Molecular abundances in the dense interstellar and circumstellar clouds

2008 ◽  
pp. 337-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Guélin ◽  
J. Cernicharo
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Abundances

scholarly journals Mapping the 13CO/C18O abundance ratio in the massive star-forming region G29.96−0.02

2018 ◽  
Vol 617 ◽  
pp. A14 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Paron ◽  
M. B. Areal ◽  
M. E. Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Abundance Ratio ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Mass Star ◽  
Galactocentric Distance ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Molecular Abundances

Aims. Estimating molecular abundances ratios from directly measuring the emission of the molecules toward a variety of interstellar environments is indeed very useful to advance our understanding of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, and hence of the physical processes related to the chemistry. It is necessary to increase the sample of molecular clouds, located at different distances, in which the behavior of molecular abundance ratios, such as the 13CO/C18O ratio, is studied in detail. Methods. We selected the well-studied high-mass star-forming region G29.96−0.02, located at a distance of about 6.2 kpc, which is an ideal laboratory to perform this type of study. To study the 13CO/C18O abundance ratio (X13∕18) toward this region, we used 12CO J = 3–2 data obtained from the CO High-Resolution Survey, 13CO and C18O J = 3–2 data from the 13CO/C18O (J = 3–2) Heterodyne Inner Milky Way Plane Survey, and 13CO and C18O J = 2–1 data retrieved from the CDS database that were observed with the IRAM 30 m telescope. The distribution of column densities and X13∕18 throughout the extension of the analyzed molecular cloud was studied based on local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE methods. Results. Values of X13∕18 between 1.5 and 10.5, with an average of about 5, were found throughout the studied region, showing that in addition to the dependency of X13∕18 and the galactocentric distance, the local physical conditions may strongly affect this abundance ratio. We found that correlating the X13∕18 map with the location of the ionized gas and dark clouds allows us to suggest in which regions the far-UV radiation stalls in dense gaseous components, and in which regions it escapes and selectively photodissociates the C18O isotope. The non-LTE analysis shows that the molecular gas has very different physical conditions, not only spatially throughout the cloud, but also along the line of sight. This type of study may represent a tool for indirectly estimating (from molecular line observations) the degree of photodissociation in molecular clouds, which is indeed useful to study the chemistry in the interstellar medium.

Molecular Abundances in IRC +10216

1980 ◽  
pp. 497-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. McCabe ◽  
R. Connon Smith ◽  
R. E. S. Clegg
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Abundances

scholarly journals A sensitive λ 3 mm line survey of L483

2019 ◽  
Vol 625 ◽  
pp. A147 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Agúndez ◽  
N. Marcelino ◽  
J. Cernicharo ◽  
E. Roueff ◽  
M. Tafalla
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Isotopic Ratios ◽  
Dark Cloud ◽  
Carbon Chains ◽  
Prestellar Cores ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Line Survey ◽  
Molecular Abundances

