Extended Carbon Line Emission in the Galaxy: Searching for Dark Molecular Gas along the G328 Sightline

TL;DR

This study maps multiple spectral lines in a Galactic Plane region, revealing the distribution and properties of molecular, atomic, and photodissociation region gas, and modeling their emission to understand the molecular cloud surfaces.

Contribution

It provides detailed spectral line observations and PDR modeling along the G328 sightline, highlighting the extent of dark molecular gas not traced by CO.

Findings

Similar distribution of [CI] and CO emission, both enveloped in HI.

Line ratios increase at cloud edges, indicating PDR surfaces.

Approximately one-third of molecular gas is in PDR surfaces, with some atomic hydrogen in cold PDR gas.

Abstract

We present spectral data cubes of the [CI] 809GHz, 12CO 115GHz, 13CO 110GHz and HI 1.4GHz line emission from an 1 square degree region along the l = 328{\deg} (G328) sightline in the Galactic Plane. Emission arises principally from gas in three spiral arm crossings along the sight line. The distribution of the emission in the CO and [CI] lines is found to be similar, with the [CI] slightly more extended, and both are enveloped in extensive HI. Spectral line ratios per voxel in the data cubes are found to be similar across the entire extent of the Galaxy. However, towards the edges of the molecular clouds the [CI]/13CO and 12CO/13CO line ratios rise by ~50%, and the [CI]/HI ratio falls by ~10$%. We attribute this to these sightlines passing predominantly through the surfaces of photodissociation regions (PDRs), where the carbon is found mainly as C or C+, while the H2 is mostly molecular, and the proportion of atomic gas also increases. We undertake modelling of the PDR emission from low density molecular clouds excited by average interstellar radiation fields and cosmic-ray ionization to quantify this comparison, finding that depletion of sulfur and reduced PAH abundance is needed to match line fluxes and ratios. Roughly one-third of the molecular gas along the sightline is found to be associated with this surface region, where the carbon is largely not to be found in CO. ~10% of the atomic hydrogen along the sightline is cold gas within PDRs.