Large-scale mapping of the massive star-forming region RCW38 in the [CII] and PAH emission

Abstract

Aims. We investigate the large-scale structure of the interstellar medium (ISM) around the massive star cluster RCW 38 in the [CII] 158 μm line and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission. Methods. We carried out [CII] line mapping of an area of ∼30′ × 15′ for RCW 38 by a Fabry-Perot spectrometer on a 100 cm balloon-borne telescope with an angular resolution of. We compared the [CII] intensity map with the PAH and dust emission maps obtained by the AKARI satellite. Results. The [CII] emission shows a highly nonuniform distribution around the cluster, exhibiting the structure widely extended to the north and the east from the center. The [CII] intensity rapidly drops toward the southwest direction, where a CO cloud appears to dominate. We decompose the 3-160 μm spectral energy distributions of the surrounding ISM structure into PAH as well as warm and cool dust components with the help of 2.5-5 μm spectra. Conclusions. We find that the [CII] emission spatially corresponds to the PAH emission better than to the dust emission, confirming the relative importance of PAHs for photo-electric heating of gas in photo-dissociation regions. A naive interpretation based on our observational results indicates that molecular clouds associated with RCW 38 are located both on the side of and behind the cluster. © 2013 ESO.