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The complex organic molecular content in the L1517B starless core

Megías, A; Jiménez-Serra, I; Martín-Pintado, J; Vasyunin, AI; Spezzano, S; Caselli, P; Cosentino, G; (2023) The complex organic molecular content in the L1517B starless core. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 519 (2) pp. 1601-1617. 10.1093/mnras/stac3449. Green open access

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Abstract

Recent observations of the pre-stellar core L1544 and the younger starless core L1498 have revealed that complex organic molecules (COMs) are enhanced in the gas phase towards their outer and intermediate-density shells. Our goal is to determine the level of chemical complexity towards the starless core L1517B, which seems younger than L1498, and compare it with the other two previously studied cores to see if there is a chemical evolution within the cores. We have carried out 3 mm high-sensitivity observations towards two positions in the L1517B starless core: the core’s centre and the position where the methanol emission peaks (at a distance of ∼5000 au from the core’s centre). Our observations reveal that a lower number of COMs and COM precursors are detected in L1517B with respect to L1498 and L1544, and also show lower abundances. Besides methanol, we only detected CH3O, H2CCO, CH3CHO, CH3CN, CH3NC, HCCCN, and HCCNC. Their measured abundances are ∼3 times larger towards the methanol peak than towards the core’s centre, mimicking the behaviour found towards the more evolved cores L1544 and L1498. We propose that the differences in the chemical complexity observed between the three studied starless cores are a consequence of their evolution, with L1517B being the less evolved one, followed by L1498 and L1544. Chemical complexity in these cores seems to increase over time, with N-bearing molecules forming first and O-bearing COMs forming at a later stage as a result of the catastrophic depletion of CO.

Type: Article
Title: The complex organic molecular content in the L1517B starless core
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac3449
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3449
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Keywords: astrochemistry, ISM: abundances, ISM: molecules
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10162514
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