Shinji Horiuchi

Kinematics and Distance of Water Masers in W3 IRS 5

We have made multiepoch VLBA observations of water masers in the massive-star forming region W3 IRS 5. We measured radial velocities and proper motions of 108 water maser features during three observing sessions. The masers are clustered in two groups, which are associated with at least two different outflows. Positions of the outflow origins are close to the hypercompact radio continuum sources, which are clustered within a scale of 6000 AU. The continuum sources are probably driving sources of the outflows. We performed a three-dimensional kinematic model analysis of the maser motions in one of the two outflows, assuming a spherically symmetric expanding flow. We obtained a distance to the W3 IRS 5 region as 1.83 ? 0.14 kpc. The directions of the two outflows are roughly in the north-south direction, which is not significantly different from the direction of the global outflow seen in CO (J = 2-1) emission. This suggests that the massive-star cluster in the W3 IRS 5 region was created during formation of hierarchical structure in a parent molecular-cloud core. Such a structure is expected to preserve the angular momentum vector during star formation process, which may be along the directions of the present outflows.

The VSOP Prelaunch H2O Maser Survey. I. VLBA Observations

We present the first results from an H2O maser survey conducted with the VLBA for determining candidate sources for space VLBI missions. We observed 60 sources in total: four late-type stars, 29 star-forming regions, and 27 H II regions. These are the first interferometric observations of any kind for 50% of the sources. Approximately 30% of the sources we observed exhibit highly compact structure and very strong emission, which make them ideal targets for space VLBI missions.

The VSOP 5 GHz active galactic nucleus survey. IV. The angular size/brightness temperature distribution

The VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) mission is a Japanese-led project to study radio sources with submilliarcsecond angular resolution, using an orbiting 8 m telescope on board the satellite HALCA with a global Earth-based array of telescopes. A major program is the 5 GHz VSOP Survey Program, which we supplement here with Very Long Baseline Array observations to produce a complete and flux density - limited sample. Using statistical methods of analysis of the observed visibility amplitude versus projected (u, v) spacing, we have determined the angular size and brightness temperature distribution of bright radio emission from active galactic nuclei. On average, the cores have a diameter ( full width, half-power) of 0.20 mas, which contains about 20% of the total source emission, and 14% +/- 6% of the cores are less than 0.04 mas in size. About 20% +/- 5% of the radio cores have a source frame brightness temperature T-b > 1.0 x 10(13) K, and 3% +/- 2% have T-b > 1.0 x 10(14) K. A model of the high brightness temperature tail suggests that the radio cores have brightness temperatures approximate to1 x 10(12) K and are beamed toward the observer with an average bulk motion of beta = 0.993 +/- 0.004.

Ten Milliparsec-Scale Structure of the Nucleus Region in Centaurus A

We present the results of a VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) observation of the subparsec structure in Centaurus A at 4.9 GHz. Owing to its proximity, our Centaurus A space-VLBI image is one of the highest spatial resolution images of an AGN ever made -- 0.01 pc per beam. The elongated core region is resolved into several components over 10 milli-arcseconds long (0.2 pc) including a compact component of brightness temperature 2.2x10^10K. We analyze the jet geometry in terms of collimation. Assuming the strongest component to be the core, the jet opening angle at ~ 5,000 r_s (Schwarzchild radii) from the core is estimated to be ~ 12 degree, with collimation of the jet to ~ 3 degree continuing out to ~ 20,000 r_s. This result is consistent with previous studies of the jet in M87, which favor MHD disk outflow models. Future space VLBI observations at higher frequencies will probably be able to image the collimation region, within 1,000 r_s of the center of Centaurus A, together with the accretion disk itself.

The VSOP 5 GHz Active Galactic Nucleus Survey. III. Imaging results for the first 102 sources

The VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) mission is a Japanese-led project to study radio sources with sub-milliarcsec resolution using an orbiting 8 m telescope, HALCA, along with global arrays of Earth-based telescopes. Approximately 25% of the observing time is devoted to a survey of compact active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that are stronger than 1 Jy at 5 GHz-the VSOP AGN Survey. This paper, the third in the series, presents the results from the analysis of the first 102 Survey sources. We present high-resolution images and plots of visibility amplitude versus projected baseline length. In addition, model-fit parameters to the primary radio components are listed, and from these the angular size and brightness temperature for the radio cores are calculated. For those sources for which we were able to determine the source frame core brightness temperature, a significant fraction (53 out of 98) have a source frame core brightness temperature in excess of 10(12) K. The maximum source frame core brightness temperature we observed was 1.2x10(13) K. Explaining a brightness temperature this high requires an extreme amount of relativistic Doppler beaming. Since the maximum brightness temperature one is able to determine using only ground-based arrays is of the order of 10(12) K, our results confirm the necessity of using space VLBI to explore the extremely high brightness temperature regime.

