arXiv subjects

V. Wakelam

Publications and source records attributed to V. Wakelam.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Testing various assumptions for radiolysis, non-diffusive chemistry, and chemical desorption in cold cores

To study interstellar gas and grain chemistry, gas-phase astrochemical models have been developed since the early 1980s and gas-grain models since the 1990s. Each published model includes various assumptions mainly for surface processes. In this paper, we compare recently added mechanisms for grain surface chemistry, namely, non-diffusive chemistry, radiolysis, and chemical desorption. Several formalisms for these processes have been added to our astrochemical model Nautilus, and we tested them, comparing the predicted gas-phase and ice abundances. Our predictions are also compared to gas and ice observed compositions. Our main findings are that radiolysis itself does not influence the results. Non-diffusive chemistry can have an impact on the gas-phase and ice species, but it depends on the adopted formalism. In particular, the one of Shingledecker & Herbst (2018) changes the main reservoirs of the species in the ices, impacting the species in the gas-phase as well. The adopted formalism for chemical desorption can produce differences in the gas-phase by up to a factor of ten. Last, our standard model, without non-diffusive chemistry and with the chemical desorption from Fredon et al. (2021), produces the best results in relation to observed gas-phase abundances, while the ice observed agreement is unchanged. The formalism for some grain surface processes are important even for gas-phase abundances. More experiments are needed to constrain their efficiency, however. For the chemical desorption, each formalism relies on an uncertain parameter, which is the fraction of the energy actually delivered to the products, that can be adjusted to reproduce the experiments.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Ice chemistry that can be unveiled with the JWST: SynthIceSpec, a synthetic spectrum generator to test spectral limits. Solid CO_2 as a dust thermometer and solid CH_3CN detectability in cold cores

As the (JWST) pursues its observing journey, several thousands of icy-grain spectra are expected to be measured and analysed. The inventory of ices in particular, via the observations of background sources, is accessible for hundreds of lines of sight (LOSs) per molecular-cloud region, opening the possibility to add strong constraints on the solid phase chemistry in a vast domain of cloud densities. SynthIceSpec is a synthetic infrared (IR) spectrum generator that has been designed as a tool to support observing proposals and to test the outcome of chemical models. It is based on laboratory measurements of pure and mixed ices, where each vibrational component is fitted by a sum of Gaussian profiles. Given an initial ice chemical composition (either set by the user or the outputs of a chemical model), a full JWST spectrum is generated, to which the contribution of silicates; continuum, stellar photospheric absorption bands; and extinction law can be added. For the continuum, stellar photospheric models for a wide range of spectral types can be selected by the program, or, Spectral Energy Distribution (SEDs). We present a few use cases of SynthIceSpec: we probed the impact of dust temperature on CO_2 ice formation using IR data and gas-grain modelling. Next, we used SynthIceSpec to explore the detectability of the main feature of CH_3CN at 4.45 um in a cold core environment with the JWST, which was previously tentatively detected in YSOs. The detection thresholds we derive are reasonably low and observable, but identification is directly impacted by the photosphere absorptions that can greatly hinder identification. For some photostellar types, it could remain feasible. Coupled with the Estimated Time Calculator of the Space Telescope Science Institute, SynthIceSpec can be used to find the optimum observational setup for new observations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Chemical constraints on the dynamical evolution of the cold core L694

