Aims. We present a comparison between independent computer codes, modeling the physics and chemistry of interstellar photon dominated regions (PDRs). Our goal was to understand the mutual differences in the PDR codes and their effects on the physical and chemical structure of the model clouds, and to converge the output of different codes to a common solution. Methods. A number of benchmark models have been created, covering low and high gas densities n = 10 3 , 10 5.5 cm −3 and far ultraviolet intensities χ = 10, 10 5 in units of the Draine field (FUV: 6 < h ν < 13.6 eV). The benchmark models were computed in two ways: one set assuming constant temperatures, thus testing the consistency of the chemical network and photo-processes, and a second set determining the temperature self consistently by solving the thermal balance, thus testing the modeling of the heating and cooling mechanisms accounting for the detailed energy balance throughout the clouds. Results. We investigated the impact of PDR geometry and agreed on the comparison of results from spherical and plane-parallel PDR models. We identified a number of key processes governing the chemical network which have been treated differently in the various codes such as the effect of PAHs on the electron density or the temperature dependence of the dissociation of CO by cosmic ray induced secondary photons, and defined a proper common treatment. We established a comprehensive set of reference models for ongoing and future PDR model bench-marking and were able to increase the agreement in model predictions for all benchmark models significantly. Nevertheless, the remaining spread in the computed observables such as the atomic fine-structure line intensities serves as a warning that there is still a considerable uncertainty when interpreting astronomical data with our models.

We present the first ~7.5'×11.5' velocity-resolved (~0.2 km s) map of the [C ii] 158 m line toward the Orion molecular cloud 1 (OMC 1) taken with the/HIFI instrument. In combination with far-infrared (FIR) photometric images and velocity-resolved maps of the H41 hydrogen recombination and CO =2-1 lines, this data set provides an unprecedented view of the intricate small-scale kinematics of the ionized/PDR/molecular gas interfaces and of the radiative feedback from massive stars. The main contribution to the [C ii] luminosity (~85 %) is from the extended, FUV-illuminated face of the cloud (>500, >5×10 cm) and from dense PDRs (≳10, ≳10 cm) at the interface between OMC 1 and the H ii region surrounding the Trapezium cluster. Around ~15 % of the [C ii] emission arises from a different gas component without CO counterpart. The [C ii] excitation, PDR gas turbulence, line opacity (from [C ii]) and role of the geometry of the illuminating stars with respect to the cloud are investigated. We construct maps of the [C ii]/ and / ratios and show that [C ii]/ decreases from the extended cloud component (~10-10) to the more opaque star-forming cores (~10-10). The lowest values are reminiscent of the "[C ii] deficit" seen in local ultra-luminous IR galaxies hosting vigorous star formation. Spatial correlation analysis shows that the decreasing [C ii]/ ratio correlates better with the column density of dust through the molecular cloud than with /. We conclude that the [C ii] emitting column relative to the total dust column along each line of sight is responsible for the observed [C ii]/ variations through the cloud.

We study the effects of a metallicity variation on the thermal balance and [CII] fine-structure line strengths in interstellar photon dominated regions (PDRs). We find that a reduction in the dust-to-gas ratio and the abundance of heavy elements in the gas phase changes the heat balance of the gas in PDRs. The surface temperature of PDRs decreases as the metallicity decreases except for high density (n > 10 6 cm −3 ) clouds exposed to weak (χ < 100) FUV fields where vibrational H 2 -deexcitation heating dominates over photoelectric heating of the gas. We incorporate the metallicity dependence in our KOSMA-τ PDR model to study the metallicity dependence of [CII]/CO line ratios in low metallicity galaxies. We find that the main trend in the variation of the observed CII/CO ratio with metallicity is well reproduced by a single spherical clump, and does not necessarily require an ensemble of clumps as in the semianalytical model presented by Bolatto et al. (1999).

We present an analysis of a systematic CO(2-1) survey at 12 resolution covering most of the Local Group spiral M 33, which, at a distance of 840 kpc, is close enough for individual giant molecular clouds (GMCs) to be identified. The goal of this work is to study the properties of the GMCs in this subsolar metallicity galaxy. The CPROPS (Cloud PROPertieS) algorithm was used to identify 337 GMCs in M 33, the largest sample to date for an external galaxy. The sample is used to study the GMC luminosity function, or mass spectrum under the assumption of a constant N(H 2 )/I CO ratio. We find that n(L)dL ∝ L −2.0±0.1 for the entire sample. However, when the sample is divided into inner and outer disk samples, the exponent changes from 1.6 ± 0.2 in the center 2 kpc to 2.3 ± 0.2 for galactocentric distances larger than 2 kpc. On the basis of the emission in the FUV, Hα, 8 µm, and 24 µm bands, each cloud was classified in terms of its star-forming activity -no star formation or either embedded or exposed star formation (visible in FUV and Hα). At least one sixth of the clouds had no (massive) star formation, suggesting that the average time required for star formation to start is about one sixth of the total time for which the object is identifiable as a GMC. The clouds without star formation have significantly lower CO luminosities than those with star formation, whether embedded or exposed, a result that is presumably related to the lack of heating sources. Taking the cloud sample as a whole, the main non-trivial correlation is the decrease in cloud CO brightness (or luminosity) with galactocentric radius. The complete cloud catalog, including the CO and HI spectra and the CO contours overlaid on the FUV, Hα, 8 µm, and 24 µm images is presented in the appendix.

Context. Chemical fractionation reactions in the interstellar medium can result in molecular isotopologue abundance ratios that differ by many orders of magnitude from the isotopic abundance ratios. Understanding variations in the molecular abundance ratios through astronomical observations provides a new tool to sensitively probe the underlying physical conditions. Aims. Recently, we have introduced detailed isotopic chemistry into the KOSMA-τ model for photon-dominated regions (PDRs), which allows calculating abundances of carbon isotopologues as a function of PDR parameters. Results. An observable enhancement of the [C ii]/[ 13 C ii] intensity ratio due to chemical fractionation depends mostly on the source geometry and velocity structure, and to a lesser extent on the gas density and radiation field strength. The enhancement is expected to be largest for PDR layers that are somewhat shielded from UV radiation, but not completely hidden behind a surface layer of optically thick [C ii]. In our observations the [C ii]/[ 13 C ii] integrated line intensity ratio is always dominated by the optical depth of the main isotopic line. However, an enhanced intensity ratio is found for particular velocity components in several sources: in the red-shifted material in the ultracompact H ii region Mon R2, in the wings of the turbulent line profile in the Orion Bar, and possibly in the blue wing in NGC 7023. Mapping of the [ 13 C ii] lines in the Orion Bar gives a C + column density map, which confirms the temperature stratification of the C + layer, in agreement with the PDR models of this region.Conclusions. Carbon fractionation can be significant even in relatively warm PDRs, but a resulting enhanced [C ii]/[ 13 C ii] intensity ratio is only observable for special configurations. In most cases, a reduced [C ii]/[ 13 C ii] intensity ratio can be used instead to derive the [C ii] optical depth, leading to reliable column density estimates that can be compared with PDR model predictions. The C + column densities show that, for all sources, at the position of the [C ii] peak emission, the dominant fraction of the gas-phase carbon is in the form of C + .