Context. Complex organic molecules (COMs) have long been detected in the interstellar medium, especially in hot cores and in the hot corinos of low-mass protostars. Their formation routes however ...remain uncertain. Both warm gas-phase reactions and warm grain-surface reactions have been invoked to account for their presence in low-mass protostars. In this latter scheme, COMs result from radical-radical reactions on the grains as radicals become mobile when the nascent protostar warms up its surroundings and the resulting molecules are subsequently desorbed into the gas phase at higher temperatures. Aims. Prestellar cores are the direct precursors of low-mass protostars and offer a unique opportunity to study the formation of COMs before the warm-up phase. Their very low temperatures (≤ 10 K) and the absence of any heating source or outflow exclude any efficient warm gas phase or warm dust chemistry, so that the presence of COMs in prestellar cores would have to originate from non-thermal chemical processes. Methods. We used the IRAM 30 m telescope to look for four O-bearing COMs (acetaldehyde CH3CHO, dimethyl ether CH3OCH3, methyl formate CH3OCHO, and ketene CH2CO) in the prestellar core L1689B. Results. We report the unambiguous detection of all four molecules in the cold gas phase of L1689B. These detections support the role played by non-thermal (possibly photolytic) processes in COM formation and desorption, though the presence of dimethyl ether is so far unexplained by current grain formation scenarios. The data show univocally that COM synthesis has already started at the prestellar stage and suggests at least part of the COMs detected in hot corinos have a prestellar origin.
Complex organic molecules (COMs) are considered to be crucial molecules, since they are connected with organic chemistry, at the basis of terrestrial life. More pragmatically, they are molecules ...which in principle are difficult to synthesize in harsh interstellar environments and, therefore, are a crucial test for astrochemical models. Current models assume that several COMs are synthesized on lukewarm grain surfaces (gap30-40 K) and released in the gas phase at dust temperatures of gap100 K. However, recent detections of COMs in lap20 K gas demonstrate that we still need important pieces to complete the puzzle of COMs formation. Here, we present a complete census of the oxygen- and nitrogen-bearing COMs, previously detected in different Interstellar Medium (ISM) regions, toward the solar-type protostar IRAS 16293-2422. The census was obtained from the millimeter-submillimeter unbiased spectral survey TIMASSS. Of the 29 COMs searched for, 6 were detected: methyl cyanide, ketene, acetaldehyde, formamide, dimethyl ether, and methyl formate. Multifrequency analysis of the last five COMs provides clear evidence that they are present in the cold (lap30 K) envelope of IRAS 16293-2422, with abundances of 0.03-2 x 10 super(-10). Our data do not allow us to support the hypothesis that the COMs abundance increases with increasing dust temperature in the cold envelope, as expected if COMs were predominately formed on lukewarm grain surfaces. Finally, when also considering other ISM sources, we find a strong correlation over five orders of magnitude between methyl formate and dimethyl ether, and methyl formate and formamide abundances, which may point to a link between these two couples of species in cold and warm gas.
Formamide (NH sub(2)CHO), the simplest possible amide, has recently been suggested to be a central species in the synthesis of metabolic and genetic molecules, the chemical basis of life. In this ...Letter, we report the first detection of formamide in a protostar, IRAS 16293-2422, which may be similar to the Sun and solar system progenitor. The data combine spectra from the millimeter and submillimeter TIMASSS survey with recent, more sensitive observations at the IRAM 30 m telescope. With an abundance relative to H sub(2) of ~10 super(-10), formamide appears as abundant in this solar-type protostar as in the two high-mass star-forming regions, Orion-KL and SgrB2, where this species has previously been detected. Given the largely different UV-illuminated environments of the three sources, the relevance of UV photolysis of interstellar ices in the synthesis of formamide is therefore questionable. Assuming that this species is formed in the gas phase via the neutral-neutral reaction between the radical NH sub(2) and H sub(2)CO, we predict an abundance in good agreement with the value derived from our observations. The comparison of the relative abundance NH sub(2)CHO/H sub(2)O in IRAS 16293-2422 and in the coma of the comet Hale-Bopp supports the similarity between interstellar and cometary chemistry. Our results thus suggest that the abundance of some cometary organic volatiles could reflect gas phase rather than grain-surface interstellar chemistry.
