|
Description
Atomic fine-structure line emission is a major cooling process in the interstellar medium (ISM). In particular the [CII] 158um line is one of the dominant cooling lines in photon-dominated regions (PDRs). However, it is not confined to PDRs but can also originate from the ionized gas closely surrounding young massive stars. The proportion of the [CII] emission from HII regions relative to that from PDRs can vary significantly. We investigate the question of how much of the [CII] emission in the nucleus of the nearby spiral galaxy IC 342 is contributed by PDRs and by the ionized gas. We examine the spatial variations of starburst/PDR activity and study the correlation of the [CII] line with the [NII] 205um emission line coming exclusively from the HII regions. We present small maps of [CII] 158um and [NII] 205um lines recently observed with the GREAT receiver on board SOFIA. We present different methods to utilize the superior spatial and spectral resolution of our new data to infer information on how the gas kinematics in the nuclear region influence the observed line profiles. In particular we present a super-resolution method to derive how unresolved, kinematically correlated structures in the beam contribute to the observed line shapes.
|
