Synthetic [CII] emission maps of a simulated molecular cloud in formation

TL;DR

This study uses radiative transfer simulations to analyze [CII] emission from a young molecular cloud, revealing its origin mainly from cold, moderate-density atomic gas and its limited correlation with molecular hydrogen, providing insights into early cloud conditions.

Contribution

The paper presents the first detailed non-LTE radiative transfer analysis of [CII] emission in a simulated early-stage molecular cloud, clarifying its physical origins and emission properties.

Findings

[CII] emission is optically thick over 40% of the area.

Primarily originates from cold, moderate-density atomic gas.

[CII] is not a reliable tracer for CO-dark H₂ at this stage.

Abstract

The C$^{+}$ ion is an important coolant of interstellar gas, and so the [CII] fine structure line is frequently observed in the interstellar medium. However, the physical and chemical properties of the [CII]-emitting gas are still unclear. We carry out non-LTE radiative transfer simulations with RADMC-3D to study the [CII] line emission from a young, turbulent molecular cloud before the onset of star formation, using data from the SILCC-Zoom project. The [CII] emission is optically thick over 40% of the observable area with $I_{[\textrm{CII}]} > 0.5$ K km s$^{-1}$. To determine the physical properties of the [CII] emitting gas, we treat the [CII] emission as optically thin. We find that the [CII] emission originates primarily from cold, moderate density gas ($40 \lesssim T \lesssim 65$ K and $50 \lesssim n \lesssim 440$ cm$^{-3}$), composed mainly of atomic hydrogen and with an effective visual extinction between $\sim 0.50$ and $\sim 0.91$. Gas dominated by molecular hydrogen contributes only $\lesssim$20% of the total [CII] line emission. Thus, [CII] is not a good tracer for CO-dark H$_2$ at this early phase in the cloud's lifetime. We also find that the total gas, H and C$^+$ column densities are all correlated with the integrated [CII] line emission, with power law slopes ranging from 0.5 to 0.7. Further, the median ratio between the total column density and the [CII] line emission is $Y_{{\rm CII}}\approx 1.1 \times 10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$ (K km s$^{-1}$)$^{-1}$, and $Y_{{\rm CII}}$ scales with $I_{[\textrm{CII}]}^{-0.3}$. We expect $Y_{{\rm CII}}$ to change in environments with a lower or higher radiation field than simulated here.