First Submillimeter Lights from Dome A: Tracing the Carbon Cycle in the Feedback of Massive Stars

Abstract

The cycling of carbon between its ionized, atomic, and molecular phases shapes the chemical compositions and physical conditions of the interstellar medium (ISM). However, ground-based studies of the full carbon cycle have been limited by atmospheric absorption. Dome~A, the most promising site for submillimeter astronomy, has long resisted successful submillimeter astronomical observations. Using the 60~cm Antarctic Terahertz Explorer, we present the first successful CO ($4-3$) and [CI] (${}^3{P}_1{-}^3{P}_0$) mapping observations of two archetypal triggered massive star-formation regions at Dome~A. These data, together with archival [CII], provide the first complete characterization of all three carbon phases in these environments. We find elevated C${}^0$/CO abundance ratios in high-extinction regions, plausibly driven by deep penetration of intense radiation fields from massive stars into a clumpy ISM. These findings mark a major milestone for submillimeter astronomy at Dome~A and offer valuable insights into the impact of massive star feedback on the surrounding ISM.

This is the accepted manuscript of a paper published in Science Advances. The final version of record is available at DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aea9433

References in corpus (48)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor
• The Milky Way in Molecular Clouds: A New Complete CO Survey
• A computer program for fast non-LTE analysis of interstellar line spectra
• GLIMPSE: I. A SIRTF Legacy Project to Map the Inner Galaxy
• Trigonometric Parallaxes Of High-Mass Star Forming Regions: Our View Of The Milky Way
• The Dark Molecular Gas
• Planck Early Results: All sky temperature and dust optical depth from Planck and IRAS: Constraints on the "dark gas" in our galaxy
• Kinematics in Young Star Clusters and Associations with Gaia DR2
• A Herschel [CII] Galactic plane survey I: the global distribution of ISM gas components
• The CI lines as tracers of molecular gas, and their prospects at high redshifts
• Molecular Cloud Formation Behind Shock Waves
• The Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting (MWISP): Project Details and Initial Results from the Galactic Longitude of 25.8deg to 49.7deg
• Triggered star formation on the borders of the Galactic HII region RCW 120
• Photodissociation and X-Ray Dominated Regions
• Triggered massive-star formation on the borders of Galactic HII regions. II. Evidence for the collect and collapse process around RCW 79
• Multi-temperature mapping of dust structures throughout the Galactic Plane using the PPMAP tool with Herschel Hi-GAL data
• Spitzer observations of HH54 and HH7-11: mapping the H2 ortho-to-para ratio in shocked molecular gas
• Effective destruction of CO by cosmic rays: implications for tracing H${}_2$ gas in the Universe
• Disruption of the Orion Molecular Core 1 by the stellar wind of the massive star ${\theta }^1$ Ori C
• Temperature as a third dimension in column-density mapping of dusty astrophysical structures associated with star formation
• Cloud-cloud collision as a trigger of the high-mass star formation; a molecular line study in RCW120
• Modelling [CI] emission from turbulent molecular clouds
• An Alternative Accurate Tracer of Molecular Clouds: The "$X_{\mathrm{CI}}$-Factor"
• Direct measurements of carbon and sulfur isotope ratios in the Milky Way
• Astronomy in Antarctica
• AST/RO Observations of Atomic Carbon near the Galactic Center
• FEEDBACK: a SOFIA Legacy Program to Study Stellar Feedback in Regions of Massive Star Formation
• CO (J = 4-3) and [C I] Observations of the Carina Molecular Cloud Complex
• Assessments of Ali, Dome A, and Summit Camp for Mm-wave Observations Using MERRA-2 Reanalysis
• Large-scale mapping observations of the CI(3P1-3P0) and CO(J=3-2) lines toward the Orion A molecular cloud
• Star formation towards the Galactic HII region RCW120
• Full SED fitting with the KOSMA-τ PDR code - I. Dust modelling
• Extensive [CI] Mapping toward the Orion-A Molecular Cloud
• The PhotoDissociation Region Toolbox: Software and Models for Astrophysical Analysis
• Self-absorption in [CII], ${}^{12}$CO, and HI in RCW120. Building up a geometrical and physical model of the region
• Ionized carbon as a tracer of the assembly of interstellar clouds
• Herschel observations of the Galactic HII region RCW 79
• Extended Carbon Line Emission in the Galaxy: Searching for Dark Molecular Gas along the G328 Sightline
• The formation of a Spitzer bubble RCW79 triggered by cloud-cloud collision
• The KOSMA-$\tau$ PDR Model -- I. Recent updates to the numerical model of photo-dissociated regions
• [CII] 158$\mu$m and [NII] 205$\mu$m emission from IC 342 - Disentangling the emission from ionized and photo-dissociated regions
• The SOFIA FEEDBACK Legacy Survey: Rapid molecular cloud dispersal in RCW 79
• Astronomy from Dome A in Antarctica
• CI and CO in Nearby Spiral Galaxies -- I. Line Ratio and Abundance Variations at ~ 200 pc Scales
• Large-scale CO (J=4-3) Mapping toward the Orion-A Giant Molecular Cloud
• ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy. X. Observations of atomic carbon at 492 GHz
• [C II]-deficit caused by self-absorption in an ionized carbon-filled bubble in RCW79