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We have developed a test setup to measure frequency up-conversion gain in superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) junctions at W band (75–110 GHz). A conventional SIS mixer with Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions was used as a frequency up-converter. An up-converted signal is measured by a room-temperature down-converter system. We observed distinct intermediate frequency responses to signal inputs from a continuous microwave source. The measured single-sideband up-conversion gain in SIS junctions was clearly positive (> 0 dB) with input frequency less than 2 GHz, which was well-calibrated by using an input from the continuous-wave source.

We have observed the young protostellar system NGC 2264 CMM3 in the 1.3 mm and 2.0 mm bands at a resolution of about 0.1$"$ (70 au) with ALMA. The structures of two distinct components, CMM3A and CMM3B, are resolved in the continuum images of both bands. CMM3A has an elliptical structure extending along the direction almost perpendicular to the known outflow, while CMM3B reveals a round shape. We have fitted two 2D-Gaussian components to the elliptical structure of CMM3A and CMM3B, and have separated the disk and envelope components for each source. The spectral index $\alpha$ between 2.0 mm and 0.8 mm is derived to be 2.4-2.7 and 2.4-2.6 for CMM3A and CMM3B, respectively, indicating the optically thick dust emission and/or the grain growth. A velocity gradient in the disk/envelope direction is detected for CMM3A in the CH$_3$CN, CH$_3$OH, and $^{13}$CH$_3$OH lines detected in the 1.3 mm band, which can be interpreted as the rotation of the disk/envelope system. From this result, the protostellar mass of CMM3A is roughly evaluated to be $0.1- 0.5$ $M_\odot$ by assuming Keplerian rotation. The mass accretion rate is thus estimated to be $5\times10^{-5}$ - 4 $\times$ $10^{-3}$ $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, which is higher than typical mass accretion rate of low-mass protostars. The OCS emission line shows a velocity gradient in both outflow direction and disk/envelope direction. A hint of outflow rotation is found, and the specific angular momentum of the outflow is estimated to be comparable to that of the disk. These results provide us with novel information on the initial stage of a binary/multiple system., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 21 pages, 12 figures

A full understanding of high-mass star formation requires the study of one of the most elusive components of the energy balance in the interstellar medium: magnetic fields. We report Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 1.2 mm, high-resolution (700 au) dust polarization and molecular line observations of the rotating hot molecular core embedded in the high-mass star-forming region IRAS 18089-1732. The dust continuum emission and magnetic field morphology present spiral-like features resembling a whirlpool. The velocity field traced by the H13CO+ (J = 3-2) transition line reveals a complex structure with spiral filaments that are likely infalling and rotating, dragging the field with them. We have modeled the magnetic field and find that the best model corresponds to a weakly magnetized core with a mass-to-magnetic-flux ratio (λ) of 8.38. The modeled magnetic field is dominated by a poloidal component, but with an important contribution from the toroidal component that has a magnitude of 30% of the poloidal component. Using the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, we estimate a magnetic field strength of 3.5 mG. At the spatial scales accessible to ALMA, an analysis of the energy balance of the system indicates that gravity overwhelms turbulence, rotation, and the magnetic field. We show that high-mass star formation can occur in weakly magnetized environments, with gravity taking the dominant role., P.S. and B.W. were partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI number 18H01259) of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). J.M.G. is supported by the Spanish grant AYA2017-84390-C2-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). C.L.H.H. acknowledges the support of the NAOJ Fellowship and JSPS KAKENHI grants 18K13586 and 20K14527. J.M.J.'s research was conducted in part at the SOFIA Science Center, which is operated by the Universities Space Research Association under contract NNA17BF53C with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. K.T. was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant No. 20H05645. Data analysis was in part carried out on the Multi-wavelength Data Analysis System operated by the Astronomy Data Center (ADC), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2017.1.00101.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ.

A coupling device, which can extract coherent edge radiation (CER) from an optical cavity for a free-electron laser (FEL) without damaging the FEL due to diffraction loss, was developed at Nihon University. We successfully observed the CER beam with a power of 1 mW or more in the terahertz range during FEL oscillation. It is revealed that the CER power changed with the detuning of the optical cavity and the dependence of the CER power on the detuning length differs from that of the FEL power. The measured CER spectra indicate that the longitudinal electron distribution in a bunch is modulated by the FEL oscillation with a period corresponding to the FEL slippage length. We herein report the characteristics of the CER with FEL oscillation in detail. These results demonstrate that the CER is excellent tool to reveal the overall effect of FEL interaction on electron distribution in a bunch.

To date, about two dozen low-mass embedded protostars exhibit rich spectra with lines of complex organic molecule (COM). These protostars seem to possess different enrichment in COMs. However, the statistics of COM abundance in low-mass protostars are limited by the scarcity of observations. This study introduces the Perseus ALMA Chemistry Survey (PEACHES), which aims at unbiasedly characterizing the chemistry of COMs toward the embedded (Class 0/I) protostars in the Perseus molecular cloud. Of 50 embedded protostars surveyed, 58% of them have emission from COMs. A 56%, 32%, and 40% of the protostars have CH$_3$OH, CH$_3$OCHO, and N-bearing COMs, respectively. The detectability of COMs depends neither on the averaged continuum brightness temperature, a proxy of the H$_2$ column density, nor on the bolometric luminosity and the bolometric temperature. For the protostars with detected COMs, CH$_3$OH has a tight correlation with CH$_3$CN, spanning more than two orders of magnitude in column densities normalized by the continuum brightness temperature, suggesting a chemical relation between CH$_3$OH and CH$_3$CN and a large chemical diversity in the PEACHES samples at the same time. A similar trend with more scatter is also found between all identified COMs, hinting at a common chemistry for the sources with COMs. The correlation between COMs is insensitive to the protostellar properties, such as the bolometric luminosity and the bolometric temperature. The abundance of larger COMs (CH$_3$OCHO and CH$_3$OCH$_3$) relative to that of smaller COMs (CH$_3$OH and CH$_3$CN) increases with the inferred gas column density, hinting at an efficient production of complex species in denser envelopes., 55 pages, 9 tables, 24 figures. Updated after publication in ApJ. Figure 18 appears as a figure set in ApJ

