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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium

A. G. G. M. Tielens
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The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium

This work provides a comprehensive overview of our current theoretical and

observational understanding of the interstellar medium of galaxies. With emphasis
on the microscopic physical and chemical processes in space, and their influence
on the macroscopic structure of the interstellar medium of galaxies, the book
includes the latest developments in this area of molecular astrophysics. The
various heating, cooling, and chemical processes relevant for the rarefied gas and
submicron-sized dust grains that constitute the interstellar medium are discussed
in detail. This provides a firm foundation for an in-depth understanding of
the ionized, neutral atomic, and molecular phases of the interstellar medium.
The physical and chemical properties of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
molecules and their role in the interstellar medium are highlighted, and the
physics and chemistry of warm and dense photodissociation regions are discussed.
This is an invaluable reference source for advanced undergraduate and graduate
students and research scientists.

Alexander Tielens is a professor of astrophysics at the Kapteyn Astronomical

Institute in the Netherlands, and a senior scientist with the Dutch space agency,
SRON. Prior to this, he has worked as an assistant researcher in the Astronomy
Department of the University of California, Berkeley, and as a senior scientist
at NASA Ames Research Center, California. He has published extensively on
various aspects of the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium.

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Cambridge University Press
0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
A. G. G. M. Tielens
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THE PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY

OF THE INTERSTELLAR
MEDIUM

A.G.G.M. TIELENS
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute

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Cambridge University Press
0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
A. G. G. M. Tielens
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cambridge university press

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© A. G. G. M. Tielens 2005

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant
collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2005

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN-13 978-0-521-82634-9 hardback

ISBN-10 0-521-82634-9 hardback

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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
A. G. G. M. Tielens
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Contents

Preface page ix
List of constants xi
List of conversion factors xii
1 The galactic ecosystem 1
1.1 Interstellar objects 2
1.2 Components of the interstellar medium 6
1.3 Energy sources 12
1.4 The Milky Way 18
1.5 The mass budget of the ISM 20
1.6 The lifecycle of the Galaxy 22
1.7 Physics and chemistry of the ISM 22
1.8 Further reading 23
2 Gas cooling 25
2.1 Spectroscopy 25
2.2 Cooling rate 45
2.3 Two-level system 46
2.4 Gas cooling in ionized regions 53
2.5 Gas cooling in neutral atomic regions 54
2.6 Cooling law 58
2.7 Further reading 60
3 Gas heating 63
3.1 Overview 63
3.2 Photo-ionization of atoms 64
3.3 Photo-electric heating 66
3.4 Photon heating by H2 71
3.5 Dust-gas heating 74
3.6 Cosmic-ray heating 75

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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
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vi Contents

3.7 X-ray heating 76

3.8 Turbulent heating 77
3.9 Heating due to ambipolar diffusion 79
3.10 Gravitational heating 80
3.11 The heating of the interstellar medium 80
3.12 Further reading 83
4 Chemical processes 85
4.1 Gas-phase chemical reactions 85
4.2 Grain-surface chemistry 101
4.3 Further reading 114
5 Interstellar dust 117
5.1 Introduction 117
5.2 Physical processes 118
5.3 Observations 145
5.4 The sizes of interstellar grains 157
5.5 The composition of interstellar dust 161
5.6 Further reading 169
6 Interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules 173
6.1 Introduction 173
6.2 IR emission by PAH molecules 175
6.3 PAH charge 190
6.4 Photochemistry of PAHs 198
6.5 Other large molecules 209
6.6 Infrared observations 212
6.7 The IR characteristics of PAHs 213
6.8 Further reading 224
7 HII regions 228
7.1 Overview 228
7.2 Ionization balance 228
7.3 Energy balance 246
7.4 Emission characteristics 251
7.5 Comparison with observations 256
7.6 Further reading 263
8 The phases of the ISM 265
8.1 Introduction 265
8.2 Physical processes in atomic gas 266
8.3 The CNM and WNM phases of the ISM 271
8.4 The warm ionized medium 276

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Contents vii

8.5 The hot intercloud medium 277

8.6 Summary: the violent ISM 285
8.7 Chemistry of diffuse clouds 287
8.8 The cosmic-ray ionization rate 299
8.9 Observations 304
8.10 Further reading 314
9 Photodissociation regions 317
9.1 Introduction 317
9.2 Ionization balance 319
9.3 Energy balance 320
9.4 Dust temperature 324
9.5 Chemistry 326
9.6 PDR structure 329
9.7 Comparison with observations 331
9.8 PDR diagnostic model diagrams 336
9.9 The Orion Bar 339
9.10 Physical conditions in PDRs 343
9.11 Hydrogen IR fluorescence spectrum 344
9.12 Further reading 345
10 Molecular clouds 348
10.1 Introduction 348
10.2 The degree of ionization 349
10.3 Energy balance 351
10.4 Gas-phase chemistry 353
10.5 Grain-surface chemistry 364
10.6 Gas–grain interaction 369
10.7 Observations 377
10.8 Further reading 392
11 Interstellar shocks 396
11.1 Introduction 396
11.2 J-shocks 397
11.3 C-shocks 408
11.4 Further reading 416
12 Dynamics of the interstellar medium 417
12.1 Introduction 417
12.2 The expansion of HII regions 418
12.3 Supernova explosions 440
12.4 Supernovae and the interstellar medium 447
12.5 Interstellar winds 453

