Forbidden oxygen lines at various nucleocentric distances in comets

Aims: We study the formation of the [OI] lines - that is, 5577.339 Å (the green line), 6300.304 Å and 6363.776 Å (the two red lines) - in the coma of comets and determine the parent species of the oxygen atoms using the ratio of the green-to-red-doublet emission intensity, I[SUB]5577[/SUB]/(I[SUB]6300[/SUB] + I[SUB]6364[/SUB]), (hereafter the G/R ratio) and the line velocity widths. <BR /> Methods: We acquired high-resolution spectroscopic observations at the ESO Very Large Telescope of comets C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), 73P-C/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, 8P/Tuttle, and 103P/Hartley 2 when they were close to Earth (<0.6 au). Using the observed spectra, which have a high spatial resolution (<60 km/pixel), we determined the intensities and widths of the three [OI] lines. We spatially extracted the spectra to achieve the best possible resolution of about 1-2'', that is, nucleocentric projected distances of 100 to 400 km depending on the geocentric distance of the comet. We decontaminated the [OI] green line from C[SUB]2[/SUB] lines blends that we identified. <BR /> Results: The observed G/R ratio in all four comets varies as a function of nucleocentric projected distance (between ~0.25 to ~0.05 within 1000 km). This is mainly due to the collisional quenching of O([SUP]1[/SUP]S) and O([SUP]1[/SUP]D) by water molecules in the inner coma. The observed green emission line width is about 2.5 km s[SUP]-1[/SUP] and decreases as the distance from the nucleus increases, which can be explained by the varying contribution of CO[SUB]2[/SUB] to the O([SUP]1[/SUP]S) production in the innermost coma. The photodissociation of CO[SUB]2[/SUB] molecules seem to produce O([SUP]1[/SUP]S) closer to the nucleus, while the water molecule forms all the O([SUP]1[/SUP]S) and O([SUP]1[/SUP]D) atoms beyond 10[SUP]3[/SUP] km. Thus we conclude that the main parent species producing O([SUP]1[/SUP]S) and O([SUP]1[/SUP]D) in the inner coma is not always the same. The observations have been interpreted in the framework of the previously described coupled-chemistry-emission model, and the upper limits of the relative abundances of CO[SUB]2[/SUB] were derived from the observed G/R ratios. Measuring the [OI] lines might provide a new way to determine the CO[SUB]2[/SUB] relative abundance in comets. Based on observations made with ESO Telescope at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under programs ID 073.C-0525, 277.C-5016, 080.C-0615 and 086.C-0958.Tables 3 and 4 are available in electronic form at <A href="http://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201424403/olm">http://www.aanda.org</A>