First measurements of 15N fractionation in N2H+ toward high-mass star forming cores

We report on the first measurements of the isotopic ratio 14N/15N in N2H+ toward a statistically significant sample of high-mass star forming cores. The sources belong to the three main evolutionary categories of the high-mass star formation process: high-mass starless cores, high-mass protostellar objects, and ultracompact HII regions. Simultaneous measurements of 14N/15N in CN have been made. The 14N/15N ratios derived from N2H+ show a large spread (from ~180 up to ~1300), while those derived from CN are in between the value measured in the terrestrial atmosphere (~270) and that of the proto-Solar nebula (~440) for the large majority of the sources within the errors. However, this different spread might be due to the fact that the sources detected in the N2H+ isotopologues are more than those detected in the CN ones. The 14N/15N ratio does not change significantly with the source evolutionary stage, which indicates that time seems to be irrelevant for the fractionation of nitrogen. We also find a possible anticorrelation between the 14N/15N (as derived from N2H+) and the H/D isotopic ratios. This suggests that 15N enrichment could not be linked to the parameters that cause D enrichment, in agreement with the prediction by recent chemical models. These models, however, are not able to reproduce the observed large spread in 14N/15N, pointing out that some important routes of nitrogen fractionation could be still missing in the models.Comment: 2 Figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

First ALMA maps of HCO, an important precursor of complex organic molecules, towards IRAS 16293-2422

The formyl radical HCO has been proposed as the basic precursor of many complex organic molecules such as methanol (CH$_3$OH) or glycolaldehyde (CH$_2$OHCHO). Using ALMA, we have mapped, for the first time at high angular resolution ($\sim$1$^{\prime\prime}$, $\sim$140 au), HCO towards the Solar-type protostellar binary IRAS 16293$-$2422, where numerous complex organic molecules have been previously detected. We also detected several lines of the chemically related species H$_2$CO, CH$_3$OH and CH$_2$OHCHO. The observations revealed compact HCO emission arising from the two protostars. The line profiles also show redshifted absorption produced by foreground material of the circumbinary envelope that is infalling towards the protostars. Additionally, IRAM 30m single-dish data revealed a more extended HCO component arising from the common circumbinary envelope. The comparison between the observed molecular abundances and our chemical model suggests that whereas the extended HCO from the envelope can be formed via gas-phase reactions during the cold collapse of the natal core, the HCO in the hot corinos surrounding the protostars is predominantly formed by the hydrogenation of CO on the surface of dust grains and subsequent thermal desorption during the protostellar phase. The derived abundance of HCO in the dust grains is high enough to produce efficiently more complex species such as H$_2$CO, CH$_3$OH, and CH$_2$OHCHO by surface chemistry. We found that the main formation route of CH$_2$OHCHO is the reaction between HCO and CH$_2$OH.Comment: Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society; 19 pages, 12 figures, 7 table

Protonated CO2 in massive star-forming clumps

Interstellar CO2 is an important reservoir of carbon and oxygen, and one of the major constituents of the icy mantles of dust grains, but it is not observable directly in the cold gas because has no permanent dipole moment. Its protonated form, HOCO+, is believed to be a good proxy for gaseous CO2. However, it has been detected in only a few star-forming regions so far, so that its interstellar chemistry is not well understood. We present new detections of HOCO+ lines in 11 high-mass star-forming clumps. Our observations increase by more than three times the number of detections in star-forming regions so far. We have derived beam-averaged abundances relative to H2 in between 0.3 and 3.8 x 10^{-11}. We have compared these values with the abundances of H13CO+, a possible gas-phase precursor of HOCO+, and CH3OH, a product of surface chemistry. We have found a positive correlation with H13CO+, while with CH3OH there is no correlation. We suggest that the gas-phase formation route starting from HCO+ plays an important role in the formation of HOCO+, perhaps more relevant than protonation of CO2 (upon evaporation of this latter from icy dust mantles).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRA

