Interstellar sulfur isotopes and stellar oxygen burning

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Y.-N. Chin
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Radioastronomisches Institut der Universität Bonn
- Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
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C. Henkel
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Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
- Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
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J.B. Whiteoak
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Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO Radiophysics Labs.
- P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW 2121, Australia
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N. Langer
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Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik
- Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, D-85740 Garching, Germany
- E.B. Churchwell
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University of Wisconsin, Astronomy Department
- 475 N. Charter St., Madison, WI 53706, USA
Paper published in January 1996 by the Main Journal of
Astronomy and Astrophysics in vol. 305, pp. 960 - 969.
If you want to have a look at the complete paper please click
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Abstract.
A 12C32S, 13C32S,
12C34S, and 12C33S J=2-1
line survey has been made to study interstellar 32S/34S
and 34S/33S ratios from the galactic disk.
The four CS isotopomers were detected in 20 star forming regions with
galactocentric distances between 3 and 9 kpc.
From a comparison of line velocities, the C33S J=2-1 rest
frequency is about 250 kHz below the value given in the Lovas (1992) catalog.
Taking 12C/13C ratios from Wilson & Rood (1994) and
assuming equal 12C32S and 13C32S
excitation temperatures and beam filling factors, 12C32S
opacities are in the range 3 to 15; average 32S/34S and
34S/33S isotope ratios are 24.4 ± 5.0 and
6.27 ± 1.01, respectively.
While no systematic variation in the 34S/33S isotope
ratio is found, the 32S/34S ratio increases with
galactocentric distance when accounting for the 12C/13C
gradient of the galactic disk.
A fit to the unweighted data yields 32S/34S =
3.3 ± 0.5 (dGC/kpc) + 4.1 ± 3.1 with a correlation
coefficient of 0.84.
Since the interstellar sulfur (S) isotopes are synthesized by oxygen burning
in massive stars, consequences for nucleosynthesis and models of chemical
evolution are briefly discussed.

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