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Register a new userComplex organic molecules in strongly UV-irradiated gas
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We investigate the presence of COMs in strongly UV-irradiated interstellar molecular gas. We have carried out a complete millimetre line survey using the IRAM30m telescope towards the edge of the Orion Bar photodissociation region (PDR), close to the H2 dissociation front, a position irradiated by a very intense far-UV (FUV) radiation field. These observations have been complemented with 8.5 arcsec resolution maps of the H2CO 5(1,5)-4(1,4) and C18O 3-2 emission at 0.9 mm. Despite being a harsh environment, we detect more than 250 lines from COMs and related precursors: H2CO, CH3OH, HCO, H2CCO, CH3CHO, H2CS, HCOOH, CH3CN, CH2NH, HNCO, H13-2CO, and HC3N (in decreasing order of abundance). For each species, the large number of detected lines allowed us to accurately constrain their rotational temperatures (Trot) and column densities (N). Owing to subthermal excitation and intricate spectroscopy of some COMs (symmetric- and asymmetric-top molecules such as CH3CN and H2CO, respectively), a correct determination of N and Trot requires building rotational population diagrams of their rotational ladders separately. We also provide accurate upper limit abundances for chemically related molecules that might have been expected, but are not conclusively detected at the edge of the PDR (HDCO, CH3O, CH3NC, CH3CCH, CH3OCH3, HCOOCH3, CH3CH2OH, CH3CH2CN, and CH2CHCN). A non-LTE LVG excitation analysis for molecules with known collisional rate coefficients, suggests that some COMs arise from different PDR layers but we cannot resolve them spatially. In particular, H2CO and CH3CN survive in the extended gas directly exposed to the strong FUV flux (Tk = 150-250 K and Td > 60 K), whereas CH3OH only arises from denser and cooler gas clumps in the more shielded PDR interior (Tk = 40-50 K). We find a HCO/H2CO/CH3OH = 1/5/3 abundance ratio. These ratios are different from those inferred in hot cores and shocks.
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(Abridged) The birth environment of the Sun will have influenced the conditions in the pre-solar nebula, including the attainable chemical complexity, important for prebiotic chemistry. The formation and distribution of complex organic molecules (COMs) in a disk around a T Tauri star is investigated for two scenarios: (i) an isolated disk, and (ii) a disk irradiated externally by a nearby massive star. The chemistry is calculated along the accretion flow from the outer disk inwards using a comprehensive network. Two simulations are performed, one beginning with complex ices and one with simple ices only. For the isolated disk, COMs are transported without major alteration into the inner disk where they thermally desorb into the gas reaching an abundance representative of the initial assumed ice abundance. For simple ices, COMs efficiently form on grain surfaces under the conditions in the outer disk. Gas-phase COMs are released into the molecular layer via photodesorption. For the irradiated disk, complex ices are also transported inwards; however, they undergo thermal processing caused by the warmer conditions in the irradiated disk which tends to reduce their abundance along the accretion flow. For simple ices, grain-surface chemistry cannot synthesise COMs in the outer disk because the necessary grain-surface radicals, which tend to be particularly volatile, are not sufficiently abundant on the grain surfaces. Gas-phase COMs are formed in the inner region of the irradiated disk via gas-phase chemistry induced by the desorption of strongly bound molecules such as methanol; hence, the abundances are not representative of the initial molecular abundances injected into the outer disk. These results suggest that the composition of comets formed in isolated disks may differ from those formed in externally irradiated disks with the latter composed of more simple ices.
(Abridged) Protoplanetary disks are vital objects in star and planet formation, possessing all the material which may form a planetary system orbiting the new star. We investigate the synthesis of complex organic molecules (COMs) in disks to constrain the achievable chemical complexity and predict species and transitions which may be observable with ALMA. We have coupled a 2D model of a protoplanetary disk around a T Tauri star with a gas-grain chemical network including COMs. We compare compare synthesised line intensities and calculated column densities with observations and determine those COMs which may be observable in future. COMs are efficiently formed in the disk midplane via grain-surface chemical reactions, reaching peak grain-surface fractional abundances 1e-6 - 1e-4 that of the H nuclei number density. COMs formed on grain surfaces are returned to the gas phase via non-thermal desorption; however, gas-phase species reach lower fractional abundances than their grain-surface equivalents, 1e-12 - 1e-7. Including the irradiation of grain mantle material helps build further complexity in the ice through the replenishment of grain-surface radicals which take part in further grain-surface reactions. There is reasonable agreement with several line transitions of H2CO observed towards several T Tauri star-disk systems. The synthesised line intensities for CH3OH are consistent with upper limits determined towards all sources. Our models suggest CH3OH should be readily observable in nearby protoplanetary disks with ALMA; however, detection of more complex species may prove challenging. Our grain-surface abundances are consistent with those derived from cometary comae observations providing additional evidence for the hypothesis that comets (and other planetesimals) formed via the coagulation of icy grains in the Suns natal disk.