We observed the high-mass star-forming region G335.579-0.292 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 226 GHz with an angular resolution of 0.3'' ($\sim 1000$ au resolution at the source distance). G335.579-0.292 hosts one of the most massive cores in the Galaxy (G335-MM1). The continuum emission shows that G335-MM1 fragments into at least five sources, while molecular line emission is detected in two of the continuum sources (ALMA1 and ALMA3). We found evidence of large and small scale infall in ALMA1 revealed by an inverse P-Cygni profile and the presence of a blue-shifted spot at the center of the first moment map of the CH$_3$CN emission. In addition, hot gas expansion in the innermost region is unveiled by a red-shifted spot in the first moment map of HDCO and (CH$_3$)$_2$CO (both with $E_u > 1100$ K). Our modeling reveals that this expansion motion originates close to the central source, likely due to reversal of the accretion flow induced by the expansion of the HII region, while infall and rotation motions originate in the outer regions. ALMA3 shows clear signs of rotation, with a rotation axis inclination with respect to the line of sight close to $90^\circ$, and a system mass (disk + star) in the range of 10-30 M$_\odot$., 15 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We have observed the very low-mass Class 0 protostar IRAS 15398−3359 at scales ranging from 50 to 1800 au, as part of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array Large Program FAUST. We uncover a linear feature, visible in H2CO, SO, and C18O line emission, which extends from the source in a direction almost perpendicular to the known active outflow. Molecular line emission from H2CO, SO, SiO, and CH3OH further reveals an arc-like structure connected to the outer end of the linear feature and separated from the protostar, IRAS 15398−3359, by 1200 au. The arc-like structure is blueshifted with respect to the systemic velocity. A velocity gradient of 1.2 km s−1 over 1200 au along the linear feature seen in the H2CO emission connects the protostar and the arc-like structure kinematically. SO, SiO, and CH3OH are known to trace shocks, and we interpret the arc-like structure as a relic shock region produced by an outflow previously launched by IRAS 15398−3359. The velocity gradient along the linear structure can be explained as relic outflow motion. The origins of the newly observed arc-like structure and extended linear feature are discussed in relation to turbulent motions within the protostellar core and episodic accretion events during the earliest stage of protostellar evolution. The authors thank the anonymous reviewer for invaluable comments. They are also grateful to Hauyu Baobab Liu for useful discussions. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data set: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2018.1.01205.L (PI: Satoshi Yamamoto). ALMA is a partnership of the ESO (representing its member states), the NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with the NRC (Canada) and the NSC and ASIAA (Taiwan), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by the ESO, the AUI/NRAO, and the NAOJ. The authors thank to the ALMA staff for their excellent support. This work is supported by the projects PRIN-INAF-MAIN-STREAM 2017 Protoplanetary disks seen through the eyes of new-generation instruments, ARIEL and the astrochemical link between circumstellar disks and planets, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmes: The Dawn of Organic Chemistry (DOC), grant agreement No. 741002, and Astro-Chemistry Origins (ACO), grant No. 811312. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. I.J.-S. has received partial support from the Spanish FEDER (project number ESP2017-86582-C4-1-R) and the State Research Agency (AEI; project number PID2019-105552RB-C41). D.J. is supported by NRC Canada and by an NSERC Discovery Grant. This project is also supported by a Grant-in-Aid from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI: Nos. 18H05222, 19H05069, 19K14753). Yuki Okoda thanks the Advanced Leading Graduate Course for Photon Science (ALPS) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for financial support. Peerreview

We present a spatio-kinematical analysis of the CO~($J$=2$\rightarrow$1) line emission, observed with the Atacama Large Millimter/submillimter Array (ALMA), of the outflow associated with the most massive core, ALMA1, in the 70 $\mu$m dark clump G010.991$-$00.082. The position-velocity (P-V) diagram of the molecular outflow exhibits a peculiar $\mathsf{S}$-shaped morphology that has not been seen in any other star forming region. We propose a spatio-kinematical model for the bipolar molecular outflow that consists of a decelerating high-velocity component surrounded by a slower component whose velocity increases with distance from the central source. The physical interpretation of the model is in terms of a jet that decelerates as it entrains material from the ambient medium, which has been predicted by calculations and numerical simulations of molecular outflows in the past. One side of the outflow is shorter and shows a stronger deceleration, suggesting that the medium through which the jet moves is significantly inhomogeneous. The age of the outflow is estimated to be $\tau$$\approx$1300 years, after correction for a mean inclination of the system of $\approx$57$^{\circ}$., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present a study of outflows at extremely early stages of high-mass star formation obtained from the ALMA Survey of 70 $\mu \rm m$ dark High-mass clumps in Early Stages (ASHES). Twelve massive 3.6$-$70 $\mu \rm m$ dark prestellar clump candidates were observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Band 6. Forty-three outflows are identified toward 41 out of 301 dense cores using the CO and SiO emission lines, yielding a detection rate of 14%. We discover 6 episodic molecular outflows associated with low- to high-mass cores, indicating that episodic outflows (and therefore episodic accretion) begin at extremely early stages of protostellar evolution for a range of core masses. The time span between consecutive ejection events is much smaller than those found in more evolved stages, which indicates that the ejection episodicity timescale is likely not constant over time. The estimated outflow dynamical timescale appears to increase with core masses, which likely indicates that more massive cores have longer accretion timescales than less massive cores. The lower accretion rates in these 70 $\mu \rm m$ dark objects compared to the more evolved protostars indicate that the accretion rates increase with time. The total outflow energy rate is smaller than the turbulent energy dissipation rate, which suggests that outflow induced turbulence cannot sustain the internal clump turbulence at the current epoch. We often detect thermal SiO emission within these 70 $\mu \rm m$ dark clumps that is unrelated to CO outflows. This SiO emission could be produced by collisions, intersection flows, undetected protostars, or other motions., Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