In star-forming regions, molecular cloud history and dynamics set the trend in the chemical composition. Ice formation, in particular, is affected by the evolution of physical conditions, which can lead to different ice compositions within the same cloud. In cold cores with medium densities >1e4 cm-3, low temperatures <15 K, and low UV radiation <G0, most COMs are formed on dust grain surfaces and are released back into the gas phase through non-thermal mechanisms. Studying both gas- and solid-phases can help observers to add constraints on the chemical and dynamical evolution of cold cores. We present a study of the cold core L694, observed with the IRAM 30m telescope. Observed species include CO (and its isotopologues) and CH3OH. We applied an inverted non-LTE radiative transfer code in order to obtain gas-phase abundances by deriving the column densities of the detected species from the spectroscopic parameters of the targeted molecular transitions, and from physical parameters derived from archival observations. This allowed us to probe the molecular abundances as a function of density and visual extinction. In parallel, we ran chemical models (both static and dynamic) to constrain the evolution time of the core by directly comparing the observations with the model outputs. We then compared the compositions of the cold cores L429-C and L694. The gas-phase abundances in L694 all exhibit a common depletion profile (with high variability in the depletion factor), as the core is identified to be in a more advanced (infalling) state compared to L429-C. The physical parameters of the two cores are, however, very similar, leading to close evolutionary timescales in our static models. The dynamical model fails to reproduce the CO gas-phase abundances at high density, predicting an evolutionary timescale that is too short compared to static models.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular cloudS (GEMS). X. Observational effects of turbulence on the chemistry of molecular clouds

(Abridged) We explore the chemistry of the most abundant C, O, S, and N bearing species in molecular clouds, in the context of the IRAM 30 m Large Programme Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular Clouds (GEMS). In this work, we aim to assess the limitations introduced in the observational works when a uniform density is assumed along the line of sight for fitting the observations, developing a very simple numerical model of a turbulent box. We perform a MHD simulation in order to reproduce the turbulent steady-state of a turbulent box with properties typical of a molecular filament before collapse. We post-process the results of the MHD simulation with a chemical code to predict molecular abundances, and then post-process this cube with a radiative transfer code to create synthetic emission maps for a series of rotational transitions observed during the GEMS project. From the chemical point of view, we find that turbulence produces variations on the predicted abundances, but they are more or less critical depending on the chosen transition and the chemical age. When compared to real observations, the results from the turbulent simulation provides a better fit than when assuming a uniform gas distribution along the line of sight. In the view of our results, we conclude that taking into account turbulence when fitting observations might significantly improve the agreement with model predictions. This is especially important for sulfur bearing species that are very sensitive to the variations of density produced by turbulence at early times (0.1 Myr). The abundance of CO is also quite sensitive to turbulence when considering the evolution beyond a few 0.1 Myr.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

The 2024 KIDA network for interstellar chemistry

The study of the chemical composition of the interstellar medium (ISM) requires a strong synergy between laboratory astrophysics, modeling, and observations. In particular, astrochemical models have been developed for decades now and include an increasing number of processes studied in the laboratory or theoretically. These models follow the chemistry both in the gas phase and at the surface of interstellar grains. Since 2012, we have provided complete gas-phase chemical networks for astrochemical codes that can be used to model various environments of the ISM. Our aim is to introduce the new up-to-date astrochemical network kida.uva.2024 together with the ice chemical network and the fortran code to compute time dependent compositions of the gas, the ice surface, and the ice mantles under physical conditions relevant for the ISM. The gas-phase chemical reactions, as well as associated rate coefficients, included in kida.uva.2024 were carefully selected from the KIDA online database and represent the most recent values. The model predictions for cold core conditions and for when considering only gas-phase processes were computed as a function of time and compared to the predictions obtained with the previous version, kida.uva.2014. In addition, key chemical reactions were identified. The model predictions, including both gas and surface processes, were compared to the molecular abundances as observed in the cold core TMC1-CP. Many gas-phase reactions were revised or added to produce kida.uva.2024. The new model predictions are different by several orders of magnitude for some species. The agreement of this new model with observations in TMC-1 (CP) is, however, similar to the one obtained with the previous network.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

