MAPPING THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF METAL-BEARING OXIDES IN VY CANIS MAJORIS

Burkhardt, Andrew

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/79268 Copy

Description

Title

MAPPING THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF METAL-BEARING OXIDES IN VY CANIS MAJORIS

Author(s)

Burkhardt, Andrew

Contributor(s)

• Ziurys, Lucy M.
• Carroll, Brandon
• Remijan, Anthony
• Booth, S. Tom

Issue Date

24-Jun-15

Keyword(s)

Astronomy

Abstract

The formation of silicate-based dust grains is not well constrained. Despite this, grain surface chemistry is essential to modern astrochemical formation models. In carbon-poor stellar envelopes, such as the red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa), metal-bearing oxides, the building blocks of silicate grains, dominate the grain formation, and thus are a key location to study dust chemistry. chem{TiO_2}, which was only first detected in the radio recently (Kaminski et al., 2013a), has been proposed to be a critical molecule for silicate grain formation, and not oxides containing more abundant metals (eg. Si, Fe, and Mg) (Gail and Sedlmayr, 1998). In addition, other molecules, such as chem{SO_2}, have been found to trace shells produced by numerous outflows pushing through the expanding envelope, resulting in a complex velocity structure (Ziurys et al., 2007). With the advanced capabilities of ALMA, it is now possible to individually resolve the velocity structure of each of these outflows and constrain the underlying chemistry in the region. Here, we present high resolution maps of rotational transitions of several metal-bearing oxides in VY CMa from the ALMA Band 7 and Band 9 Science Verification observations. With these maps, the physical parameters of the region and the formation chemistry of metal-bearing oxides will be studied.

Publisher

International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy

Type of Resource

text

Language

English

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/79268

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