Bianchi, E. et al., The study of hot corinos in solar-like protostars has been so far mostly limited to the Class 0 phase, hampering our understanding of their origin and evolution. In addition, recent evidence suggests that planet formation starts already during Class I phase, which therefore represents a crucial step in the future planetary system chemical composition. Hence, the study of hot corinos in Class I protostars has become of paramount importance. Here, we report the discovery of a hot corino towards the prototypical Class I protostar L1551 IRS5, obtained within the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) Large Program FAUST (Fifty AU STudy of the chemistry in the disc/envelope system of solar-like protostars).We detected several lines from methanol and its isotopologues (13CH3OH and CH2DOH), methyl formate, and ethanol. Lines are bright towards the north component of the IRS5 binary system, and a possible second hot corino may be associated with the south component. The methanol lines' non-LTE analysis constrains the gas temperature (100 K), density (1.5 × 108 cm3), and emitting size (10 au in radius). All CH3OH and 13CH3OH lines are optically thick, preventing a reliable measure of the deuteration. The methyl formate and ethanol relative abundances are compatible with those measured in Class 0 hot corinos. Thus, based on this work, little chemical evolution from Class 0 to I hot corinos occurs., With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)

We mapped two molecular cloud cores in the Orion A cloud with the ALMA ACA 7-m Array and with the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope. These cores have bright N$_2$D$^+$ emission in single-pointing observations with the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope, have relatively high deuterium fraction, and are thought to be close to the onset of star formation. One is a star-forming core, and the other is starless. These cores are located along filaments observed in N$_2$H$^+$, and show narrow linewidths of 0.41 km s$^{-1}$ and 0.45 km s$^{-1}$ in N$_2$D$^+$, respectively, with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. Both cores were detected with the ALMA ACA 7m Array in the continuum and molecular lines at Band 6. The starless core G211 shows clumpy structure with several sub-cores, which in turn show chemical differences. Also, the sub-cores in G211 have internal motions that are almost purely thermal. The starless sub-core G211D, in particular, shows a hint of the inverse P Cygni profile, suggesting infall motion. The star-forming core G210 shows an interesting spatial feature of two N$_2$D$^+$ peaks of similar intensity and radial velocity located symmetrically with respect to the single dust continuum peak. One interpretation is that the two N$_2$D$^+$ peaks represent an edge-on pseudo-disk. The CO outflow lobes, however, are not directed perpendicular to the line connecting both N$_2$D$^+$ peaks., 31 pages, 17 figures, 9 tables, to appear in ApJ (accepted April 23, 2020)

We present the results of a single-pointing survey of 207 dense cores embedded in Planck Galactic Cold Clumps distributed in five different environments ($\lambda$ Orionis, Orion A, B, Galactic plane, and high latitudes) to identify dense cores on the verge of star formation for the study of the initial conditions of star formation. We observed these cores in eight molecular lines at 76-94 GHz using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. We find that early-type molecules (e.g., CCS) have low detection rates and that late-type molecules (e.g., N$_2$H$^+$, c-C$_3$H$_2$) and deuterated molecules (e.g., N$_2$D$^+$, DNC) have high detection rates, suggesting that most of the cores are chemically evolved. The deuterium fraction (D/H) is found to decrease with increasing distance, indicating that it suffers from differential beam dilution between the D/H pair of lines for distant cores ($>$1 kpc). For $\lambda$ Orionis, Orion A, and B located at similar distances, D/H is not significantly different, suggesting that there is no systematic difference in the observed chemical properties among these three regions. We identify at least eight high D/H cores in the Orion region and two at high latitudes, which are most likely to be close to the onset of star formation. There is no clear evidence of the evolutionary change in turbulence during the starless phase, suggesting that the dissipation of turbulence is not a major mechanism for the beginning of star formation as judged from observations with a beam size of 0.04 pc., Comment: 55 pages, 12 Figures, 8 Tables, accepted for publication in ApJS

A research program towards an attosecond photon source based on high-harmonic generation driven by mid-infrared FEL oscillators has been established. We present the scope and the current status of the research program.