A fast neural emulator for interstellar chemistry

Astrochemical models are important tools to interpret observations of molecular and atomic species in different environments. However, these models are time-consuming, precluding a thorough exploration of the parameter space, leading to uncertainties and biased results. Using neural networks to simulate the behavior of astrochemical models is a way to circumvent this problem, providing fast calculations that are based on real astrochemical models. In this paper, we present a fast neural emulator of the astrochemical code Nautilus based on conditional neural fields. The resulting model produces the abundance of 192 species for arbitrary times between 1 and 10$^7$ years. Uncertainties well below 0.2 dex are found for all species, while the computing time is of the order of 10$^4$ smaller than Nautilus. This will open up the possibility of performing much more complex forward models to better understand the physical properties of the interstellar medium. As an example of the power of these models, we ran a feature importance analysis on the electron abundance predicted by Nautilus. We found that the electron density is coupled to the initial sulphur abundance in a low density gas. Increasing the initial sulphur abundance from a depleted scenario to the cosmic abundance leads to an enhancement of an order of magnitude of the electron density. This enhancement can potentially influence the dynamics of the gas in star formation sites.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2024

Grain growth and its chemical impact in the first hydrostatic core phase

The first hydrostatic core (FHSC) phase is a brief stage in the protostellar evolution that is difficult to detect. Our goal is to characterize the chemical evolution of gas and dust during the formation of the FHSC. Moreover, we are interested in analyzing, for the first time with 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, the role of grain growth in its chemistry. We postprocessed $2\times10^{5}$ tracer particles from a $\texttt{RAMSES}$ non-ideal MHD simulation using the codes $\texttt{NAUTILUS}$ and $\texttt{SHARK}$ to follow the chemistry and grain growth throughout the simulation. A great chemical inheritance is seen, as gas-phase abundances of most of the C, O, N, and S reservoirs in the hot corino at the end of the simulation match the ice-phase abundances from the prestellar phase. Additionally, interstellar complex organic molecules (iCOMs) such as methyl formate, acetaldehyde, and formamide are formed during the warm-up process. The typical grain size in the hot corino $(n_{\rm H}>10^{11}\ {\rm cm^{-3}})$ increases forty-fold during the last 30 kyr, with negligible effects on its chemical composition. At moderate densities $(10^{10}<n_{\rm H}<10^{11}\ {\rm cm^{-3}})$ and cool temperatures $15<T<50$ K, increasing grain sizes delay molecular depletion. Finally, at low densities $(n_{\rm H}\sim10^{7}\ {\rm cm^{-3}})$, grains do not grow significantly. We also compared our results with a two-step model that reproduces well the abundances of C and O reservoirs, but not the N and S reservoirs. We conclude that the chemical composition of the FHSC is heavily determined by that of the parent prestellar core, chemo-MHD computations are needed for an accurate prediction of the abundances of the main N and S elemental reservoirs, and that the impact of grain growth in moderately dense areas delaying depletion permits the use of abundance ratios as grain growth proxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Discovery of H$_2$CCCH$^+$ in TMC-1

Based on a novel laboratory method, 14 mm-wave lines of the molecular ion H$_2$CCCH$^+$ have been measured in high resolution, and the spectroscopic constants of this asymmetric rotor determined with high accuracy. Using the Yebes 40 m and IRAM 30 m radio telescopes, we detect four lines of H$_2$CCCH$^+$ towards the cold dense core TMC-1. With a dipole moment of about 0.55 Debye obtained from high-level ab initio calculations, we derive a column density of 5.4$\pm$1$\times$10$^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ and 1.6$\pm$0.5$\times$10$^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ for the ortho and para species, respectively, and an abundance ratio N(H$_2$CCC)/N(H$_2$CCCH$^+$)= 2.8$\pm$0.7. The chemistry of H$_2$CCCH$^+$ is modelled using the most recent chemical network for the reactions involving the formation of H$_2$CCCH$^+$. We find a reasonable agreement between model predictions and observations, and new insights into the chemistry of C$_3$ bearing species in TMC-1 are obtained.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Astrochemical models of interstellar ices: History matters