The reaction between atomic oxygen and molecular hydrogen is an important one in astrochemistry as it regulates the abundance of the hydroxyl radical and serves to open the chemistry of oxygen in diverse astronomical environments. However, the existence of a high activation barrier in the reaction with ground state oxygen atoms limits its efficiency in cold gas. In this study we calculate the dependence of the reaction rate coefficient on the rotational and vibrational state of H$_2$ and evaluate the impact on the abundance of OH in interstellar regions strongly irradiated by far-UV photons, where H2 can be efficiently pumped to excited vibrational states. We use a recently calculated potential energy surface and carry out time-independent quantum mechanical scattering calculations to compute rate coefficients for the reaction O(3P) + H2(v,j) -> OH + H, with H2 in vibrational states v = 0-7 and rotational states j = 0-10. We find that the reaction becomes significantly faster with increasing vibrational quantum number of H2, although even for high vibrational states of H2 (v = 4-5) for which the reaction is barrierless, the rate coefficient does not strictly attain the collision limit and still maintains a positive dependence with temperature. We implemented the calculated state-specific rate coefficients in the Meudon PDR code to model the Orion Bar PDR and evaluate the impact on the abundance of the OH radical. We find the fractional abundance of OH is enhanced by up to one order of magnitude in regions of the cloud corresponding to Av = 1.3-2.3, compared to the use of a thermal rate coefficient for O + H2, although the impact on the column density of OH is modest, of about 60 %. The calculated rate coefficients will be useful to model and interpret JWST observations of OH in strongly UV-illuminated environments.
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC), gas-rich dwarf companions of the Milky Way, are the nearest laboratories for detailed studies on the formation and survival of complex organic molecules (COMs) under metal poor conditions. To date, only methanol, methyl formate, and dimethyl ether have been detected in these galaxies - all three toward two hot cores in the N113 star-forming region in the LMC, the only extragalactic sources exhibiting complex hot core chemistry. We describe a small and diverse sample of the LMC and SMC sources associated with COMs or hot core chemistry, and compare the observations to theoretical model predictions. Theoretical models accounting for the physical conditions and metallicity of hot molecular cores in the Magellanic Clouds have been able to broadly account for the existing observations, but fail to reproduce the dimethyl ether abundance by more than an order of magnitude. We discuss future prospects for research in the field of complex chemistry in the low-metallicity environment. The detection of COMs in the Magellanic Clouds has important implications for astrobiology. The metallicity of the Magellanic Clouds is similar to galaxies in the earlier epochs of the Universe, thus the presence of COMs in the LMC and SMC indicates that a similar prebiotic chemistry leading to the emergence of life, as it happened on Earth, is possible in low-metallicity systems in the earlier Universe.
We present an unbiased spectral line survey toward the Galactic Centre (GC) quiescent giant molecular cloud (QGMC), G+0.693 using the GBT and IRAM 30$,$ telescopes. Our study highlights an extremely rich organic inventory of abundant amounts of nitrogen (N)-bearing species in a source without signatures of star formation. We report the detection of 17 N-bearing species in this source, of which 8 are complex organic molecules (COMs). A comparison of the derived abundances relative to H$_2$ is made across various galactic and extragalactic environments. We conclude that the unique chemistry in this source is likely to be dominated by low-velocity shocks with X-rays/cosmic rays also playing an important role in the chemistry. Like previous findings obtained for O-bearing molecules, our results for N-bearing species suggest a more efficient hydrogenation of these species on dust grains in G+0.693 than in hot cores in the Galactic disk, as a consequence of the low dust temperatures coupled with energetic processing by X-ray/cosmic ray radiation in the GC.
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