We report a statistical analysis exploring the origin of the overall low star formation efficiency (SFE) of the Galactic central molecular zone (CMZ) and the SFE diversity among the CMZ clouds using a wide-field HCN $J$=4-3 map, whose optically thin critical density ($\sim10^7\,\mathrm{cm}^{-3}$) is the highest among the tracers ever used in CMZ surveys. Logistic regression is performed to empirically formulate star formation probability of 195 HCN clumps, 13 of which contain star formation signatures. The explanatory parameters in the best-fit model are reduced into the virial parameter $\alpha_{\mathrm{vir}}$ without significant contribution from other parameters, whereas the performance of the model without $\alpha_{\mathrm{vir}}$ is no better than that using randomly generated data. The threshold $\alpha_{\mathrm{vir}}$ is 6, which translates into a volume density ($n_{\mathrm{H_2}}$) of $10^{4.6}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-3}$ with the $n_{\mathrm{H_2}}$-$\alpha_{\mathrm{vir}}$ correlation. The scarcity of the low-$\alpha_{\mathrm{vir}}$ clumps, whose fraction to all HCN clumps is 0.1, can be considered as one of the immediate causes of the suppressed SFE. No correlation between the clump size or mass and star formation probability is found, implying that HCN $J$=4-3 does not immediately trace the mass of star-forming gas above a threshold density. Meanwhile, star-forming and non-star-forming clouds are degenerate in the physical parameters of the CS $\mathit{J}$=1-0 clouds, highlighting the efficacy of the HCN $\mathit{J}$=4-3 line to probe star-forming regions in the CMZ. The time scale of the high-$\alpha_{\mathrm{vir}}$ to low-$\alpha_{\mathrm{vir}}$ transition is $\lesssim2$ Myr, which is consistent with the tidal compression and X1/X2 orbit transition models but possibly does not fit the cloud-cloud collision picture., Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We propose a new observing method for single-dish millimeter and submillimeter spectroscopy using a heterodyne receiver equipped with a frequency-modulating local oscillator (FMLO). Unlike conventional switching methods, which extract astronomical signals by subtracting the reference spectra of off-sources from those of on-sources, the FMLO method does not need to obtain any off-source spectra; rather, it estimates them from the on-source spectra themselves. The principle is a high dump-rate (10 Hz) spectroscopy with radio frequency modulation (FM) achieved by fast sweeping of a local oscillator (LO) of a heterodyne receiver: Because sky emission (i.e., off-source) fluctuates as $1/f$-type and is spectrally correlated, it can be estimated and subtracted from time-series spectra (a timestream) by principal component analysis. Meanwhile astronomical signals remain in the timestream since they are modulated to a higher time-frequency domain. The FMLO method therefore achieves (1) a remarkably high observation efficiency, (2) reduced spectral baseline wiggles, and (3) software-based sideband separation. We developed an FMLO system for the Nobeyama 45-m telescope and a data reduction procedure for it. Frequency modulation was realized by a tunable and programmable first local oscillator. With observations of Galactic sources, we demonstrate that the observation efficiency of the FMLO method is dramatically improved compared to conventional switching methods. Specifically, we find that the time to achieve the same noise level is reduced by a factor of 3.0 in single-pointed observations and by a factor of 1.2 in mapping observations. The FMLO method can be applied to observations of fainter ($\sim$mK) spectral lines and larger ($\sim$deg$^{2}$) mapping. It would offer much more efficient and baseline-stable observations compared to conventional switching methods., 22 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan

Light perception is an intriguing subject, and it has been demonstrated that some animals can perceive wavelengths beyond human vision. However, it is still controversial whether animals can see mid-infrared radiation. A combination of two free-electron laser (FEL) facilities, LEBRA-FEL (Nihon University) and KU-FEL (Kyoto University), can provide light sources with high peak power and spatially coherent monochromatic wavelengths that are continuously tuneable from 400 nm to 20 μm. We show that the crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) compound eye responds to pulsed mid-infrared FELs (1 Hz for KU-FEL; 2 Hz for LEBRA-FEL) from 3 to 17 μm. Our finding provides insight into the animal’s visual sensing of mid-infrared radiation, and that the sensing does not depend on thermal effects. Although the behavioural reason for vision in this wavelength range and the mechanism are still under investigation, understanding this type of visual sensing may lead to applications other than photophysical applications.

The X-ray source based on parametric X-ray radiation (PXR) has been regularly providing a coherent X-ray beam for application studies at Nihon University. Recently, three dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) has become one of the most important applications of the PXR source. The methodology referred to as K-edge subtraction (KES) imaging is a particularly successful application utilizing the energy selectivity of PXR. In order to demonstrate the applicability of PXR-KES, a simultaneous KES experiment for a specimen containing strontium was performed using a PXR beam having an energy near the Sr K-edge of 16.1 keV. As a result, the 3D distribution of Sr was obtained by subtraction between the two simultaneously acquired tomographic images.

We have observed the Class I protostellar source Elias 29 with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We have detected CS, SO, $^{34}$SO, SO$_2$, and SiO line emissions in a compact component concentrated near the protostar and a ridge component separated from the protostar by 4\arcsec\ ($\sim 500$ au). The former component is found to be abundant in SO and SO$_2$ but deficient in CS. The abundance ratio SO/CS is as high as $3^{+13}_{-2} \times 10^2$ at the protostar, which is even higher than that in the outflow-shocked region of L1157 B1. However, organic molecules (HCOOCH$_3$, CH$_3$OCH$_3$, CCH, and c-C$_3$H$_2$) are deficient in Elias 29. We attribute the deficiency in organic molecules and richness in SO and SO$_2$ to the evolved nature of the source or the relatively high dust temperature (\protect\raisebox{-0.7ex}{$\:\stackrel{\textstyle >}{\sim}\:$} 20 K) in the parent cloud of Elias 29. The SO and SO$_2$ emissions trace rotation around the protostar. Assuming a highly inclined configuration ($i \geq 65$\degr; 0\degr\ for a face-on configuration) and Keplerian motion for simplicity, the protostellar mass is estimated to be (0.8 -- 1.0) \Msun. The $^{34}$SO and SO$_2$ emissions are asymmetric in their spectra; the blue-shifted components are weaker than the red-shifted ones. Although this may be attributed to the asymmetric molecular distribution, other possibilities are also discussed.

