashi Onaka

University of Tokyo

A.G.G.M. Tielens

Leiden University

Laurent Verstraete

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

M.G. Wolfire

College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences

Alain Abergel

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

E. A. Bergin

University of Michigan

J. Bernard-Salas

Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur

Jan Cami

Western University

S. Cuadrado

CSIC - Instituto de Fisica Fundamental (IFF)

D. Dicken

Royal Observatory

Meriem Elyajouri

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

A. Fuente

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

C. Joblin

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Baria Khan

Western University

Ozan Lacinbala

Quantum Solid State Physics (QSP)

David Languignon

Paris Observatory

R. Le Gal

Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG)

Alexandros Maragkoudakis

NASA Ames Research Center

Yoko Okada

University of Cologne

Sofia Pasquini

Western University

Marc W. Pound

College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences

Massimo Robberto

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

M. Rollig

Physikalischer Verein

Bethany Schefter

Western University

Thiébaut Schirmer

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

Benoît Tabone

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

S. Vicente

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA)

Marion Zannese

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

Sean W. J. Colgan

NASA Ames Research Center

J. H. He

Yunnan Observatories

Gaël Rouillé

Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Aditya Togi

Texas State University

I. Aleman

Federal University of Itajubá

Rebecca Auchettl

Australian Synchrotron (ANSTO)

Giuseppe Antonio Baratta

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Salma Bejaoui

NASA Ames Research Center

Partha P. Bera

NASA Ames Research Center

John H Black

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

F. Boulanger

Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure

Jordy Bouwman

University of Colorado at Boulder

B. R. Brandl

Leiden University

Philippe Brechignac

University Paris-Saclay

S. Brünken

Radboud University

Mridusmita Buragohain

University of Hyderabad

Andrew Burkhardt

Wellesley College

Alessandra Candian

Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy

S. Cazaux

Delft University of Technology

Jose Cernicharo

CSIC - Instituto de Fisica Fundamental (IFF)

Marin Chabot

University Paris-Saclay

Shubhadip Chakraborty

Gitam School of Science

Jason Champion

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Ilsa R. Cooke

University of British Columbia (UBC)

A. Coutens

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

N. L. J. Cox

Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur

K. Demyk

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Jennifer Donovan Meyer

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Sacha Foschino

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

P. Garcia-Lario

European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)

M. Gerin

Paris Observatory

C. A. Gottlieb

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

P. Guillard

Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris

Antoine Gusdorf

Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure

Patrick Hartigan

Rice University

E Herbst

University of Virginia

Liv Hornekaer

Aarhus University

Lina Issa

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Cornelia Jäger

Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Eduardo Janot-Pacheco

University of Sao Paulo (USP)

Olga Kannavou

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

M. Kaufman

San Jose State University

F. Kemper

Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC

S. Kendrew

European Space Agency (ESA)

M. S. Kirsanova

Russian Academy of Sciences

Pamela Klaassen

Royal Observatory

Sun Kwok

University of British Columbia (UBC)

A. Labiano

European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)

Thomas Lai

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Bertrand Le Floch

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux

Franck Le Petit

Paris Observatory

Aigen Li

University of Missouri

H. Linz

Max Planck Society

Cameron J. MacKie

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

S. C. Madden

University Paris-Saclay

Joëlle Mascetti

Institut des Sciences Moleculaires, Talence

Brett McGuire

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Pablo Merino

CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM)

Elisabetta R. Micelotta

University of Helsinki

Jon A. Morse

AstronetX

Giacomo Mulas

Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP)

Naslim Neelamkodan

United Arab Emirates University

Ryou Ohsawa

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

A.A. Omont

Paris Observatory

R. Paladini

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Maria Elisabetta Palumbo

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Amit Pathak

Banaras Hindu University

Yvonne J. Pendleton

University of Central Florida

Annemieke Petrignani

University of Amsterdam

Thomas Pino

University Paris-Saclay

E. Puga

European Space Agency (ESA)

Naseem Rangwala

NASA Ames Research Center

Mathias Rapacioli

UMR5626

J. Rho

SETI Institute

Alessandra Ricca

SETI Institute

J. Roman-Duval

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Joseph Roser

SETI Institute

Evelyne Roueff

Paris Observatory

Farid Salama

NASA Ames Research Center

Dinalva A. Sales

Estatística e Física

Karin Sandstrom

University of California at San Diego (UCSD)

Peter Sarre

University of Nottingham

Ella Sciamma-O'Brien

NASA Ames Research Center

Kris Sellgren

Ohio State University

Sachindev S. Shenoy

Space Science Institute

D. Teyssier

European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)

Richard D. Thomas

Stockholm University

Adolf N. Witt

University of Toledo

A. Wootten

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Nathalie Ysard

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

H. Zettergren

Stockholm University

Yong Zhang

Sun Yat-Sen University

Ziwei E. Zhang

RIKEN

Junfeng Zhen

Deep Space Exploration Laboratory

Astronomy and Astrophysics

0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)

Vol. 687 A86

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202449295

More information

Latest update

8/7/2024 1