Ice is ubiquitous in the interstellar medium. We model the formation of the main constituents of interstellar ices, including H2O, CO2 , CO, and CH3 OH. We strive to understand what physical or chemical parameters influence the final composition of the ice and how they benchmark to what has already been observed, with the aim of applying these models to the preparation and analysis of JWST observations. We used the Nautilus gas-grain model, which computes the gas and ice composition as a function of time for a set of physical conditions, starting from an initial gas phase composition. All important processes (gas-phase reactions, gas-grain interactions, and grain surface processes) are included and solved with the rate equation approximation. We first ran an astrochemical code for fixed conditions of temperature and density mapped in the cold core L429-C to benchmark the chemistry. One key parameter was revealed to be the dust temperature. When the dust temperature is higher than 12 K, CO2 will form efficiently at the expense of H2O, while at temperatures below 12 K, it will not form. Whatever hypothesis we assumed for the chemistry (within realistic conditions), the static simulations failed to reproduce the observed trends of interstellar ices in our target core. In a second step, we simulated the chemical evolution of parcels of gas undergoing different physical and chemical situations throughout the molecular cloud evolution and starting a few 1e7 yr prior to the core formation (dynamical simulations). Our dynamical simulations satisfactorily reproduce the main trends already observed for interstellar ices. Moreover, we predict that the apparent constant ratio of CO2/H2O observed to date is probably not true for regions of low AV , and that the history of the evolution of clouds plays an essential role, even prior to their formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Detection of ethanol, acetone, and propanal in TMC-1: New O-bearing complex organics in cold sources

We present the detection of ethanol (C2H5OH), acetone (CH3COCH3), and propanal (C2H5CHO) toward the cyanopolyyne peak of TMC-1. These three O-bearing complex organic molecules are known to be present in warm interstellar clouds, but had never been observed in a starless core. The addition of these three new pieces to the puzzle of complex organic molecules in cold interstellar clouds stresses the rich chemical diversity of cold dense cores in stages prior to the onset of star formation. The detections of ethanol, acetone, and propanal were made in the framework of QUIJOTE, a deep line survey of TMC-1 in the Q band that is being carried out with the Yebes 40m telescope. We derive column densities of (1.1 +/- 0.3)e12 cm-2 for C2H5OH, (1.4 +/- 0.6)e11 cm-2 for CH3COCH3, and (1.9 +/- 0.7)e11 cm-2 for C2H5CHO. The formation of these three O-bearing complex organic molecules is investigated with the aid of a detailed chemical model which includes gas and ice chemistry. The calculated abundances at a time around 2e5 yr are in reasonable agreement with the values derived from the observations. The formation mechanisms of these molecules in our chemical model are as follows. Ethanol is formed on grains by addition of atomic carbon on methanol followed by hydrogenation and non-thermal desorption. Acetone and propanal are produced by the gas-phase reaction between atomic oxygen and two different isomers of the C3H7 radical, where the latter follows from the hydrogenation of C3 on grains followed by non-thermal desorption. A gas-phase route involving the formation of (CH3)2COH+ through several ion-neutral reactions followed by its dissociative recombination with electrons do also contribute to the formation of acetone.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular cloudS (GEMS) VII. Sulfur elemental abundance

Gas phase Elemental abundances in molecular CloudS (GEMS) is an IRAM 30m large program aimed at determining the elemental abundances of carbon (C), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) in a selected set of prototypical star-forming filaments. In particular, the elemental abundance of S remains uncertain by several orders of magnitude and its determination is one of the most challenging goals of this program. We have carried out an extensive chemical modeling of the fractional abundances of CO, HCO$^+$, HCN, HNC, CS, SO, H$_2$S, OCS, and HCS$^+$ to determine the sulfur depletion toward the 244 positions in the GEMS database. These positions sample visual extinctions from A$_V$ $\sim$ 3 mag to $>$50 mag, molecular hydrogen densities ranging from a few 10$^3$~cm$^{-3}$ to 3$\times$10$^6$~cm$^{-3}$, and T$_k$ $\sim$ 10$-$35 K. Most of the positions in Taurus and Perseus are best fitted assuming early-time chemistry, t=0.1 Myr, $\zeta_{H_2}$$\sim$ (0.5$-$1)$\times$10$^{-16}$ s$^{-1}$, and [S/H]$\sim$1.5$\times$10$^{-6}$. On the contrary, most of the positions in Orion are fitted with t=1~Myr and $\zeta_{H_2}$$\sim$ 10$^{-17}$ s$^{-1}$. Moreover, $\sim$40% of the positions in Orion are best fitted assuming the undepleted sulfur abundance, [S/H]$\sim$1.5$\times$10$^{-5}$. Our results suggest that sulfur depletion depends on the environment. While the abundances of sulfur-bearing species are consistent with undepleted sulfur in Orion, a depletion factor of $\sim$20 is required to explain those observed in Taurus and Perseus. We propose that differences in the grain charge distribution in the envelopes of the studied clouds might explain these variations. The shocks associated with past and ongoing star formation could also contribute to enhance [S/H] in Orion.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Confirmation of the outflow in L1451-mm: SiO line and CH$_3$OH maser detections