We present the first release of the data and compact-source catalogue for the JCMT Large Program SCUBA-2 Continuum Observations of Pre-protostellar Evolution (SCOPE). SCOPE consists of 850-um continuum observations of 1235 Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs) made with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. These data are at an angular resolution of 14.4 arcsec, significantly improving upon the 353-GHz resolution of Planck at 5 arcmin, and allowing for a catalogue of 3528 compact sources in 558 PGCCs. We find that the detected PGCCs have significant sub-structure, with 61 per cent of detected PGCCs having 3 or more compact sources, with filamentary structure also prevalent within the sample. A detection rate of 45 per cent is found across the survey, which is 95 per cent complete to Planck column densities of $N_{H_{2}}$ $>$ 5 $\times$ 10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$. By positionally associating the SCOPE compact sources with YSOs, the star formation efficiency, as measured by the ratio of luminosity to mass, in nearby clouds is found to be similar to that in the more distant Galactic Plane, with the column density distributions also indistinguishable from each other., 16 pages, 13 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

An unbiased spectral line survey toward a solar-type Class 0/I protostar, IRAS04368+2557, in L1527 has been carried out in the 3 mm band with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. L1527 is known as a warm carbon-chain chemistry (WCCC) source, which harbors abundant unsaturated organic species such as C$_n$H ($n = 3,\ 4,\ 5,\ldots$) in a warm and dense region near the protostar. The observation covers the frequency range from 80 to 116 GHz. A supplementary observation has also been conducted in the 70 GHz band to observe fundamental transitions of deuterated species. In total, 69 molecular species are identified, among which 27 species are carbon-chain species and their isomers, including their minor isotopologues. This spectral line survey provides us with a good template of the chemical composition of the WCCC source., published online in PASJ

Development of THz wave source has been underway at Nihon University in collaboration with National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The THz wave transport lines have been constructed on the same axis as the X-ray and FEL beam line. The average intensity of the backward THz CTR wave obtained at the output port of the Parametric Xray Radiation beam line in the accelerator room has been 1 mJ/macro-pulse. The superposition transport system of the THz waves to the X-ray beam-line was installed in a vacuum chamber. Additionally, the energy of the CER as high as 0.2 mJ/macro-pulse were achieved with the experimental room.

We study a combination of velocity bunchings and the coherent undulator radiation at THz region by simulation. The combination of velocity bunchings brings some freedom in energy choice while keeping the bunch length shorter efficiently. Hence the coherent condition can be met for THz radiation at undulator allowing some range of radiation wavelength.

Nihon University and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have planned to develop an intense terahertz-wave (THz-wave) source based on coherent Cherenkov radiation (CCR) at Laboratory for Electron Beam Research and Application (LEBRA) in Nihon University. By passing an electron beam through a hollow conical dielectric with apex facing the incident electron beam, the wave front of CCR generated on the inner surface of the hollow conical dielectric is matched to the basal plane. The CCR matched to a circle plane wave is more powerful than conventional THz-wave sources based on electron accelerators. A hollow conical high-resistance silicon with a diameter of the basal plane of 40 mm and an inner diameter of 6 mm will emit the THz-wave beam with a macropulse energy of 14 mJ at LEBRA.

(Abridged) ASHES has been designed to systematically characterize the earliest stages and to constrain theories of high-mass star formation. A total of 12 massive (>500 $M_{\odot}$), cold (30 $M_{\odot}$) prestellar cores. The most massive prestellar core has a mass of 11 $M_{\odot}$. From the prestellar CMF, we derive a power law index of 1.17+-0.1, slightly shallower than Salpeter (1.35). We use the MST technique to characterize the separation between cores and their spatial distribution, and derive mass segregation ratios. While there is a range of core masses and separations detected in the sample, the mean separation and mass of cores are well explained by thermal fragmentation and are inconsistent with turbulent Jeans fragmentation. The core spatial distribution is well described by hierarchical subclustering rather than centrally peaked clustering. There is no conclusive evidence of mass segregation. We test several theoretical conditions, and conclude that overall, competitive accretion and global hierarchical collapse scenarios are favored over the turbulent core accretion scenario., Accepted for publication in ApJ (September 17, 2019). 37 pages, 19 figures, and 7 tables

We report molecular line observations of the NGC 1333 IRAS 4C outflow in the Perseus Molecular Cloud with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. The CCH and CS emission reveal an outflow cavity structure with clear signatures of rotation with respect to the outflow axis. The rotation is detected from about 120 au up to about 1400 au above the envelope/disk mid-plane. As the distance to the central source increases, the rotation velocity of the outflow decreases while the outflow radius increases, which gives a flat specific angular momentum distribution along the outflow. The mean specific angular momentum of the outflow is about 100 au km/s. Based on reasonable assumptions on the outward velocity of the outflow and the protostar mass, we estimate the range of outflow launching radii to be 5-15 au. Such a launching radius rules out that this outflow is launched as an X-wind, but rather, it is more consistent to be a slow disk wind launched from relatively large radii on the disk. The radius of the centrifugal barrier is roughly estimated, and the role of the centrifugal barrier in the outflow launching is discussed., Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 29 pages, 8 figures

Context: The importance of magnetic fields at the onset of star formation related to the early fragmentation and collapse processes is largely unexplored today. Aims: We want to understand the magnetic field properties at the earliest evolutionary stages of high-mass star formation. Methods: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array is used at 1.3mm wavelength in full polarization mode to study the polarized emission and by that the magnetic field morphologies and strengths of the high-mass starless region IRDC18310-4. Results: The polarized emission is clearly detected in four sub-cores of the region. In general it shows a smooth distribution, also along elongated cores. Estimating the magnetic field strength via the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method and following a structure function analysis, we find comparably large magnetic field strengths between ~0.6 and 3.7mG. Comparing the data to spectral line observations, the turbulent-to-magnetic energy ratio is low, indicating that turbulence does not significantly contribute to the stability of the gas clump. A mass-to-flux ratio around the critical value 1.0 - depending on column density - indicates that the region starts to collapse which is consistent with the previous spectral line analysis of the region. Conclusions: While this high-mass region is collapsing and thus at the verge of star formation, the high magnetic field values and the smooth spatial structure indicate that the magnetic field is important for the fragmentation and collapse process. This single case study can only be the starting point for larger sample studies of magnetic fields at the onset of star formation., 7 pages, 5 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics in press, http://www.mpia.de/homes/beuther/papers.html

