# Very High Excitation Lines of H$_{2}$ in the Orion Molecular Cloud Outflow

## TL;DR

This study detects highly excited H₂ lines in the Orion Molecular Cloud, revealing a small but significant hot component at around 5,000 K, especially in high-velocity outflows, indicating recent reformation of molecular hydrogen in shock regions.

## Contribution

It provides new observational evidence of a hot H₂ component at 5,000 K in shock-excited regions, highlighting its dependence on outflow velocities and suggesting recent molecular reformation.

## Key findings

- Detection of highly excited H₂ lines near dissociation limit.
- Presence of a hot H₂ component at ~5,000 K in some regions.
- Correlation between hot H₂ abundance and outflow velocity.

## Abstract

Vibration-rotation lines of H$_{2}$ from highly excited levels approaching the dissociation limit have been detected at a number of locations in the shocked gas of the Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC-1), including in a Herbig-Haro object near the tip of one of the OMC-1 "fingers." Population diagrams show that while the excited H$_{2}$ is almost entirely at a kinetic temperature of $\sim$1,800 K, (typical for vibrationally shock-excited H$_{2}$), as in the previously reported case of Herbig-Haro object HH 7 up to a few percent of the H$_{2}$ is at a kinetic temperature of $\sim$5,000~K. The location with the largest fraction of hot H$_{2}$ is the Herbig-Haro object, where the outflowing material is moving at a higher speed than at the other locations. Although theoretical work is required for a better understanding of the 5,000 K H$_{2}$, (including how it cools), its existence and the apparent dependence of its abundance relative to that of the cooler component on the relative velocities of the outflow and the surrounding ambient gas appear broadly consistent with it having recently reformed. The existence of this high temperature H$_{2}$ appears to be a common characteristic of shock-excited molecular gas.