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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
A. G. G. M. Tielens
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viii Contents

12.6 The kinetic energy budget of the ISM 458

12.7 Further reading 459
13 The lifecycle of interstellar dust 461
13.1 Introduction 461
13.2 Shock destruction 463
13.3 Dust lifetimes 468
13.4 The grain size distribution 470
13.5 Dust abundances and depletions 470
13.6 Mass balance of interstellar dust 474
13.7 Further reading 474
14 List of symbols 476
Index of compounds 484
Index of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 485
Index of molecules 487
Index of objects 490
Index 491

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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
A. G. G. M. Tielens
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Preface

When, upon my return to Holland, I started to teach an advanced course on the

interstellar medium in 1998, I quickly realized that there was no suitable textbook
available. There is, of course, the incomparable monograph by Spitzer, Physics
of the Interstellar Medium (1978, New York: Wiley and Sons). But that book is
quite challenging and not very suitable for a student course. Moreover, by now,
it is very dated. Over the intervening years, our insights into the basic physics of
the interstellar medium have much improved thanks, for example, to the opening
up of the infrared and submillimeter windows. In particular, molecules, which
we now know to be deeply interwoven into the fabric of the Universe, play
only a little role in Spitzer’s book. When Eddington made his famous remark,
“Atoms are physics but molecules are chemistry,” he merely expressed, on the
one hand, the dream of a physicist of a simple universe, which can be caught in
a single equation, and, on the other hand, the dread of a reality where solutions
are never clean and simple. The latter is of course obvious to a chemist and it
is now abundantly clear that Eddington’s fear has turned into reality, even for
astronomy. Present-day graduate students will require an intimate knowledge of
molecular astrophysics in order to be active in the field of the interstellar medium
of our own or other galaxies whether it is in the here and now or all the way
back in the early Universe. This will become even more the case with the launch
of the submillimeter space mission, Herschel, in 2007, when the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array is finished in 2011, and with the launch of the James Webb
Space Telescope in the next decade. Together these missions will push the frontier
of the molecular Universe all the way back to the initial pollution of the Universe
with the first metals by the first generation of luminous objects, which forever
spoiled the physicist’s Garden of Eden.
This book covers both the physics and the chemistry of the interstellar medium.
Chapters on heating, cooling, and chemical processes provide the students with
the necessary toolbox for the astrophysics and astrochemistry of the interstel-
lar medium. This background is rounded off with chapters on the physics and

ix

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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
A. G. G. M. Tielens
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x Preface

chemistry of interstellar dust and large molecules. Once the students have mastered
these subjects, they are well prepared for an in-depth discussion of classical topics
of the interstellar medium: HII regions, the phases of the interstellar medium,
shocks, and the dynamical interaction of HII regions, supernova remnants, and
stellar winds with the ISM. The chemistry of the interstellar medium is covered
in chapters on diffuse clouds, photodissociation regions, and molecular clouds.
All together, this forms a comprehensive course, covering most current aspects
of the interstellar medium, which will prepare students well for the future.
Over the years, this book grew from the course that I taught in Groningen.
Indeed, in many ways, writing this book carried me through those dark Dutch
days. Fortunately, I have many good friends who understand that, when the Sun
sets in October not to appear again until May, it is a good time to leave Holland
and visit other institutes. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Miller Institute and
the Astronomy Department of the University of California in Berkeley and my
hosts Imke de Pater and Chris McKee, to the Space Sciences Division of NASA
Ames Research Center and my hosts David Hollenbach and Lou Allamandola,
to the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory and my hosts Wil van Breugel and John Bradley, to the
Centre d’Etudes Spatiale des Rayonnements in Toulouse and my host Emmanuel
Caux, and to the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de l’Observatoire de Grenoble and
my host Cecilia Ceccarelli for their hospitality and for providing an environment
conducive to great science. Most of the chapters of this book were conceived
and written during these extended visits. Of course, much of this book reflects a
lifetime spent in discovering the molecular Universe. I want to thank Harm Habing
without whose human touch I would have left astronomy before even finishing
the first stage of my journey. Also, I owe much to Lou Allamandola and David
Hollenbach, with whom I have spent so many wonderful hours on the trail of
discovery: not only for sharing their deep insights and understanding of physical
and chemical processes of relevance to studies of the interstellar medium but,
particularly, for their friendship. I am also deeply indebted to the many graduate
students, who carried me through the many stages of this course, solved the many
LATEX problems, and always succeeded in making the right figures, as well as
for their careful proofreading of the manuscript. Most of all, their enthusiasm
always managed to perk me up. In this regard, I specifically want to thank Adwin
Boogert, Rense Boomsma, Jan Cami, Stephanie Cazaux, Sasha Hony, Jacquie
Keane, Leticia Martín-Hernández, Chris Ormel, Els Peeters, and Henrik Spoon for
their help. Finally, Marion understands like no other what it is to live away from
what feels like home. Her encouragement to follow my dream and her support
during these difficult years have made this possible. To my girls–Anneke, Saskia,
and Elske–the only thing I can say is that, now, it is really done.