We study the effect of a combination of velocity bunchings and its application to THz coherent undulator radiation at LEBRA, Nihon U. by simulations. The velocity bunching is a technique that is commonly used to make the bunch length shorter at lower energies. However, since one velocity bunching has a correlation between bunch energy and length, we may not have so much room to change energies to obtain different coherent radiation wavelengths. Hence we propose a combination of velocity bunchings, that relaxes the restrictive correlation. We have three 4m traveling-wave accelerator tubes at LEBRA, Nihon U. The undulator is installed after the acceleration tubes and 2 x 45 degree bending magnets. Since the design of current undulator requires less than 25 MeV beam energy to obtain the radiation at THz region, the velocity bunching is reasonable for coherent radiation. We show the simulation results of a combination of velocity bunchings of the three tubes and the magnetic bunching at bending magnets, suitable for the coherent undulator radiation., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

We have observed complex organic molecules (COMs) and deuterated species toward a hot core/corino (HC) associated with the infrared dark cloud (IRDC) clump G34.43+00.24 MM3 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We have detected six normal-COMs (CH3OH, CH3CHO, CH3CH2CN, CH3OCH3, HCOOCH3, and NH2CHO), one deuterated-COM (CH2DCN), and two deuterated fundamental molecules (D2CO and DNC) toward G34.43+00.24 MM3 HC. None of these lines, except for CH3OH, are detected toward the shocked regions in our data, which suggests that COMs do not originate in shocks. The abundance of the COMs relative to CH3OH in G34.43+00.24 MM3 HC is found to be similar to those in high-mass hot cores, rather than those in hot corinos in low-mass star-forming regions. This result suggests that the physical conditions of the warm-up phase of G34.43+00.24 MM3 HC are similar to those of high-mass sources. On the other hand, the D2CO abundance relative to CH$_3$OH in G34.43+00.24 MM3 HC is higher than that of other hot cores, and seems to be comparable to that of hot corinos. The relatively high D2CO/CH3OH ratio of G34.43+00.24 MM3 HC implies a long cold starless phase of G34.43+00.24 MM3 HC., Comment: accepted to ApJ

This paper describes a proposal for a compact x-ray source based on parametric x-ray radiation (PXR). The PXR, which is produced when a single crystal is bombarded with relativistic electrons, has good monochromaticity and spatial coherence, and is expected to be well suited for imaging of low-Z materials and medical application. The proposed system employs a pair of copper accelerating structures which are operated at a cryogenic temperature of 20 K and arranged to form a resonant ring configuration. The electron beam is once accelerated up to 75 MeV in one of the structures, being decelerated down to lower than 7 MeV in the other structure after generating PXR at a single crystal, and then dumped. The expected x-ray yield is $1{0}^{9}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{photons}/\mathrm{s}$ at a center energy of 15 keV or higher.

We propose a high-peak-power terahertz-wave source based on an electron accelerator. By passing an electron beam through a hollow conical dielectric with apex facing the incident electron beam, the wave front of coherent Cherenkov radiation generated on the inner surface of the hollow conical dielectric matches the basal plane. Using the electron beam generated at the Laboratory for Electron Beam Research and Application at Nihon University, the calculated power of coherent Cherenkov radiation that matched the circular plane (CCR-MCP) was above 1 MW per micropulse with a short interval of 350 ps, for wavelengths ranging from 0.5 to 5 mm. The electron beam is not lost for generating the CCR-MCP beam by using the hollow conical dielectric. It is possible to combine the CCR-MCP beams with other light sources based on an accelerator.

We have conducted an interferometric line survey in the 0.8 mm band toward the young high-mass protostar candidate NGC 2264 CMM3 with ALMA. CMM3 is resolved into the two continuum peaks, CMM3A and CMM3B, at an angular separation of 0.9". Thus, CMM3 is found to be a binary system candidate. We have detected molecular outflows associated with CMM3A and CMM3B each, indicating active star formation. In addition to the two peaks, six faint continuum peaks are detected around CMM3A and CMM3B, most of which are thought to be evolved low-mass protostars. CMM3A is found to be rich in molecular line emission including complex organic molecules such as HCOOCH3 and CH3OCH3. The emission of complex organic molecules is distributed within a compact region around the continuum peak of CMM3A. Hence, CMM3A apparently harbors a hot core. On the other hand, CMM3B is deficient in molecular line emission, although its continuum flux is almost comparable to that of CMM3A. Possible origins of the striking difference between CMM3A and CMM3B are discussed., Accepted for publication in ApJ, 7 figures, 2 tables

International audience; We have resolved for the first time the radial and vertical structures of the almost edge-on envelope/disc system of the low-mass Class 0 protostar L1527. For that, we have used Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) observations with a spatial resolution of 0.25 × 0.13 arcsec2 and 0.37 × 0.23 arcsec2 at 0.8 and 1.2 mm, respectively. The L1527 dust continuum emission has a deconvolved size of 78 × 21 au2, and shows a flared disc-like structure. A thin infalling-rotating envelope is seen in the CCH emission outward of about 150 au, and its thickness is increased by a factor of 2 inward of it. This radius lies between the centrifugal radius (200 au) and the centrifugal barrier of the infalling-rotating envelope (100 au). The gas stagnates in front of the centrifugal barrier and moves towards vertical directions. SO emission is concentrated around and inside the centrifugal barrier. The rotation speed of the SO emitting gas is found to be decelerated around the centrifugal barrier. A part of the angular momentum could be extracted by the gas that moves away from the mid-plane around the centrifugal barrier. If this is the case, the centrifugal barrier would be related to the launching mechanism of low-velocity outflows, such as disc winds.

