Highly Excited H2 in Herbig-Haro 7: Formation Pumping in Shocked Molecular Gas?

We have obtained K-band spectra at R ∼ 5000 and an angular resolution of 0.″3 of a section of the Herbig-Haro 7 (HH7) bow shock, using the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph at Gemini North. Present in the portion of the data cube corresponding to the brightest part of the bow shock are emission lines of H₂ with upper state energies ranging from ∼6000 K to the dissociation energy of H₂, ∼50,000 K. Because of low signal-to-noise ratios, the highest excitation lines cannot be easily seen elsewhere in the observed region. However, excitation temperatures, measured throughout much of the observed region using lines from levels as high as 25,000 K, are a strong function of upper level energy, indicating that the very highest levels are populated throughout. The level populations in the brightest region are well fit by a two-temperature model, with 98.5% of the emitting gas at T = 1800 K and 1.5% at T = 5200 K. The bulk of the H₂ line emission in HH7, from the 1800 K gas, has previously been well-modeled by a continuous shock, but the 5200 K cozmponent is inconsistent with standalone standard continuous shock models. We discuss various possible origins for the hot component and suggest that this component is H₂ newly reformed on dust grains and then ejected from them, presumably following dissociation of some of the H₂ by the shock.