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A source of extended HCO+ emission in young stellar objects

Rawlings, JMC; Taylor, SD; Williams, DA; (2000) A source of extended HCO+ emission in young stellar objects. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 313 (3) 461 - 468. 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03258.x. Green open access

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Abstract

Anomalous molecular line profile shapes are the strongest indicators of the presence of the infall of gas that is associated with star formation. Such profiles are seen for well-known tracers, such as HCO+, CS and H2CO. In certain cases, optically thick emission lines with appropriate excitation criteria may possess the asymmetric double-peaked profiles that are characteristic of infall. However, recent interpretations of the HCO+ infall profile observed towards the protostellar infall candidate B335 have revealed a significant discrepancy between the inferred overall column density of the molecule and that which is predicted by standard dark cloud chemical modelling. This paper presents a model for the source of the HCO+ emission excess. Observations have shown that, in low-mass star-forming regions, the collapse process is invariably accompanied by the presence of collimated outflows; we therefore propose the presence of an interface region around the outflow in which the chemistry is enriched by the action of jets. This hypothesis suggests that the line profiles of HCO+, as well as other molecular species, may require a more complex interpretation than can be provided by simple, chemically quiescent, spherically symmetric infall models. The enhancement of HCO+ depends primarily on the presence of a shock-generated radiation field in the interface. Plausible estimates of the radiation intensity imply molecular abundances that are consistent with those observed. Further, high-resolution observations of an infall-outflow source show HCO+ emission morphology that is consistent with that predicted by this model.

Type: Article
Title: A source of extended HCO+ emission in young stellar objects
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03258.x
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03258.x
Language: English
Additional information: © 2000 RAS Definitive versions of articles pre-2013 are available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2966, now published by http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
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/25391
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