The Class 0 protostar, L483, has been observed in various molecular lines in the 1.2 mm band at a sub-arcsecond resolution with ALMA. An infalling-rotating envelope is traced by the CS line, while a very compact component with a broad velocity width is observed for the CS, SO, HNCO, NH$_2$CHO, and HCOOCH$_3$ lines. Although this source is regarded as the warm carbon-chain chemistry (WCCC) candidate source at a 1000 au scale, complex organic molecules characteristic of hot corinos such as NH$_2$CHO and HCOOCH$_3$ are detected in the vicinity of the protostar. Thus, both hot corino chemistry and WCCC are seen in L483. Although such a mixed chemical character source has been recognized as an intermediate source in previous single-dish observations, we here report the first spatially-resolved detection. A kinematic structure of the infalling-rotating envelope is roughly explained by a simple ballistic model with the protostellar mass of 0.1--0.2 $M_\odot$ and the radius of the centrifugal barrier (a half of the centrifugal radius) of 30--200 au, assuming the inclination angle of 80\degr\ (0\degr\ for a face-on). The broad line emission observed in the above molecules most likely comes from the disk component inside the centrifugal barrier. Thus, a drastic chemical change is seen around the centrifugal barrier., Comment: accepted to ApJ

Computed tomography (CT) for light materials such as soft biological tissues was performed using a monochromatic X-ray beam provided by a parametric X-ray radiation (PXR) source at the Laboratory for Electron Beam Research and Application (LEBRA) of Nihon University. Using a high-efficiency flat panel detector (FPD), each projection image for CT was taken with exposure times of 5 or 10 s, and 60–360 projection images in each run were obtained with total measurement time of 5 min to 1 h. CT images were obtained from the projection images using the conventional calculation method. The typical tomograms obtained had sharp outlines, which are likely attributable to the propagation-based phase contrast.

Experimental determination of VP of hcp-Fe can show potential candidates for major light elements in Earth’s inner core., Hexagonal close-packed iron (hcp-Fe) is a main component of Earth’s inner core. The difference in density between hcp-Fe and the inner core in the Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM) shows a density deficit, which implies an existence of light elements in the core. Sound velocities then provide an important constraint on the amount and kind of light elements in the core. Although seismological observations provide density–sound velocity data of Earth’s core, there are few measurements in controlled laboratory conditions for comparison. We report the compressional sound velocity (VP) of hcp-Fe up to 163 GPa and 3000 K using inelastic x-ray scattering from a laser-heated sample in a diamond anvil cell. We propose a new high-temperature Birch’s law for hcp-Fe, which gives us the VP of pure hcp-Fe up to core conditions. We find that Earth’s inner core has a 4 to 5% smaller density and a 4 to 10% smaller VP than hcp-Fe. Our results demonstrate that components other than Fe in Earth’s core are required to explain Earth’s core density and velocity deficits compared to hcp-Fe. Assuming that the temperature effects on iron alloys are the same as those on hcp-Fe, we narrow down light elements in the inner core in terms of the velocity deficit. Hydrogen is a good candidate; thus, Earth’s core may be a hidden hydrogen reservoir. Silicon and sulfur are also possible candidates and could show good agreement with PREM if we consider the presence of some melt in the inner core, anelasticity, and/or a premelting effect.

We have observed the J = 2–1 rotational emission line of PN toward the low-mass star forming region L 1157 with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. The PN line has been detected toward the two shocked regions (B1 and B2) caused by the interaction between the blue lobe of the outflow from the protostar IRAS 20386+6751 and the ambient gas, whereas it has not been detected toward the protostar position. The fractional abundances of PN relative to H2 are evaluated to be (2–6) � 10 � 10 and (3–7) � 10 � 10 toward B1 and B2, respectively. Detection of PN in the B1 and B2 positions indicates that the formation of PN can be triggered by shocks. It seems most likely that PN is formed in the gas phase from PH3 evaporated from grain mantles, as suggested by the existing chemical model.

We have conducted a sensitive 3 mm observation toward the shocked region, Lynds 1157 B1, which is an interaction spot between a molecular outflow and its ambient gas. We have successfully detected the CH3CHO, HCOOCH3, and HCOOH lines, as well as the CH2DOH line. The abundances of these molecules relative to CH3OH are found to be lower than those in the low-mass star-forming core, IRAS 16293� 2422. Since these molecules are thought to evaporate from grain mantles, the observational results mean that complex molecules are less abundant in grain mantles residing in the ambient cloud surrounding a prestellar/protostellar core. Instead, efficient formation of the complex organic species and deuterated species should take place in a prestellar/protostellar core. The present result verifies the importance of an unbiased line survey of this source.

Atomic motions and, especially, correlations in atomic motion over angstrom length scales are a sensitive probe of material properties: phonons in single crystals respond to the detailed interactions between atoms, including both short- and long-range forces, and screening thereof, while the atomic dynamics of liquids is intimately connected with nearly all aspects of liquid behavior. Scientific questions associated with measuring dynamics include the detailed nature of phase transitions, correlations of atomic motions with electronic or magnetic properties (superconductivity, ferro-electric behavior, magnetoelastic coupling, etc.), and also very practical issues, such as investigating elasticity. Not surprisingly, both from the point of view of basic science and for applications such as geology, there is strong desire to extend studies of atomic dynamics throughout material phase diagrams, into extreme conditions.

In order to minimize the size of the X-ray source for a U-shaped rotating anticathode X-ray generator, the electron beam is focused over a short distance by a combined-function bending magnet. Simulation predicts that the beam brightness will reach almost 500 kW mm−2 for a 120 keV/75 mA beam., A new type of rotating anticathode X-ray generator, where an electron beam of up to 60 keV irradiates the inner surface of a U-shaped Cu anticathode, has achieved a beam brilliance of 130 kW mm−2 (at 2.3 kW). A higher-flux electron beam is expected from simulation by optimizing the geometry of a combined-function-type magnet instead of the fringing field of the bending magnet. In order to minimize the size of the X-ray source the electron beam has been focused over a short distance by a new combined-function bending magnet, whose geometrical shape was determined by simulation using the Opera-3D, General Particle Tracer and CST-STUDIO codes. The result of the simulation clearly shows that the role of combined functions in both the bending and the steering magnets is important for focusing the beam to a small size. FWHM sizes of the beam are predicted by simulation to be 0.45 mm (horizontal) and 0.05 mm (vertical) for a 120 keV/75 mA beam, of which the effective brilliance is about 500 kW mm−2 on the supposition of a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution. High-power tests have begun using a high-voltage 120 kV/75 mA power supply for the X-ray generator instead of 60 kV/100 mA. The beam focus size on the target will be verified in the experiments.