Gas Kinematics and Excitation in the Filamentary IRDC G035.39-00.33

Some theories of dense molecular cloud formation involve dynamical environments driven by converging atomic flows or collisions between preexisting molecular clouds. The determination of the dynamics and physical conditions of the gas in clouds at the early stages of their evolution is essential to establish the dynamical imprints of such collisions, and to infer the processes involved in their formation. We present multi-transition 13CO and C18O maps toward the IRDC G035.39-00.33, believed to be at the earliest stages of evolution. The 13CO and C18O gas is distributed in three filaments (Filaments 1, 2 and 3), where the most massive cores are preferentially found at the intersecting regions between them. The filaments have a similar kinematic structure with smooth velocity gradients of ~0.4-0.8 km s-1 pc-1. Several scenarios are proposed to explain these gradients, including cloud rotation, gas accretion along the filaments, global gravitational collapse, and unresolved sub-filament structures. These results are complemented by HCO+, HNC, H13CO+ and HN13C single-pointing data to search for gas infall signatures. The 13CO and C18O gas motions are supersonic across G035.39-00.33, with the emission showing broader linewidths toward the edges of the IRDC. This could be due to energy dissipation at the densest regions in the cloud. The average H2 densities are ~5000-7000 cm-3, with Filaments 2 and 3 being denser and more massive than Filament 1. The C18O data unveils three regions with high CO depletion factors (f_D~5-12), similar to those found in massive starless cores.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

The NH2D/NH3 ratio toward pre-protostellar cores around the UCHII region in IRAS 20293+3952

The deuterium fractionation, Dfrac, has been proposed as an evolutionary indicator in pre-protostellar and protostellar cores of low-mass star-forming regions. We investigate Dfrac, with high angular resolution, in the cluster environment surrounding the UCHII region IRAS 20293+3952. We performed high angular resolution observations with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) of the ortho-NH2D 1_{11}-1_{01} line at 85.926 GHz and compared them with previously reported VLA NH3 data. We detected strong NH2D emission toward the pre-protostellar cores identified in NH3 and dust emission, all located in the vicinity of the UCHII region IRAS 20293+3952. We found high values of Dfrac~0.1-0.8 in all the pre-protostellar cores and low values, Dfrac<0.1, associated with young stellar objects. The high values of Dfrac in pre-protostellar cores could be indicative of evolution, although outflow interactions and UV radiation could also play a role.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter

Water and acetaldehyde in HH212: The first hot corino in Orion

Aims: Using the unprecedented combination of high resolution and sensitivity offered by ALMA, we aim to investigate whether and how hot corinos, circumstellar disks, and ejected gas are related in young solar-mass protostars. Methods: We observed CH$_3$CHO and deuterated water (HDO) high-excitation ($E_{\rm u}$ up to 335 K) lines towards the Sun-like protostar HH212--MM1. Results: For the first time, we have obtained images of CH$_3$CHO and HDO emission in the inner $\simeq$ 100 AU of HH212. The multifrequency line analysis allows us to contrain the density ($\geq$ 10$^{7}$ cm$^{-3}$), temperature ($\simeq$ 100 K), and CH$_3$CHO abundance ($\simeq$ 0.2--2 $\times$ 10$^{-9}$) of the emitting region. The HDO profile is asymmetric at low velocities ($\leq$ 2 km s$^{-1}$ from $V_{\rm sys}$). If the HDO line is optically thick, this points to an extremely small ($\sim$ 20--40 AU) and dense ($\ge$ 10$^{9}$ cm$^{-3}$) emitting region. Conclusions: We report the first detection of a hot corino in Orion. The HDO asymmetric profile indicates a contribution of outflowing gas from the compact central region, possibly associated with a dense disk wind.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter, in pres