The observational counterparts of theoretically predicted first hydrostatic cores (FHSC) have been searched for in the interstellar medium for nearly two decades now. Distinguishing them from other types of more evolved but still embedded objects remains a challenge because these objects have a short lifetime, are small, and embedded in a dense cocoon. One possible lead to finding them is the characterization of the outflows that are launched by these objects. We observed the L1451-mm FHSC candidate with the NOEMA interferometer in order to study the emission of several molecules. A nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium analysis of the CH$_3$OH detected lines was performed to retrieve the physical conditions of the emitting region around the central source, together with the CH$_3$OH, SiO, CS, and H$_2$CO column densities. Of the targeted molecules, we detected lines of c-C$_3$H$_2$, CH$_3$OH, CS, C$^{34}$S, SO, DCN, DCO$^+$, H$_2$CO, HC$_3$N, HDCO, and SiO. One of the methanol lines appears to be a maser line. The detection of this class I maser and the SiO line in L1451-mm support the presence of a low-velocity and compact outflow. The excitation conditions of the thermal lines of methanol are also compatible with shocks (H$_2$ density of $\sim 3\times 10^6$~cm$^{-3}$ and a temperature higher than 40~K). Although these low-velocity outflows are theoretically predicted by some models of FHSC, these models also predict the shock temperature to be below 20~K, that is, not evaporating methanol. In addition, the predicted velocities would not erode the grains and release silicon in the gas phase. We therefore conclude that these new observations favor the hypothesis that L1451-mm would be at a very early protostellar stage, launching an outflow nearly on the plane of the sky with a higher velocity than is observed.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular cloudS (GEMS) VI. A sulphur journey across star-forming regions: study of thioformaldehyde emission

In the context of the IRAM 30m Large Program GEMS, we present a study of thioformaldehyde in several starless cores located in star-forming filaments of Taurus, Perseus, and Orion. We investigate the influence of the environmental conditions on the abundances of these molecules in the cores, and the effect of time evolution. We have modelled the observed lines of H2CS, HDCS, and D2CS using the radiative transfer code RADEX. We have also used the chemical code Nautilus to model the evolution of these species depending on the characteristics of the starless cores. We derive column densities and abundances for all the cores. We also derive deuterium fractionation ratios, Dfrac, to determine and compare the evolutionary stage between different parts of each star-forming region. Our results indicate that the north region of the B213 filament in Taurus is more evolved than the south, while the north-eastern part of Perseus presents an earlier evolutionary stage than the south-western zone. Model results also show that Dfrac decreases with the cosmic-ray ionisation rate, while it increases with density and with the degree of sulphur depletion. In particular, we only reproduce the observations when the initial sulphur abundance in the starless cores is at least one order of magnitude lower than the solar elemental sulphur abundance. The progressive increase in HDCS/H2CS and D2CS/H2CS with time makes these ratios powerful tools for deriving the chemical evolutionary stage of starless cores. However, they cannot be used to derive the temperature of these regions, since both ratios present a similar evolution at two different temperature ranges (7-11 K and 15-19 K). Regarding chemistry, (deuterated) thioformaldehyde is mainly formed through gas-phase reactions (double-replacement and neutral-neutral displacement reactions), while surface chemistry plays an important role as a destruction mechanism.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