The distributions of CCH, C4H, c-C3H2, and HC5N have been studied in high spatial resolution with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer, where the short-spacing data have been taken with the IRAM 30 m telescope. The distributions show clear central condensation around the protostar, confirming that these molecules are associated with the protostar's environment. The blueshifted and redshifted components are concentrated near the protostar, indicating their existence in the infalling envelope. The intensity distribution of c-C3H2 shows a steep increase inward of a radius of 500-1000 AU from the protostar. By comparing the c-C3H2 distribution with the H2 column density distribution from the protostellar envelope model using the DUSTY code, the abundance of c-C3H2 is found to be enhanced by a factor of about 10 within the increasing point, where the temperature becomes higher than 20-30 K. This result supports the picture of warm carbon-chain chemistry; carbon-chain molecules and their related molecules are efficiently regenerated by evaporation of CH4 from dust grains in the warm region (about 25 K). The distributions of CCH and C4H have extended structures as well as an enhanced component, which implies a contribution of "remnant" carbon-chain molecules produced in the starless-core phase in addition to the regeneration component. On the other hand, the distributions of CCH, C4H, and c-C3H2 have a slight dip with a radius of 300-600 AU toward the protostar position, indicating that their abundances would decrease toward the central part. The present results provide a new picture of carbon-chain chemistry in the closest vicinity of a low-mass protostar.

We have recently discovered a new starless core with bright radio emissions of long carbon-chain molecules in the Lupus molecular cloud, which we have named as Lupus-1A. Toward this source, the peak intensities of the C6H and C8H lines are found to be higher than toward TMC-1 by a factor of 2-3. Even the lines of their anions, C6H– and C8H–, are also brighter than in TMC-1. Moreover, the line of C4H– has been detected for the first time in a starless core. The column densities of these long carbon-chain molecules are almost comparable to those in TMC-1, and hence, this source can be regarded as the second "TMC-1 like cloud." TMC-1 has long been an outstanding molecular cloud with rich carbon-chain molecules since its discovery in 1976. In spite of extensive efforts, no comparable sources have been found so far. Lupus-1A will be used for hunting of new interstellar molecules as well as understanding of carbon-chain chemistry through critical comparison of physical and chemical properties with TMC-1. This source is important not only for astronomy but also for molecular science as an ideal spectroscopic laboratory because of narrow line shapes and bright intensities.

Using Galactic Plane surveys, we have selected a massive (1200 M$_\odot$), cold (14 K) 3.6-70 $\mu$m dark IRDC G331.372-00.116. This IRDC has the potential to form high-mass stars and, given the absence of current star formation signatures, it seems to represent the earliest stages of high-mass star formation. We have mapped the whole IRDC with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 1.1 and 1.3 mm in dust continuum and line emission. The dust continuum reveals 22 cores distributed across the IRDC. In this work, we analyze the physical properties of the most massive core, ALMA1, which has no molecular outflows detected in the CO (2-1), SiO (5-4), and H$_2$CO (3-2) lines. This core is relatively massive ($M$ = 17.6 M$_\odot$), subvirialized (virial parameter $\alpha_{vir}=M_{vir}/M=0.14$), and is barely affected by turbulence (transonic Mach number of 1.2). Using the HCO$^+$ (3-2) line, we find the first detection of infall signatures in a relatively massive, prestellar core (ALMA1) with the potential to form a high-mass star. We estimate an infall speed of 1.54 km s$^{-1}$ and a high accretion rate of 1.96 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$. ALMA1 is rapidly collapsing, out of virial equilibrium, more consistent with competitive accretion scenarios rather than the turbulent core accretion model. On the other hand, ALMA1 has a mass $\sim$6 times larger than the clumps Jeans mass, being in an intermediate mass regime ($M_{J}=2.7, Comment: 13 Pages, 5 Figures, 3 Tables

Chemical diversity of the gas in low-mass protostellar cores is widely recognized. In order to explore its origin, a survey of chemical composition toward 36 Class 0/I protostars in the Perseus molecular cloud complex, which are selected in an unbiased way under certain physical conditions, has been conducted with IRAM 30 m and NRO 45 m telescope. Multiple lines of C2H, c-C3H2 and CH3OH have been observed to characterize the chemical composition averaged over a 1000 au scale around the protostar. The derived beam-averaged column densities show significant chemical diversity among the sources, where the column density ratios of C2H/CH3OH are spread out by 2 orders of magnitude. From previous studies, the hot corino sources have abundant CH3OH but deficient C2H, their C2H/CH3OH column density ratios being relatively low. In contrast, the warm-carbon-chain chemistry (WCCC) sources are found to reveal the high C2H/CH3OH column density ratios. We find that the majority of the sources have intermediate characters between these two distinct chemistry types. A possible trend is seen between the C2H/CH3OH ratio and the distance of the source from the edge of a molecular cloud. The sources located near cloud edges or in isolated clouds tend to have a high C2H/CH3OH ratio. On the other hand, the sources having a low C2H/CH3OH ratio tend to be located in inner regions of the molecular cloud complex. This result gives an important clue to an understanding of the origin of the chemical diversity of protostellar cores in terms of environmental effects., Accepted for publication in ApJS