A gas-rich AGN near the centre of a galaxy cluster at z ~ 1.4

The formation of the first virialized structures in overdensities dates back to ~9 Gyr ago, i.e. in the redshift range z ~ 1.4 - 1.6. Some models of structure formation predict that the star formation activity in clusters was high at that epoch, implying large reservoirs of cold molecular gas. Aiming at finding a trace of this expected high molecular gas content in primeval clusters, we searched for the 12CO(2-1) line emission in the most luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN) of the cluster around the radio galaxy 7C 1756+6520 at z ~ 1.4, one of the farthest spectroscopic confirmed clusters. This AGN, called AGN.1317, is located in the neighbourhood of the central radio galaxy at a projected distance of ~780 kpc. The IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer was used to investigate the molecular gas quantity in AGN.1317, observing the 12CO(2-1) emission line. We detect CO emission in an AGN belonging to a galaxy cluster at z ~ 1.4. We measured a molecular gas mass of 1.1 x 10^10 Msun, comparable to that found in submillimeter galaxies. In optical images, AGN.1317 does not seem to be part of a galaxy interaction or merger.We also derived the nearly instantaneous star formation rate (SFR) from Halpha flux obtaining a SFR ~65 Msun/yr. This suggests that AGN.1317 is actively forming stars and will exhaust its reservoir of cold gas in ~0.2-1.0 Gyr.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Broad N2H+ emission towards the protostellar shock L1157-B1

We present the first detection of N2H+ towards a low-mass protostellar outflow, namely the L1157-B1 shock, at about 0.1 pc from the protostellar cocoon. The detection was obtained with the IRAM 30-m antenna. We observed emission at 93 GHz due to the J = 1-0 hyperfine lines. The analysis of the emission coupled with the HIFI CHESS multiline CO observations leads to the conclusion that the observed N2H+(1-0) line originates from the dense (> 10^5 cm-3) gas associated with the large (20-25 arcsec) cavities opened by the protostellar wind. We find a N2H+ column density of few 10^12 cm-2 corresponding to an abundance of (2-8) 10^-9. The N2H+ abundance can be matched by a model of quiescent gas evolved for more than 10^4 yr, i.e. for more than the shock kinematical age (about 2000 yr). Modelling of C-shocks confirms that the abundance of N2H+ is not increased by the passage of the shock. In summary, N2H+ is a fossil record of the pre-shock gas, formed when the density of the gas was around 10^4 cm-3, and then further compressed and accelerated by the shock.Comment: ApJ, in pres

Different evolutionary stages in massive star formation. Centimeter continuum and H2O maser emission with ATCA

We present ATCA observations of the H2O maser line and radio continuum at 18.0GHz and 22.8GHz, toward a sample of 192 massive star forming regions containing several clumps already imaged at 1.2mm. The main aim of this study is to investigate the water maser and centimeter continuum emission (likely tracing thermal free-free emission) in sources at different evolutionary stages, using the evolutionary classifications proposed by Palla et al (1991) and Molinari et al (2008). We used the recently comissioned CABB backend at ATCA obtaining images with 20arcsec resolution in the 1.3cm continuum and H2O maser emission, in all targets. For the evolutionary analysis of the sources we used the millimeter continuum emission from Beltran et al (2006) and the infrared emission from the MSX Point Source Catalogue. We detect centimeter continuum emission in 88% of the observed fields with a typical rms noise level of 0.45mJy/beam. Most of the fields show a single radio continuum source, while in 20% of them we identify multiple components. A total of 214 centimeter continuum sources have been identified, likely tracing optically thin HII regions, with physical parameters typical of both extended and compact HII regions. Water maser emission was detected in 41% of the regions, resulting in a total of 85 distinct components. The low angular (20arcsec) and spectral (14km/s) resolutions do not allow a proper analysis of the water maser emission, but suffice to investigate its association with the continuum sources. We have also studied the detection rate of HII regions in the two types of IRAS sources defined by Palla et (1991) on the basis of the IRAS colours: High and Low. No significant differences are found, with large detection rates (>90%) for both High and Low sources. We classify the millimeter and infrared sources in our fields in three evolutionary stages following the scheme presented by ...Comment: 102 pages, 19 figures, 10 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic