On The Origin Of C4H And CH3OH In Protostellar Envelopes

The formation pathways of different types of organic molecules in protostellar envelopes and other regions of star formation are subjects of intense current interest.

We here present observations of C4H and CH3OH, tracing two distinct groups of interstellar organic molecules, toward 16 protostars in the Ophiuchus and Corona Australis molecular clouds. Together with observations in the literature, we present C4H and CH3OH data from single-dish observations of 40 embedded protostars.

We find no correlation between the C4H and CH3OH column densities in this large sample. Based on this lack of correlation, a difference in line profiles between C4H and CH3OH, and previous interferometric observations of similar sources, we propose that the emission from these two molecules is spatially separated, with the CH3OH tracing gas that has been transiently heated to high (∼70-100 K) temperatures, and the C4H tracing the cooler large-scale envelope where CH4 molecules have been liberated from ices. These results provide insight in the differentiation between hot corino and warm carbon-chain chemistry in embedded protostars.

Johan E. Lindberg, Steven B. Charnley, Martin A. Cordiner
(Submitted on 21 Nov 2016)

Comments: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
Cite as: arXiv:1611.06975 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:1611.06975v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
Submission history
From: Johan E. Lindberg
[v1] Mon, 21 Nov 2016 19:52:27 GMT (665kb,D)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.06975