SiO excitation from dense shocks in the earliest stages of massive star formation

Molecular outflows are a direct consequence of accretion, and therefore they represent one of the best tracers of accretion processes in the still poorly understood early phases of high-mass star formation. Previous studies suggested that the SiO abundance decreases with the evolution of a massive young stellar object probably because of a decay of jet activity, as witnessed in low-mass star-forming regions. We investigate the SiO excitation conditions and its abundance in outflows from a sample of massive young stellar objects through observations of the SiO(8-7) and CO(4-3) lines with the APEX telescope. Through a non-LTE analysis, we find that the excitation conditions of SiO increase with the velocity of the emitting gas. We also compute the SiO abundance through the SiO and CO integrated intensities at high velocities. For the sources in our sample we find no significant variation of the SiO abundance with evolution for a bolometric luminosity-to-mass ratio of between 4 and 50 $L_\odot/M_\odot$. We also find a weak increase of the SiO(8-7) luminosity with the bolometric luminosity-to-mass ratio. We speculate that this might be explained with an increase of density in the gas traced by SiO. We find that the densities constrained by the SiO observations require the use of shock models that include grain-grain processing. For the first time, such models are compared and found to be compatible with SiO observations. A pre-shock density of $10^5\,$cm$^{-3}$ is globally inferred from these comparisons. Shocks with a velocity higher than 25 km s$^{-1}$ are invoked for the objects in our sample where the SiO is observed with a corresponding velocity dispersion. Our comparison of shock models with observations suggests that sputtering of silicon-bearing material (corresponding to less than 10% of the total silicon abundance) from the grain mantles is occurring.Comment: Accepted for publication by A&

Molecules with a peptide link in protostellar shocks: a comprehensive study of L1157

Interstellar molecules with a peptide link -NH-C(=O)-, like formamide (NH$_2$CHO), acetamide (NH$_2$COCH$_3$) and isocyanic acid (HNCO) are particularly interesting for their potential role in pre-biotic chemistry. We have studied their emission in the protostellar shock regions L1157-B1 and L1157-B2, with the IRAM 30m telescope, as part of the ASAI Large Program. Analysis of the line profiles shows that the emission arises from the outflow cavities associated with B1 and B2. Molecular abundance of $\approx~(0.4-1.1)\times 10^{-8}$ and $(3.3-8.8)\times 10^{-8}$ are derived for formamide and isocyanic acid, respectively, from a simple rotational diagram analysis. Conversely, NH$_2$COCH$_3$ was not detected down to a relative abundance of a few $\leq 10^{-10}$. B1 and B2 appear to be among the richest Galactic sources of HNCO and NH$_2$CHO molecules. A tight linear correlation between their abundances is observed, suggesting that the two species are chemically related. Comparison with astrochemical models favours molecule formation on ice grain mantles, with NH$_2$CHO generated from hydrogenation of HNCO.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Main Journal. Accepted 2014 August 19, in original form 2014 July

Deuterium and 15^{15}N fractionation in N2_2H+^+ during the formation of a Sun-like star

Although chemical models predict that the deuterium fractionation in N$_2$H$^+$ is a good evolutionary tracer in the star formation process, the fractionation of nitrogen is still a poorly understood process. Recent models have questioned the similar evolutionary trend expected for the two fractionation mechanisms in N$_2$H$^+$, based on a classical scenario in which ion-neutral reactions occurring in cold gas should have caused an enhancement of the abundance of N$_2$D$^+$, $^{15}$NNH$^+$, and N$^{15}$NH$^+$. In the framework of the ASAI IRAM-30m large program, we have investigated the fractionation of deuterium and $^{15}$N in N$_2$H$^+$ in the best known representatives of the different evolutionary stages of the Sun-like star formation process. The goal is to ultimately confirm (or deny) the classical "ion-neutral reactions" scenario that predicts a similar trend for D and $^{15}$N fractionation. We do not find any evolutionary trend of the $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratio from both the $^{15}$NNH$^+$ and N$^{15}$NH$^+$ isotopologues. Therefore, our findings confirm that, during the formation of a Sun-like star, the core evolution is irrelevant in the fractionation of $^{15}$N. The independence of the $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratio with time, found also in high-mass star-forming cores, indicates that the enrichment in $^{15}$N revealed in comets and protoplanetary disks is unlikely to happen at core scales. Nevertheless, we have firmly confirmed the evolutionary trend expected for the H/D ratio, with the N$_2$H$^+$/N$_2$D$^+$ ratio decreasing before the pre-stellar core phase, and increasing monotonically during the protostellar phase. We have also confirmed clearly that the two fractionation mechanisms are not related.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Shedding light on the formation of the pre-biotic molecule formamide with ASAI

Formamide (NH2CHO) has been proposed as a pre-biotic precursor with a key role in the emergence of life on Earth. While this molecule has been observed in space, most of its detections correspond to high-mass star-forming regions. Motivated by this lack of investigation in the low-mass regime, we searched for formamide, as well as isocyanic acid (HNCO), in 10 low- and intermediate-mass pre-stellar and protostellar objects. The present work is part of the IRAM Large Programme ASAI (Astrochemical Surveys At IRAM), which makes use of unbiased broadband spectral surveys at millimetre wavelengths. We detected HNCO in all the sources and NH2CHO in five of them. We derived their abundances and analysed them together with those reported in the literature for high-mass sources. For those sources with formamide detection, we found a tight and almost linear correlation between HNCO and NH2CHO abundances, with their ratio being roughly constant -between 3 and 10- across 6 orders of magnitude in luminosity. This suggests the two species are chemically related. The sources without formamide detection, which are also the coldest and devoid of hot corinos, fall well off the correlation, displaying a much larger amount of HNCO relative to NH2CHO. Our results suggest that, while HNCO can be formed in the gas phase during the cold stages of star formation, NH2CHO forms most efficiently on the mantles of dust grains at these temperatures, where it remains frozen until the temperature rises enough to sublimate the icy grain mantles. We propose hydrogenation of HNCO as a likely formation route leading to NH2CHO.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures. Accepted by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Fast molecular jet from L1157-mm