We present the first census of the interstellar Complex Organic Molecules (iCOMs) in the low-mass Class I protostar SVS13-A, obtained by analysing data from the IRAM-30 m Large Project ASAI ...(Astrochemical Surveys At IRAM). They consist of a high-sensitivity unbiased spectral survey at the 1mm, 2mm, and 3mm IRAM bands. We detected five iCOMs: acetaldehyde (CH3CHO), methyl formate (HCOOCH3), dimethyl ether (CH3OCH3), ethanol (CH3CH2OH), and formamide (NH2CHO). In addition, we searched for other iCOMs and ketene (H2CCO), formic acid (HCOOH) and methoxy (CH3O), whose only ketene was detected. The numerous detected lines, from 5 to 37 depending on the species, cover a large upper level energy range, between 15 and 254 K. This allowed us to carry out a rotational diagram analysis and derive rotational temperatures between 35 and 110 K, and column densities between 3 × 1015 and 1 × 1017 cm−2 on the 0.3 arcsec size previously determined by interferometric observations of glycolaldehyde. These new observations clearly demonstrate the presence of a rich chemistry in the hot corino towards SVS13-A. The measured iCOMs abundances were compared to other Class 0 and I hot corinos, as well as comets, previously published in the literature. We find evidence that (i) SVS13-A is as chemically rich as younger Class 0 protostars, and (ii) the iCOMs relative abundances do not substantially evolve during the protostellar phase.
Context. Mantles of iced water mixed with carbon monoxyde, formaldehyde, and methanol are formed during the so-called prestellar core phase. In addition, radicals are also thought to be formed on the ...grain surfaces, and to react to form complex organic molecules later on, during the so-called warm-up phase of the protostellar evolution. Aims: We aim to study the formation of the grain mantles during the prestellar core phase and the abundance of formaldehyde, methanol, and radicals trapped in them. Methods: We have developed a macrosopic statistic multilayer model that follows the formation of grain mantles with time and that includes two effects that may increase the number of radicals trapped in the mantles: i) during the mantle formation, only the surface layer is chemically active and not the entire bulk; and ii) the porous structure of grains allows the trapping reactive particles. The model considers a network of H, O, and CO forming neutral species such as water, CO, formaldehyde, and methanol, plus several radicals. We ran a large grid of models to study the impact of the mantle multilayer nature and grain porous structure. In addition, we explored how the uncertainty of other key parameters influences the mantle composition. Results: Our model predicts relatively high abundances of radicals, especially of HCO and CH3O (10-9 - 10-7). In addition, the multilayer approach enables us to follow the chemical differentiation within the grain mantle, showing that the mantles are far from being uniform. For example, methanol is mostly present in the outer layers of the mantles, whereas CO and other reactive species are trapped in the inner layers. The overall mantle composition depends on the density and age of the prestellar core as well as on some microscopic parameters, such as the diffusion energy and the hydrogenation reactions activation energy. Comparison with observations allows us to constrain the value of the last two parameters (0.5-0.65 and 1500 K, respectively) and provide some indications on the physical conditions during the formation of the ices.
Extremely high deuteration of several molecules has been observed around low-mass protostars for a decade. Among them, formaldehyde and methanol present particularly high deuteration, with ...observations of abundant doubly and triply deuterated forms. Both species are thought to be mainly formed on interstellar grains during the low-temperature and dense pre-collapse phase by H and D atom additions on the iced CO. We present here a theoretical study of the formaldehyde and methanol deuteration obtained with our gas-grain model, GRAINOBLE. This model takes into account the multilayer nature of the mantle and explores the robustness of the results against the uncertainties of poorly constrained chemical and surface model parameters. The comparison of the model predictions with the observations leads to two major results: (1) the observed high deuteration is obtained during the last phase of the pre-collapse stage, when the density reaches ~5 x 10 super(6) cm super(?3), and this phase is fast, lasting only several thousands years; and (2) D and H abstraction and substitution reactions are crucial in making up the observed deuteration ratios. This work shows the power of chemical composition as a tool to reconstruct the past history of protostars.
Abstract
Evidence is mounting that the small bodies of our Solar system, such as comets and asteroids, have at least partially inherited their chemical composition from the first phases of the Solar ...system formation. It then appears that the molecular complexity of these small bodies is most likely related to the earliest stages of star formation. It is therefore important to characterize and to understand how the chemical evolution changes with solar-type protostellar evolution. We present here the Large Program ‘Astrochemical Surveys At IRAM’ (ASAI). Its goal is to carry out unbiased millimetre line surveys between 80 and 272 GHz of a sample of 10 template sources, which fully cover the first stages of the formation process of solar-type stars, from pre-stellar cores to the late protostellar phase. In this paper, we present an overview of the surveys and results obtained from the analysis of the 3 mm band observations. The number of detected main isotopic species barely varies with the evolutionary stage and is found to be very similar to that of massive star-forming regions. The molecular content in O- and C-bearing species allows us to define two chemical classes of envelopes, whose composition is dominated by either (a) a rich content in O-rich complex organic molecules, associated with hot corino sources, or (b) a rich content in hydrocarbons, typical of warm carbon-chain chemistry sources. Overall, a high chemical richness is found to be present already in the initial phases of solar-type star formation.
