Strong absorption by interstellar hydrogen fluoride: Herschel/HIFI
  observations of the sight-line to G10.6-0.4 (W31C)
  We report the detection of strong absorption by interstellar hydrogen
fluoride along the sight-line to the submillimeter continuum source G10.6-0.4
(W31C). We have used Herschel's HIFI instrument, in dual beam switch mode, to
observe the 1232.4763 GHz J=1-0 HF transition in the upper sideband of the Band
5a receiver. The resultant spectrum shows weak HF emission from G10.6-0.4 at
LSR velocities in the range -10 to -3 km/s, accompanied by strong absorption by
foreground material at LSR velocities in the range 15 to 50 km/s. The spectrum
is similar to that of the 1113.3430 GHz 1(11)-0(00) transition of para-water,
although at some frequencies the HF (hydrogen fluoride) optical depth clearly
exceeds that of para-H2O. The optically-thick HF absorption that we have
observed places a conservative lower limit of 1.6E+14 cm-2 on the HF column
density along the sight-line to G10.6-0.4. Our lower limit on the HF abundance,
6E-9 relative to hydrogen nuclei, implies that hydrogen fluoride accounts for
between ~ 30 and 100% of the fluorine nuclei in the gas phase along this
sight-line. This observation corroborates theoretical predictions that -
because the unique thermochemistry of fluorine permits the exothermic reaction
of F atoms with molecular hydrogen - HF will be the dominant reservoir of
interstellar fluorine under a wide range of conditions.