L1157-mm powers a molecular outflow that is well-known for its shock-induced chemical activity in several hot-spots. We have studied the molecular emission toward L1157-mm searching for a jet component responsible for these spots. We used the IRAM 30m telescope to observe the vicinity of L1157-mm in several lines of SiO. The SiO(5-4) and SiO(6-5) spectra toward L1157-mm present blue and red detached components about 45 km/s away from the ambient cloud. These extremely high-velocity (EHV) components are similar to those found in the L1448 and IRAS 04166+2706 outflows, and probably arise from a molecular jet driven by L1157-mm. Observations of off-center positions indicate that the jet is unresolved in SiO(5-4) (<11"). The EHV jet seen in SiO probably excites L1157-B1 and the other chemically active spots of the L1157 outflow.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Complex organics in IRAS 4A revisited with ALMA and PdBI: Striking contrast between two neighbouring protostellar cores

We used the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) to image, with an angular resolution of 0.5$''$ (120 au) and 1$''$ (235 au), respectively, the emission from 11 different organic molecules in the protostellar binary NGC1333 IRAS 4A. We clearly disentangled A1 and A2, the two protostellar cores present. For the first time, we were able to derive the column densities and fractional abundances simultaneously for the two objects, allowing us to analyse the chemical differences between them. Molecular emission from organic molecules is concentrated exclusively in A2 even though A1 is the strongest continuum emitter. The protostellar core A2 displays typical hot corino abundances and its deconvolved size is 70 au. In contrast, the upper limits we placed on molecular abundances for A1 are extremely low, lying about one order of magnitude below prestellar values. The difference in the amount of organic molecules present in A1 and A2 ranges between one and two orders of magnitude. Our results suggest that the optical depth of dust emission at these wavelengths is unlikely to be sufficiently high to completely hide a hot corino in A1 similar in size to that in A2. Thus, the significant contrast in molecular richness found between the two sources is most probably real. We estimate that the size of a hypothetical hot corino in A1 should be less than 12 au. Our results favour a scenario in which the protostar in A2 is either more massive and/or subject to a higher accretion rate than A1, as a result of inhomogeneous fragmentation of the parental molecular clump. This naturally explains the smaller current envelope mass in A2 with respect to A1 along with its molecular richness.Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysic

A new young stellar cluster embedded in a molecular cloud in the far outer Galaxy

We report the discovery of a new young stellar cluster and molecular cloud located in the far outer Galaxy, seen towards IRAS 06361-0142, and we characterise their properties. Near-infrared images were obtained with VLT/ISAAC through JHKs filters, millimetre line observations of CO(1-0) were obtained with SEST, and VLA 6 cm continuum maps obtained from archive data. The cloud and cluster are located at a distance of 7 kpc and a Galactocentric distance of 15 kpc, well in the far outer Galaxy. Morphologically, IRAS 06361-0142 appears as a cluster of several tens of stars surrounded by a nearly spherical nebular cavity centred at the position of the IRAS source. The cluster appears composed of low and intermediate-mass, young reddened stars with a large fraction having cleared the inner regions of their circumstellar discs responsible for (H - Ks) colour excess. The observations are compatible with a 4 Myr cluster with variable spatial extinction between Av = 6 and Av = 13.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

The census of interstellar complex organic molecules in the Class I hot corino of SVS13-A

We present the first census of the interstellar Complex Organic Molecules (iCOMs) in the low-mass Class I protostar SVS13-A, obtained by analysing data from the IRAM-30m Large Project ASAI (Astrochemical Surveys At IRAM). They consist of an high-sensitivity unbiased spectral survey at the 1mm, 2mm and 3mm IRAM bands. We detected five iCOMs: acetaldehyde (CH$_3$CHO), methyl formate (HCOOCH$_3$), dimethyl ether (CH$_3$OCH$_3$), ethanol (CH$_3$CH$_2$OH) and formamide (NH$_2$CHO). In addition we searched for other iCOMs and ketene (H$_2$CCO), formic acid (HCOOH) and methoxy (CH$_3$O), whose only ketene was detected. The numerous detected lines, from 5 to 37 depending on the species, cover a large upper level energy range, between 15 and 254 K. This allowed us to carry out a rotational diagram analysis and derive rotational temperatures between 35 and 110 K, and column densities between $3\times 10^{15}$ and $1\times 10^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$ on the 0."3 size previously determined by interferometric observations of glycolaldehyde. These new observations clearly demonstrate the presence of a rich chemistry in the hot corino towards SVS13-A. The measured iCOMs abundances were compared to other Class 0 and I hot corinos, as well as comets, previously published in the literature. We find evidence that (i) SVS13-A is as chemically rich as younger Class 0 protostars, and (ii) the iCOMs relative abundances do not substantially evolve during the protostellar phase.Comment: 24 pages, MNRAS in pres