Methanol is a key species in astrochemistry because it is the most abundant organic molecule in the interstellar medium and is thought to be the mother molecule of many complex organic species. ...Estimating the deuteration of methanol around young protostars is of crucial importance because it highly depends on its formation mechanisms and the physical conditions during its moment of formation. We analyse several dozen transitions from deuterated methanol isotopologues coming from various existing observational datasets obtained with the IRAM-PdBI and ALMA sub-millimeter interferometers to estimate the methanol deuteration surrounding three low-mass protostars on Solar System scales. A population diagram analysis allows us to derive a CH2DOH/CH3OH abundance ratio of 3–6% and a CH3OD/CH3OH ratio of 0.4–1.6% in the warm inner (≤100–200 AU) protostellar regions. These values are typically ten times lower than those derived with previous single-dish observations towards these sources, but they are one to two orders of magnitude higher than the methanol deuteration measured in massive hot cores. Dust temperature maps obtained from Herschel and Planck observations show that massive hot cores are located in warmer molecular clouds than low-mass sources, with temperature differences of ~10 K. The comparison of our measured values with the predictions of the gas-grain astrochemical model GRAINOBLE shows that such a temperature difference is sufficient to explain the different deuteration observed in low- to high-mass sources. This suggests that the physical conditions of the molecular cloud at the origin of the protostars mostly govern the present-day observed deuteration of methanol and therefore of more complex organic molecules. Finally, the methanol deuteration measured towards young solar-type protostars on Solar System scales seems to be higher by a factor of ~5 than the upper limit in methanol deuteration estimated in comet Hale-Bopp. If this result is confirmed by subsequent observations of other comets, it would imply that an important reprocessing of the organic material likely occurred in the solar nebula during the formation of the Solar System.
Abstract
We report new interferometric images of cyclopropenylidene, c-C
3
H
2
, toward the young protocluster OMC-2 FIR 4. The observations were performed at 82 and 85 GHz with the NOrthern Extended ...Millimeter Array (NOEMA) as part of the project Seeds Of Life In Space (SOLIS). In addition, IRAM-30 m data observations were used to investigate the physical structure of OMC-2 FIR 4. We find that the c-C
3
H
2
gas emits from the same region where previous SOLIS observations showed bright HC
5
N emission. From a non-LTE analysis of the IRAM-30 m data, the c-C
3
H
2
gas has an average temperature of ∼40 K, a H
2
density of ∼3 × 10
5
cm
−3
, and a c-C
3
H
2
abundance relative to H
2
of (7 ± 1) × 10
−12
. In addition, the NOEMA observations provide no sign of significant c-C
3
H
2
excitation temperature gradients across the region (about 3–4 beams), with
T
ex
in the range 8 ± 3 up to 16 ± 7 K. We thus infer that our observations are inconsistent with a physical interaction of the OMC-2 FIR 4 envelope with the outflow arising from OMC-2 FIR 3, as claimed by previous studies. The comparison of the measured c-C
3
H
2
abundance with the predictions from an astrochemical PDR model indicates that OMC-2 FIR 4 is irradiated by an FUV field ∼1000 times larger than the interstellar one, and by a flux of ionizing particles ∼4000 times larger than the canonical value of 1 × 10
−17
s
−1
from the Galaxy cosmic rays, which is consistent with our previous HC
5
N observations. This provides an important and independent confirmation of other studies that one, or more, source inside the OMC-2 FIR 4 region emits energetic (≥10 MeV) particles.
Context.
Solar-like protostars are known to be chemically rich, but it is not yet clear how much their chemical composition can vary and why. So far, two chemically distinct types of Solar-like ...protostars have been identified: hot corinos, which are enriched in interstellar Complex Organic Molecules, such as methanol (CH
3
OH) or dimethyl ether (CH
3
OCH
3
), and warm carbon chain chemistry (WCCC) objects, which are enriched in carbon chain molecules, such as butadiynyl (C
4
H) or ethynyl radical (CCH). However, none of these have been studied so far in environments similar to that in which our Sun was born, that is, one that is close to massive stars.
Aims.
In this work, we search for hot corinos and WCCC objects in the closest analogue to the Sun’s birth environment, the Orion Molecular Cloud 2/3 (OMC-2/3) filament located in the Orion A molecular cloud.
Methods.
We obtained single-dish observations of CCH and CH
3
OH line emission towards nine Solar-like protostars in this region. As in other similar studies of late, we used the CCH/CH
3
OH abundance ratio in order to determine the chemical nature of our protostar sample.
Results.
Unexpectedly, we found that the observed methanol and ethynyl radical emission (over a few thousands au scale) does not seem to originate from the protostars but rather from the parental cloud and its photo-dissociation region, illuminated by the OB stars of the region.
Conclusions.
Our results strongly suggest that caution should be taken before using CCH/CH
3
OH from single-dish observations as an indicator of the protostellar chemical nature and that there is a need for other tracers or high angular resolution observations for probing the inner protostellar layers.
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