The ALMA-PILS survey: First tentative detection of 3-hydroxypropenal (HOCHCHCHO) in the interstellar medium and chemical modeling of the C$_3$H$_4$O$_2$ isomers

Characterizing the molecular composition of solar-type protostars is useful for improving our understanding of the physico-chemical conditions under which the Sun and its planets formed. In this work, we analyzed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) data of the Protostellar Interferometric Line Survey (PILS), an unbiased spectral survey of the solar-type protostar IRAS~16293--2422, and we tentatively detected 3-hydroxypropenal (HOCHCHCHO) for the first time in the interstellar medium towards source B. Based on the observed line intensities and assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium, its column density is constrained to be $\sim$10$^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$, corresponding to an abundance of 10$^{-4}$ relative to methanol, CH$_3$OH. Additional spectroscopic studies are needed to constrain the excitation temperature of this molecule. We included HOCHCHCHO and five of its isomers in the chemical network presented in Manigand et al. (2021) and we predicted their chemical evolution with the Nautilus code. The model reproduces the abundance of HOCHCHCHO within the uncertainties. This species is mainly formed through the grain surface reaction CH$_2$CHO + HCO $\rightarrow$ HCOCH$_2$CHO, followed by the tautomerization of HCOCH$_2$CHO into HOCHCHCHO. Two isomers, CH$_3$COCHO and CH$_2$COHCHO, are predicted to be even more abundant than HOCHCHCHO. Spectroscopic studies of these molecules are essential in searching for them in IRAS~16293--2422 and other astrophysical sources.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular cloudS (GEMS) V. Methanol in Taurus

Methanol, one of the simplest complex organic molecules in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), has been shown to be present and extended in cold environments such as starless cores. We aim at studying methanol emission across several starless cores and investigate the physical conditions at which methanol starts to be efficiently formed, as well as how the physical structure of the cores and their surrounding environment affect its distribution. Methanol and C$^{18}$O emission lines at 3 mm have been observed with the IRAM 30m telescope within the large program "Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular CloudS" (GEMS) towards 66 positions across 12 starless cores in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. A non-LTE radiative transfer code was used to compute the column densities in all positions. We then used state-of-the-art chemical models to reproduce our observations. We have computed N(CH$_3$OH)/N(C$^{18}$O) column density ratios for all the observed offsets, and two different behaviours can be recognised: the cores where the ratio peaks at the dust peak, and the cores where the ratio peaks with a slight offset with respect to the dust peak ($\sim $10000 AU). We suggest that the cause of this behaviour is the irradiation on the cores due to protostars nearby which accelerate energetic particles along their outflows. The chemical models, which do not take into account irradiation variations, can reproduce fairly well the overall observed column density of methanol, but cannot reproduce the two different radial profiles observed. We confirm the substantial effect of the environment onto the distribution of methanol in starless cores. We suggest that the clumpy medium generated by protostellar outflows might cause a more efficient penetration of the interstellar radiation field in the molecular cloud and have an impact on the distribution of methanol in starless cores.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

