Molecular complexity on disc scales uncovered by ALMA

Bøgelund, Eva G.; Barr, Andrew G.; Taquet, Vianney; Ligterink, Niels F. W.; Persson, Magnus V.; Hogerheijde, Michiel R.; van Dishoeck, Ewine F. (2019). Molecular complexity on disc scales uncovered by ALMA. Astronomy and astrophysics, 628(A2), A2. EDP Sciences 10.1051/0004-6361/201834527

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The chemical composition of high-mass protostars reflects the physical evolution associated with different stages of star formation. In this study, the molecular inventory of the forming high-mass star AFGL 4176 is studied in detail at high angular resolution (~0.35 arcsec) using ALMA. This high resolution makes it possible to separate the emission associated with the inner hot envelope and disk around the forming star from that of its cool outer envelope. In addition, the high sensitivity of ALMA makes it possible to identify weak and optically thin lines and allows for many isotopologues to be detected, providing a more complete and accurate inventory of the source. A total of 23 different molecular species and their isotopologues are detected in the spectrum towards AFGL 4176. The most abundant species is methanol (CH₃OH), remaining species are present at levels between 0.003 % and 15 % with respect to CH₃OH. Hints that N-bearing species peak slightly closer to the location of the peak continuum emission than the O-bearing species are seen. AFGL 4176 comprises a rich chemical inventory including many complex species present on disk-scales. On average, the derived column density ratios with respect to methanol of O-bearing species are higher than those derived for N-bearing species by a factor of three. This may indicate that AFGL 4176 is a relatively young source since nitrogen chemistry generally takes longer to evolve in the gas-phase. Taking methanol as a reference, the composition of AFGL 4176 more closely resembles that of the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293-2422B than that of high-mass star-forming regions located near the Galactic centre. This similarity hints that the chemical composition of complex species is already set in the cold cloud stage and implies that AFGL 4176 is a young source whose chemical composition has not yet been strongly processed by the central protostar.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Space Research and Planetary Sciences
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute
10 Strategic Research Centers > Center for Space and Habitability (CSH)
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > NCCR PlanetS

UniBE Contributor:

Ligterink, Niels Frank Willem

Subjects:

500 Science > 520 Astronomy
500 Science > 530 Physics

ISSN:

0004-6361

Publisher:

EDP Sciences

Language:

English

Submitter:

Danielle Zemp

Date Deposited:

14 Apr 2020 09:56

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:38

Publisher DOI:

10.1051/0004-6361/201834527

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.142632

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/142632

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