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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
A. G. G. M. Tielens
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Constants

Physical constants

Symbol Description SI cgs

Value Unit Value Unit

c Speed of light 29979 8 m s−1 29979 10 cm−1 s−1

h Planck’s constant 66261−34 J s 66261−27 erg s
k Boltzmann’s 13807−23 J/K 13807−16 erg/K
constant
SB Stefan–Boltzmann 56704 −8 W m−2 K−4 56704 −5 erg s−1 cm−2 K−4
constant
G Gravitational 6674 −11 N m−2 kg−2 6674 −8 dyn cm−2 g−2
constant
NA Avogadro’s constant 60221 23 mol−1 60221 23 mol−1
me Electron rest mass 91094−31 kg 91094−28 g
mp Proton rest mass 16726−27 kg 16726−24 g
mu Atomic mass unit 16605−27 kg 16605−24 g
e Electron charge 1602 −19 C 4803 −10 esu
 Fine-structure 72974 −3 72974 −3
constant

Values a × 10b are given as a (b).

Astronomical constants

Symbol Description SI cgs

Value Unit Value Unit

AU Astronomical unit 1496 11 m 1496 13 cm

ly Light year 9463 15 m 9463 17 cm
pc Parsec 3086 16 m 3086 18 cm
pc2 Square parsec 95234 32 m2 95234 36 cm2
kpc2 Square kiloparsec 95234 38 m2 95234 42 cm2
L Solar luminosity 385 26 J s−1 385 33 erg s−1
M Solar mass 1989 30 kg 1989 33 g
R Solar radius 696 8 m 696 10 cm
T Solar effective 578 3 K 578 3 K
temperature
Jy Jansky 100 −26 W m−2 H z−1 100 −23 erg s−1 cm−2 Hz−1

Values a × 10b are given as a (b).

xi

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0521826349 - The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
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Conversion factors

Angles and lengths

Unit/symbol Description SI cgs

Value Unit Value Unit
deg degree 1745 3 −2 rad 1745 3 −2 rad
arcmin arcminute 2908 88 −4 rad 2908 88−4 rad
arcsec arcsecond 4848 1 −6 rad 4848 1 −6 rad
sq deg degree2 3046 −4 sr 3046 −4 sr
Å angstrom 10 −10 m 10 −8 cm
m micrometer 10 −6 m 10 −4 cm

Values a × 10b are given as a (b).

SI and cgs units

Description SI cgs
Value Unit Value Unit
Time 1 s 1 s
1 year 3.16 (7) s
Length 1 m 1 (2) cm
Velocity 1 m s−1 1 (2) cm s−1
Force 1 N 1 (5) dyne
Pressure 1 Pa 1 (−1) dyne cm−2
Energy 1 J 1 (7) erg
Charge 1 C 2.9979 (9) esu
Magnetic flux density 1 T 1 (4) gauss

Values a × 10b are given as a (b).

xii

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A. G. G. M. Tielens
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List of conversion factors xiii

Energy conversion factors

erg eV K cm−1 Hz
erg 100 6242 11 7243 15 5034 15 1509 26
eV 1602 −12 100 11604 4 80644 2418 14
K 13806 −16 8617 −5 100 0695 2084 10
cm−1 19865 −16 1240 −4 14389 100 2997010
Hz 6626 −27 4136 −15 4798 −11 3336 −11 100

Values a × 10b are given as a (b). To convert from unit in column 1 to units above the rows,
multiply by value; e.g., 1 eV = 1602 × 10−12 erg.

A useful compendium of constants can be found in C. W. Allen, Astrophysical

Quantities, (London: The Athlone Press). The website http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/,
maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, provides a
wealth of information on constants.

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