SiS formation in the interstellar medium through Si+SH gas phase reactions

Silicon monosulfide is an important silicon bearing molecule detected in circumstellar envelopes and star forming regions. Its formation and destruction routes are not well understood, partially due to the lack of a detailed knowledge on the involved reactions and their rate coefficients. In this work we have calculated and modeled the potential energy surface (PES) of the HSiS system employing highly accurate multireference electronic structure methods. After obtaining an accurate analytic representation of the PES, which includes long-range energy terms in a realistic way via the DMBE method, we have calculated rate coefficients for the Si+SH$\rightarrow$SiS+H reaction over the temperature range of 25-1000K. This reaction is predicted to be fast, with a rate coefficient of $\sim 1\times 10^{-10}\rm cm^3\, s^{-1}$ at 200K, which substantially increases for lower temperatures (the temperature dependence can be described by a modified Arrhenius equation with $\alpha=0.770\times 10^{-10}\rm cm^3\,s^{-1}$, $\beta=-0.756$ and $\gamma=9.873\, \rm K$). An astrochemical gas-grain model of a shock region similar to L1157-B1 shows that the inclusion of the Si+SH reaction increases the SiS gas-phase abundance relative to \ce{H2} from $5\times 10^{-10}$ to $1.4\times 10^{-8}$, which perfectly matches the observed abundance of $\sim 2\times 10^{-8}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Evolutionary view through the starless cores in Taurus: deuteration in TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP

The chemical and physical evolution of starless and pre-stellar cores are of paramount importance to understanding the process of star formation. The Taurus Molecular Cloud cores TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP share similar initial conditions and provide an excellent opportunity to understand the evolution of the pre-stellar core phase. We investigated the evolutionary stage of starless cores based on observations towards the prototypical dark cores TMC 1-C and TMC 1-CP, mapping them in the CS $3\rightarrow 2$, C$^{34}$S $3\rightarrow 2$, $^{13}$CS $2\rightarrow 1$, DCN $1\rightarrow 0$, DCN $2\rightarrow 1$, DNC $1\rightarrow 0$, DNC $2\rightarrow 1$, DN$^{13}$C $1\rightarrow 0$, DN$^{13}$C $2\rightarrow 1$, N$_2$H$^+$ $1\rightarrow 0$, and N$_2$D$^+$ $1\rightarrow 0$ transitions. We performed a multi-transitional study of CS and its isotopologs, DCN, and DNC lines to characterize the physical and chemical properties of these cores. We studied their chemistry using the state-of-the-art gas-grain chemical code Nautilus and pseudo time-dependent models to determine their evolutionary stage. Observational diagnostics seem to indicate that TMC 1-C is in a later evolutionary stage than TMC 1-CP, with a chemical age $\sim$1 Myr. TMC 1-C shows signs of being an evolved core at the onset of star formation, while TMC 1-CP appears to be in an earlier evolutionary stage due to a more recent formation or, alternatively, a collapse slowed down by a magnetic support.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Efficiency of non-thermal desorptions in cold-core conditions. Testing the sputtering of grain mantles induced by cosmic rays

Under cold conditions in dense cores, gas-phase molecules and atoms are depleted from the gas-phase to the surface of interstellar grains. Considering the time scales and physical conditions within these cores, a portion of these molecules has to be brought back into the gas-phase to explain their observation by milimeter telescopes. We tested the respective efficiencies of the different mechanisms commonly included in the models. We also tested the addition of sputtering of ice grain mantles via a collision with cosmic rays in the electronic stopping power regime. The ice sputtering induced by cosmic rays has been added to the Nautilus gas-grain model while the other processes were already present. Each of these processes were tested on a 1D physical structure determined by observations in TMC1 cold cores. The resulting 1D chemical structure was also compared to methanol gas-phase abundances observed in these cores. We found that all species are not sensitive in the same way to the non-thermal desorption mechanisms, and the sensitivity also depends on the physical conditions. Thus, it is mandatory to include all of them. Chemical desorption seems to be essential in reproducing the observations for H densities smaller than $4\times 10^4$~cm$^{-3}$, whereas sputtering is essential above this density. The models are, however, systematically below the observed methanol abundances. A more efficient chemical desorption and a more efficient sputtering could better reproduce the observations. In conclusion, the sputtering of ices by cosmic-rays collisions may be the most efficient desorption mechanism at high density (a few $10^4$~cm$^{-3}$ under the conditions studied here) in cold cores, whereas chemical desorption is still required at smaller densities. Additional works are needed on both mechanisms to assess their efficiency with respect to the main ice composition.

astro-ph.GA↗