  We report the detection of absorption by interstellar hydroxyl cations and
water cations, along the sight-line to the bright continuum source W49N. We
have used Herschel's HIFI instrument, in dual beam switch mode, to observe the
972 GHz N = 1 - 0 transition of OH+ and the 1115 GHz 1(11) - 0(00) transition
of ortho-H2O+. The resultant spectra show absorption by ortho-H2O+, and strong
absorption by OH+, in foreground material at velocities in the range 0 to 70
km/s with respect to the local standard of rest. The inferred OH+/H2O+
abundance ratio ranges from ~ 3 to ~ 15, implying that the observed OH+ arises
in clouds of small molecular fraction, in the 2 - 8% range. This conclusion is
confirmed by the distribution of OH+ and H2O+ in Doppler velocity space, which
is similar to that of atomic hydrogen, as observed by means of 21 cm absorption
measurements, and dissimilar from that typical of other molecular tracers. The
observed OH+/H abundance ratio of a few E-8 suggests a cosmic ray ionization
rate for atomic hydrogen of (0.6 - 2.4) E-16 s-1, in good agreement with
estimates inferred previously for diffuse clouds in the Galactic disk from
observations of interstellar H3+ and other species.
