Identification of Methyl Isocyanate and Other Complex Organic Molecules in a Hot Molecular Core, G31.41+0.31
We have identified methyl isocyanate (CH3NCO), a precursor of prebiotic molecules, towards the source. G31.41+0.31 is a well known chemically rich hot molecular core (HMC). Using Band 3 observations of Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), we have analyzed the chemical and physical properties of the source.
In addition to this, we have reported complex organic molecules (COMs) like methanol (CH3OH), methanethiol (CH3SH), and methyl formate (CH3OCHO). Additionally, we have used transitions from molecules like HCN, HCO+, SiO to trace the presence of infall and outflow signatures around the star-forming region. For the COMs, we have estimated the column densities and kinetic temperatures, assuming molecular excitation under local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) conditions.
From the estimated kinetic temperatures of certain COMs, we found that multiple temperature components may be present in the HMC environment. Comparing the obtained molecular column densities between the existing observational results toward other HMCs, it seems that the COMs are favourably produced in the hot-core environment (∼100 K or higher). Though the spectral emissions towards G31.41+0.31 are not fully resolved, we find that CH3NCO and other COMs are possibly formed on the grain/ice phase and populate the gas environment similar to other hot cores like Sgr B2, Orion KL, and G10.47+0.03, etc.
Prasanta Gorai, Ankan Das, Takashi Shimonishi, Dipen Sahu, Suman Kumar Mondal, Bratati Bhat, Sandip K. Chakrabarti
Comments: 28 pages, 21 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal
Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
Cite as: arXiv:2011.02226 [astro-ph.GA] (or arXiv:2011.02226v1 [astro-ph.GA] for this version)
Submission history
From: Ankan Das
[v1] Wed, 4 Nov 2020 11:02:53 UTC (3,413 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.02226
Astrobiology, Astrochemistry,