Linear Polarization Observations of Water Masers in W3 IRS 5

We present a magnetic field mapping of water maser clouds in the star-forming region W3 IRS 5, which has been made on the basis of the linear polarization VLBI observation. Using the Very Long Baseline Array at 22.2 GHz, 16 of 61 detected water masers were found to be linearly polarized with polarization degrees up to 13%. Although 10 polarized features were widely distributed in the whole W3 IRS 5 water maser region, they had position angles similar to the magnetic field vectors (~75° east from the north). The magnetic field vectors are roughly perpendicular to the spatial alignments of the maser features. They are consistent with the hourglass model of the magnetic field, which was previously proposed to explain the magnetic field in the whole W3 Main region (r ~ 0.1 pc). They are, on the other hand, not aligned to the directions of maser feature proper motions observed previously. This implies that the W3 IRS 5 magnetic field was controlled by a collapse of the W3 Main molecular cloud rather than by the outflow originated from W3 IRS 5.

Direct imaging of the massive black hole, SgrA

Imaging the vicinity of black hole is one of the ultimate goals of VLBI astronomy. The closest massive black hole, SgrA*, located at Galactic center is the leading candidate for such observations. Combined with recent VLBI recording technique and sub-mm radio engineering, we now have the sufficient sensitivity for the observations. We here show performance simulations of sub-mm VLBI arrays for imaging SgrA*. An excellent image is obtained from a sub-mm. VLBI array in southern hemisphere like the configuration of VLBA. We also note that even with a small array, we. can estimate the shadow size and then the mass of black hole from visibility analysis. Now, if only constructing a, sub-mm VLBI array in southern hemisphere, we can unveil the black hole environments of SgrA*.

Characterizing the Transition from Diffuse Atomic to Dense Molecular Clouds in the Magellanic Clouds with [C ii], [C i], and CO

We present and analyze deep Herschel/HIFI observations of the [CII] 158um, [CI] 609um, and [CI] 370um lines towards 54 lines-of-sight (LOS) in the Large and Small Magellanic clouds. These observations are used to determine the physical conditions of the line--emitting gas, which we use to study the transition from atomic to molecular gas and from C^+ to C^0 to CO in their low metallicity environments. We trace gas with molecular fractions in the range 0.1 0.45 in both the LMC and SMC. Ionized carbon is the dominant gas-phase form of this element that is associated with molecular gas, with C^0 and CO representing a small fraction, implying that most (89% in the LMC and 77% in the SMC) of the molecular gas in our sample is CO-dark H2. The mean X_CO conversion factors in our LMC and SMC sample are larger than the value typically found in the Milky Way. When applying a correction based on the filling factor of the CO emission, we find that the values of X_CO in the LMC and SMC are closer to that in the Milky Way. The observed [CII] intensity in our sample represents about 1% of the total far-infrared intensity from the LOSs observed in both Magellanic Clouds.

The VSOP 5 GHz Active Galactic Nucleus Survey. II. Data Calibration and Imaging

The VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) mission is a Japanese-led project to study radio sources with sub-milliarcsecond angular resolution using an orbiting 8 m telescope, HALCA, and global arrays of Earth-based telescopes. Approximately 25% of the observing time has been devoted to a survey of compact active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at 5 GHz that are stronger than 1 Jy—the VSOP AGN Survey. This paper, the second in a series, describes the data calibration, source detection, self-calibration, imaging, and modeling and gives examples illustrating the problems specific to space VLBI. The VSOP Survey Web site, which contains all results and calibrated data, is described.

Pulse Morphology of the Galactic Center Magnetar PSR J1745–2900

We present results from observations of the Galactic Center magnetar, PSR J1745-2900, at 2.3 and 8.4 GHz with the NASA Deep Space Network 70 m antenna, DSS-43. We study the magnetars radio profile shape, flux density, radio spectrum, and single pulse behavior over a ~1 year period between MJDs 57233 and 57621. In particular, the magnetar exhibits a significantly negative average spectral index of