An exhaustive chemical characterization of dense cores is mandatory to our understanding of chemical composition changes from a starless to a protostellar stage. However, only a few sources have had their molecular composition characterized in detail. Here we present a λ 3 mm line survey of L483, a dense core around a Class 0 protostar, which was observed with the IRAM 30 m telescope in the 80–116 GHz frequency range. We detected 71 molecules (140 including different isotopologs), most of which are present in the cold and quiescent ambient cloud according to their narrow lines (FWHM ~ 0.5 km s−1) and low rotational temperatures (≲10 K). Of particular interest among the detected molecules are the cis isomer of HCOOH, the complex organic molecules HCOOCH3, CH3OCH3, and C2H5OH, a wide variety of carbon chains, nitrogen oxides like N2O, and saturated molecules like CH3SH, in addition to eight new interstellar molecules (HCCO, HCS, HSC, NCCNH+, CNCN, NCO, H2NCO+, and NS+) whose detection has already been reported. In general, fractional molecular abundances in L483 are systematically lower than in TMC-1 (especially for carbon chains), tend to be higher than in L1544 and B1-b, and are similar to those in L1527. Apart from the overabundance of carbon chains in TMC-1, we find that L483 does not have a marked chemical differentiation with respect to starless/prestellar cores like TMC-1 and L1544, although it does chemically differentiate from Class 0 hot corino sources like IRAS 16293−2422. This fact suggests that the chemical composition of the ambient cloud of some Class 0 sources could be largely inherited from the dark cloud starless/prestellar phase. We explore the use of potential chemical evolutionary indicators, such as the HNCO/C3S, SO2/C2S, and CH3SH/C2S ratios, to trace the prestellar/protostellar transition. We also derived isotopic ratios for a variety of molecules, many of which show isotopic ratios close to the values for the local interstellar medium (remarkably all those involving 34S and 33S), while there are also several isotopic anomalies like an extreme depletion in 13C for one of the two isotopologs of c-C3H2, a drastic enrichment in 18O for SO and HNCO (SO being also largely enriched in 17O), and different abundances for the two 13C substituted species of C2H and the two 15N substituted species of N2H+. We report the first detection in space of some minor isotopologs like c-C3D. The exhaustive chemical characterization of L483 presented here, together with similar studies of other prestellar and protostellar sources, should allow us to identify the main factors that regulate the chemical composition of cores along the process of formation of low-mass protostars.

scholarly journals The Chemical Identification of Grain Mantles by Infrared Spectroscopy

1980 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 373-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Allamandola ◽  
J. M. Greenberg ◽  
C. A. Norman ◽  
W. Hagen
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Spectroscopic Measurement ◽  
Chemical Identification ◽  
Interstellar Chemistry ◽  
Modes Of Vibration ◽  
Molecular Abundances ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
Middle Infrared ◽  
Grain Properties ◽  
Gas Ratio

The composition and physical properties of interstellar grain mantles continues to be an important problem in astrophysics. Part of this importance comes from the fact that grain mantle composition, photochemistry and photophysics are involved in interstellar chemistry (Greenberg et al. 1972, Greenberg, 1979, Greenberg et al. this volume). Because most molecules have a number of fundamental modes of vibration which possess activity between 2.5 and 25 μm (the middle infrared), spectroscopic measurement in this region can provide a direct probe of the molecules making up grain mantles. In addition to molecular composition, under favorable conditions, such measurements can yield molecular abundances, the solid/gas ratio for specific molecules and give an indication of such physical grain properties as temperature and thermal history.

Molecular abundances in the high-latitude molecular clouds

1988 ◽  
Vol 326 ◽  
pp. 909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loris Magnani ◽  
Leo Blitz ◽  
Jan G. A. Wouterloot
Keyword(s):  
High Latitude ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Molecular Abundances

scholarly journals What did the seahorse swallow? APEX 170 GHz observations of the chemical conditions in the Seahorse infrared dark cloud

2020 ◽  
Vol 639 ◽  
pp. A65 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Miettinen
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
Spectral Lines ◽  
Absorption Lines ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Mass Star ◽  
Evolutionary Trends ◽  
Detection Rates ◽  
Molecular Abundances

Context. Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are useful target sources for the studies of molecular cloud substructure evolution and early stages of star formation. Determining the chemical composition of IRDCs helps to constrain the initial conditions and timescales (via chemical clocks) of star formation in these often filamentary, dense interstellar clouds. Aims. We aim to determine the fractional abundances of multiple different molecular species in the filamentary IRDC G304.74+01.32, nicknamed the Seahorse IRDC, and to search for relationships between the abundances and potential evolutionary trends. Methods. We used the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) telescope to observe spectral lines occurring at about 170 GHz frequency towards 14 positions along the full extent of the Seahorse filament. The sample is composed of five clumps that appear dark in the mid-IR, eight clumps that are associated with mid-IR sources, and one clump that is already hosting an H II region and is, hence, likely to be in the most advanced stage of evolution of all the target sources. We also employed our previous 870 μm dust continuum imaging data of the Seahorse. Results. Six spectral line transitions were detected (≥3σ) altogether, namely, SO(NJ = 44−33), H13CN(J = 2−1), H13CO+(J = 2−1), SiO(J = 4−3), HN13C(J = 2−1), and C2H(N = 2−1). While SO, H13CO+, and HN13C were detected in every source, the detection rates for C2H and H13CN were 92.9 and 85.7%, respectively. Only one source (SMM 3) showed detectable SiO emission (7.1% detection rate). Three clumps (SMM 5, 6, and 7) showed the SO, H13CN, H13CO+, HN13C, and C2H lines in absorption. Of the detected species, C2H was found to be the most abundant one with respect to H2 (a few times 10−9 on average), while HN13C was found to be the least abundant species (a few times 10−11). We found three positive correlations among the derived molecular abundances, of which those between C2H and HN13C and HN13C and H13CO+ are the most significant (correlation coefficient r ≃ 0.9). The statistically most significant evolutionary trends we uncovered are the drops in the C2H abundance and in the [HN13C]∕[H13CN] ratio as the clump evolves from an IR dark stage to an IR bright stage and then to an H II region. Conclusions. The absorption lines detected towards SMM 6 and SMM 7 could arise from continuum radiation from an embedded young stellar object and an extragalactic object seen along the line of sight. However, the cause of absorption lines in the IR dark clump SMM 5 remains unclear. The correlations we found between the different molecular abundances can be understood as arising from the gas-phase electron (ionisation degree) and atomic carbon abundances. With the exception of H13CN and H13CO+, the fractional abundances of the detected molecules in the Seahorse are relatively low compared to those in other IRDC sources. The [C2H] evolutionary indicator we found is in agreement with previous studies, and can be explained by the conversion of C2H to other species (e.g. CO) when the clump temperature rises, especially after the ignition of a hot molecular core in the clump. The decrease of [HN13C]∕[H13CN] as the clump evolves is also likely to reflect the increase in the clump temperature, which leads to an enhanced formation of HCN and its 13C isotopologue. Both single-dish and high-resolution interferometric imaging of molecular line emission (or absorption) of the Seahorse filament are required to understand the large-scale spatial distribution of the gas and to search for possible hot, high-mass star-forming cores in the cloud.

scholarly journals Diffuse Interstellar Bands – The Unidentified Part of the Interstellar Absorption Spectrum

1989 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 67-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Krełowski
Keyword(s):  
Absorption Spectrum ◽  
Line Of Sight ◽  
Optical Parameters ◽  
Interstellar Matter ◽  
Molecular Absorption ◽  
Interstellar Clouds ◽  
Diffuse Interstellar Bands ◽  
Intensity Ratios ◽  
Molecular Abundances

The unidentified (since 1921) diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are discussed together with their relations to other interstellar absorptions sucn as: continuous extinction, polarization and atomic or molecular absorption lines. It is shown that DIBs do not form the absorption spectrum of one agent, but probably of several (3 or more). DIBs as well as other interstellar absorptions are usually formed in several clouds along a line-of-sight. Thus, they suffer Doppler splitting; the first high resolution profiles free of the latter effect are described. Since single interstellar clouds may differ not only in radial velocities but also in many physical (optical) parameters, the observed interstellar absorptions are ill-defined averages over all clouds situated along any line-of-sight. It is of basic importance to determine not only the single cloud profiles of diffuse bands, but also their relations to other interstellar absorptions in the same clouds. Intensity ratios of DIBs are shown to be sensitive to the shapes of extinction curves, depletion patterns of elements and molecular abundances in the considered clouds. The sensitivity of the DIBs to the variation in polarization is less documented but probably also present. Thus the diffuse lines are presented as the unidentified part of the absorption spectrum of interstellar matter. Their identification depends on the determination of their relations to other interstellar absorptions which must be determined precisely.

scholarly journals Circumstellar Chemistry: Theoretical Studies

1987 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 357-367
Author(s):  
Alain Omont
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Equilibrium ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Theoretical Studies ◽  
Circumstellar Shells ◽  
Molecular Abundances

The different chemical processes responsible for the observed molecular abundances in massive circumstellar shells are examined: freezing-out of chemical equilibrium, radical and ion reactions, grain and shock processes, photochemistry, etc…

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document